saluki's review against another edition
3.0
I expected to really-like/love this Goblin King myth. And, the cover is so, so pretty!
Loved the beginning but didn't especially love the last quarter of the book. It's slower paced than I usually like but I liked the premise, settings and writing. I suppose it was the musical minutae that I wasn't fussed with and I found myself glossing over paragraphs here and there, even though music along with love are the major themes. Still, apart from that, I liked it enough as the romance was awkward and hard earned.
I'll look out for S. Jae-Jones' future novels.
1morepaige's review against another edition
4.0
This book really felt like something written for a younger me. My favorite movies as a child were Beauty and the Beast and Labyrinth and Wintersong contains much of what was so great about both of those movies for me.
This book is lush, poetic, fast-paced, and dreamy. It's one of those stories that lingered with me in my consciousness every time I was forced to set it down, rendering everything just a bit stranger than it had been last I looked.
I liked Elisabeth, I liked the Goblin King. I liked the setting, the vivid descriptions, the additions of music and faith to a story I thought I knew well enough.
I can't in all honesty give it five stars.
Sometimes the beautiful, flowery words actually got in my way. I was trying to dive face first into The Underground and about 3 distinct times I was like "I don't think I've understood what was going on for like two and a half pages" and I had to go back and figure out where I was.
It wasn't enough to knock me out of the story entirely, but I can see how it might be off-putting for people who aren't enamored of that sort of writing. It was like I got lost in metaphors and wasn't always sure I could find my way back to the plot. But instead of making the book difficult to get into, I did feel a little like the highly metaphorical lost places I wound up in sort of added to the MOOD of the story even if I got a bit hindered in the telling.
This book is lush, poetic, fast-paced, and dreamy. It's one of those stories that lingered with me in my consciousness every time I was forced to set it down, rendering everything just a bit stranger than it had been last I looked.
I liked Elisabeth, I liked the Goblin King. I liked the setting, the vivid descriptions, the additions of music and faith to a story I thought I knew well enough.
I can't in all honesty give it five stars.
Sometimes the beautiful, flowery words actually got in my way. I was trying to dive face first into The Underground and about 3 distinct times I was like "I don't think I've understood what was going on for like two and a half pages" and I had to go back and figure out where I was.
It wasn't enough to knock me out of the story entirely, but I can see how it might be off-putting for people who aren't enamored of that sort of writing. It was like I got lost in metaphors and wasn't always sure I could find my way back to the plot. But instead of making the book difficult to get into, I did feel a little like the highly metaphorical lost places I wound up in sort of added to the MOOD of the story even if I got a bit hindered in the telling.
imogenkh11's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
teafueledcat's review against another edition
3.0
I picked up Wintersong because nothing gets me to pick up a book faster than “LABYRINTH RETELLING!”. Okay, might be stretching the truth a bit, but you catch my drift right? The original Labyrinth movie was a huge part of my childhood and the beginning of my life-long love of David Bowie. His music will never get old to me.
While a snail’s pace beginning, it starts to ramp up a bit going into the 100s pages. Unfortunately, it doesn’t hold steady for very long and starts to fizzle out. I actually found myself becoming bored, up until the point where The Goblin King and Elisabeth were gonna get it on and he basically pulls a “Go home, Elisabeth. You’re drunk.” I actually then laughed out loud. Even if Elisabeth was pissed she wasn’t gonna get any pretty Goblin King dick.
You find yourself getting beaten over the head with this book’s emphasis on music, and when it's FINALLY done doing that, you'll get your heart ripped out during the ending. To be fair though, if you pay enough attention you'll see this ending coming.
I wanted to love this book, I really did, but it just did not work out and that's okay.
While a snail’s pace beginning, it starts to ramp up a bit going into the 100s pages. Unfortunately, it doesn’t hold steady for very long and starts to fizzle out. I actually found myself becoming bored, up until the point where The Goblin King and Elisabeth were gonna get it on and he basically pulls a “Go home, Elisabeth. You’re drunk.” I actually then laughed out loud. Even if Elisabeth was pissed she wasn’t gonna get any pretty Goblin King dick.
You find yourself getting beaten over the head with this book’s emphasis on music, and when it's FINALLY done doing that, you'll get your heart ripped out during the ending. To be fair though, if you pay enough attention you'll see this ending coming.
I wanted to love this book, I really did, but it just did not work out and that's okay.
sarahjolioli's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0