texaswolfman's review against another edition
4.0
The blurb says True Grit meets True Blood. it doesn't disappoint. great book. Entertaining read.
anzuk's review against another edition
1.0
I tried. I really tried. I cannot get into the story. There’s just too much useless talk, and too few monster hunting. I’m what, 30-40% in, and it’s not getting any better. I can’t get myself to care about any of the characters. The story seems useless. I’m bored. I need more action.
And Cora, the MC, is just getting on my nerves. I give up. Many thanks to the publishers for giving me the opportunity of reading this book though. You guys rock.
And Cora, the MC, is just getting on my nerves. I give up. Many thanks to the publishers for giving me the opportunity of reading this book though. You guys rock.
markmtz's review against another edition
3.0
A little ragged around the edges, but promising. I'm hoping that Cora gets over her grief in the followup story which is in my TBR pile.
old_tim's review against another edition
4.0
1880s Leadville, Colorado: Monster hunters come to a mining town to eliminate a threat. They find more monsters than they expect, and also find out secrets about themselves.
It’s difficult to summarize the plot of The Dead of Winter without leaping directly into spoiler territory. I think that’s a tribute to the tight plotting that Collins has done here. It’s a relatively small story, but one with serious ramifications for our protagonist.
Your enjoyment of The Dead of Winter will depend heavily on how you react to Cora Oglesby, the protagonist. She reminded me more than a bit of Calamity Jane from Deadwood: hard drinking, argumentative, struggling to be a woman in very nontraditional roles. While she’s clearly a flawed protagonist, she’s not one without a moral center, or one that is not sympathetic.
The world building in The Dead of Winter is rather limited, but that is in keeping with the relatively small scale of the story itself. We don’t know much of the larger world, of the history of the monsters, or any sort of backstory for them. Fortunately we are spared the “but monster X is just a legend” conversation. There’s a bit of disbelief, but it seems to relate more to the proximity of the monster rather than their existence per se. The comparison I would make is this: if someone were to tell me that alligators were in my local park, I wouldn’t be quick to believe them. Not because I don’t believe that alligators exist, but rather because I don’t think that they would be in that location.
But what about the monsters? You can rest easily, they’re not “sparkly”, and they aren’t just misunderstood. They’re predators of humans, who need to be put down. Collins reaches back to Native American mythology and Gothic literature to set the parameters for these killers.
Aside from some awkwardness early on, The Dead of Winter is remarkably tight and confident for a first novel. Collins has a great sense of what works, and focuses on his strengths. Apparently it is the first book in a projected series. I’m looking forward to reading Cora’s further adventures and finding out more about this world.
It’s difficult to summarize the plot of The Dead of Winter without leaping directly into spoiler territory. I think that’s a tribute to the tight plotting that Collins has done here. It’s a relatively small story, but one with serious ramifications for our protagonist.
Your enjoyment of The Dead of Winter will depend heavily on how you react to Cora Oglesby, the protagonist. She reminded me more than a bit of Calamity Jane from Deadwood: hard drinking, argumentative, struggling to be a woman in very nontraditional roles. While she’s clearly a flawed protagonist, she’s not one without a moral center, or one that is not sympathetic.
The world building in The Dead of Winter is rather limited, but that is in keeping with the relatively small scale of the story itself. We don’t know much of the larger world, of the history of the monsters, or any sort of backstory for them. Fortunately we are spared the “but monster X is just a legend” conversation. There’s a bit of disbelief, but it seems to relate more to the proximity of the monster rather than their existence per se. The comparison I would make is this: if someone were to tell me that alligators were in my local park, I wouldn’t be quick to believe them. Not because I don’t believe that alligators exist, but rather because I don’t think that they would be in that location.
But what about the monsters? You can rest easily, they’re not “sparkly”, and they aren’t just misunderstood. They’re predators of humans, who need to be put down. Collins reaches back to Native American mythology and Gothic literature to set the parameters for these killers.
Aside from some awkwardness early on, The Dead of Winter is remarkably tight and confident for a first novel. Collins has a great sense of what works, and focuses on his strengths. Apparently it is the first book in a projected series. I’m looking forward to reading Cora’s further adventures and finding out more about this world.
minotaursmaze's review against another edition
I need to try this not only because it sounds interesting. But because there is a fully clothed woman on the cover. I thought that was against the rules of paranormal covers these days.
tyrshand's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty well written story, though it kind of felt like a short novella that had a bunch of text added on the end to make it a full novel. The book had some flaws, but it's the author's first book, so I'm willing to give the second a try. I think the parts that bothered me the most were the inclusion of some overdone supernatural critters and much of the foreshadowing for twists was not very subtle. I really knew what was going on most of the way through.
tregina's review against another edition
3.0
A high three, I think; I had a few issues with pacing and logistics, but overall I really enjoyed the book, and that's not just the insomnia that had me finish it in one night talking. Cora Oglesby takes a little warming up to, and her ego's just a bit bigger than her skills and knowledge back up, but that's part of what makes her interesting. And without giving too much away, there was an element of the story that I thought was handled really well, and in that one case I was glad it was a very human thing and not supernatural. It gave the character a new depth, and one I appreciated.
cwebb's review against another edition
4.0
Im Wilden Westen findet James Townend Vampire vor. Er findet Hilfe in Cora Oglesby und ihrem Mann Ben. Doch es gibt einen Grund, wieso Cora verrückt genannt wird.
http://www.weberseite.at/buecher/the-dead-of-winter-lee-collins/
http://www.weberseite.at/buecher/the-dead-of-winter-lee-collins/
mackle13's review against another edition
2.0
This book was "ok", and that's about it.
In the Old West, Cora and her husband Ben are bounty hunters of supernatural critters. Ben annoyed me for most of the book, though, because he didn't really do much of anything. There's a reason for this you find out later, but it didn't really change how I felt about the earlier parts.
And Cora - well, Cora's a nasty drunk and a generally disagreeable person. I mean, I liked flawed protagonists and all, but Cora was just kind of annoying, and it was hard to really get into her story all that much.
Anyway - there are sort of two stories, as the town we're in, whose name I forget, gets attacked first by one creature and then another. I did give the book some points for having the first creature be something you don't see everyday in these sorts of books - a, and also for sticking to the lore pretty well.
But a lot of the story was pretty basic - information sessions to discover the nature of the bounty, and some fights that ya gotta lose a bit first, and then win, so on and so forth.
As I was never really invested in the characters, and as the plotline didn't offer much in the way of originality - the one twist having been telegraphed from about a mile away and, thus, offering no surprise or pathos - nor was it written in any kind of interesting way, I was pretty meh about the whole thing.
Not a horrible book, but far from great, and I doubt I'll be continuing the series.
In the Old West, Cora and her husband Ben are bounty hunters of supernatural critters. Ben annoyed me for most of the book, though, because he didn't really do much of anything. There's a reason for this you find out later, but it didn't really change how I felt about the earlier parts.
And Cora - well, Cora's a nasty drunk and a generally disagreeable person. I mean, I liked flawed protagonists and all, but Cora was just kind of annoying, and it was hard to really get into her story all that much.
Anyway - there are sort of two stories, as the town we're in, whose name I forget, gets attacked first by one creature and then another. I did give the book some points for having the first creature be something you don't see everyday in these sorts of books - a
Spoiler
WendigoBut a lot of the story was pretty basic - information sessions to discover the nature of the bounty, and some fights that ya gotta lose a bit first, and then win, so on and so forth.
As I was never really invested in the characters, and as the plotline didn't offer much in the way of originality - the one twist having been telegraphed from about a mile away and, thus, offering no surprise or pathos - nor was it written in any kind of interesting way, I was pretty meh about the whole thing.
Not a horrible book, but far from great, and I doubt I'll be continuing the series.
book__man's review against another edition
5.0
A really good book, something different for the imagination, good book worth reading