Reviews

Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore

kpisanko's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

2.75

rose0207's review

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

darei3ear's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

jennifersiyuanzhou's review

2.0

2 stars

what even rly happened?? i loved the world-building and loved the little creature we met but like this book was so long for no reason.
the political intrigue wasn't all that intriguing?? the reveal with the parents orchestrating things and the country making bombs i was just kinda like oh. our main character was kinda annoying cuz she was so privileged but had no awareness of it. she just went from snobby to scared to omg-i-dont-know-who-i-am-anymore-because-my-parents-are-lunatics like I'm not sure she rly developed as a character
bitterblue didn't feel like herself. none of the old characters rly felt like themselves

skaurgo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

brettec's review

5.0

Just as wonderful as all the previous books! I can't tell you how excited I was to see a new Kristin Cashore book on the shelves. It's the height of everything that's good about fantasy. I love all the fantasy elements and I love the story. I love how everything feels so real - the telepathic foxes and the politics. I could go on about this forever. <3

isabelle_rosewrites's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

jentrythelibrarian's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

diaryofthebookdragon's review against another edition

2.0

My reaction after I heard this book is scheduled to be released:


My reaction after reading 20% of the book:

alivaster's review

1.0

I don't really have anything good to say, so here's just the short review:
Gorgeous cover.
Great premise.
Terrible execution.

As much as I loved Graceling and Fire (probably some of my favorite books ever), Bitterblue was a letdown and this book just felt like a crash and burn. Kind of similar to how Bitterblue handled plot, characters, and flow, Winterkeep had similar problems, but was ultimately worse. The story just didn't come together, the characters didn't feel fully developed to me, and the politics that were thrown into the book weren't set up properly. Does anyone remember the climate crisis in Maximum Ride series that made us all raise eyebrows? Yeah, the politics in here also gave me the same eyebrow raise. If you want to make an impact, you need to build it up correctly and address it right, and this wasn't done here.

This book just didn't work for me.