aleena123's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
moirwyn's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderful book! Mckillip creates a dream-like fairy tale atmosphere in her interpretation of the Tam Lin legend. For a complete review, see:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/winter-rose-by-patricia-mckillip/
http://bookswithoutanypictures.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/winter-rose-by-patricia-mckillip/
laughterbynight's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. Honestly most of my goodwill comes from the writing. It’s over the top at times, even if you enjoy it, but that’s the best part of the book. This is my second attempt at her work and so far what I’ve tried seems to be missing something. There’s beautiful language but not much else to the stories, other than women being willing to sacrifice themselves in some detrimental way for others. Not something I personally care for.
When I finished this book I felt like I needn’t have bothered to read it. I don’t want to say nothing actually happened, but looking back, not much did if you trim down the language and look at the bare bones of the plot.
I swear these covers keep dragging me in. To be fair I usually like where her books start, but they seem to quickly take a turn into these female protagonists suffering or giving up some part of themselves for others. Often men, which is just not something I care to read about in 2019. It’s maddening.
When I finished this book I felt like I needn’t have bothered to read it. I don’t want to say nothing actually happened, but looking back, not much did if you trim down the language and look at the bare bones of the plot.
I swear these covers keep dragging me in. To be fair I usually like where her books start, but they seem to quickly take a turn into these female protagonists suffering or giving up some part of themselves for others. Often men, which is just not something I care to read about in 2019. It’s maddening.
dmturner's review against another edition
3.0
A lovely horrible dream of winter, Faerie, farms, languishing and obsessed girls, and a cold and tragic young man held thrall to a cold queen. The quality of McKillip's writing keeps me going when I can't figure out what the heck is going on.
xalai's review against another edition
4.0
My first Patricia McKillip and I can’t wait to return to her writing, it’s gorgeous. The story and characters were lovely, and it actually had me groaning in frustration when they didn’t do things the way I wanted them to. It did get very strange and dream-like towards the end, but that didn’t bother me. I loved the ending/resolution, it was super satisfying.
scvalentine's review against another edition
This has been my favorite McKillip book so far. The whole book is so dream-like that you have to just read it straight through if possible. The images painted are powerful and yet ever-changing.
zusy's review against another edition
5.0
I couldn't put this book down. I was completely captivated in a way I can't explain. I would feel like I finally grasped everything when the page would turn and I wasn't sure anymore. Near the end I began to despair that the book wouldn't end happily. How could things become right again? The ending reminded me of Sunshine by Robin McKinley. The ending wasn't sad. It wasn't concretely happy though. It reaches the point before happily ever after where you aren't sure that happily ever after will happen the way you want it to and you long for there to be more pages to tell you that it does.
toritoot's review against another edition
4.0
I've never read a book quite like this, where so much of the story happens in the subconscious, characters fading in and out of a dream-world, a shadowy realm. So much of the story is Roi having cryptic conversations with other-worldly beings, traversing the same wood over and over again, visiting the same crumbling house in said wood over and over again, pining over Corbet, fretting over her sister, having strange dreams that aren't dreams. It was a frustrating read, as I felt like I was grasping at wisps of evaporation, unable to grab hold of anything solid. I rarely felt like I understood what was going on or what anything meant. And there's so much pining throughout the majority of this book with two characters believing themselves in love with the same man, but very little evidence of the legitimacy of their feelings for him. I worried how McKillip would bring it all together.
I'm glad I stuck it out though, because the ending brought the story together for me. Based on how things play out in the last chapter, I think this was McKillip's attempt at exploring the concept of love, what is it and how do we know we're really experiencing it or fooling ourselves into thinking we are. If this book had ended any other way, I would definitely be writing a very different review.
This is the first book I've ever read by McKillip, while I think her prose here definitely got in the way of my ability to understand what was happening, I recognize her talent. Her prose was beautiful, and even though the characters were behaving in ways I found foolish and head-scratching, I really liked all of them. Now that I better understand what McKillip was trying to do here, I'm eager to re-read this at some point and pick up on the things I didn't get before. I'll also be picking up some of her other books as well.
I'm glad I stuck it out though, because the ending brought the story together for me. Based on how things play out in the last chapter, I think this was McKillip's attempt at exploring the concept of love, what is it and how do we know we're really experiencing it or fooling ourselves into thinking we are. If this book had ended any other way, I would definitely be writing a very different review.
This is the first book I've ever read by McKillip, while I think her prose here definitely got in the way of my ability to understand what was happening, I recognize her talent. Her prose was beautiful, and even though the characters were behaving in ways I found foolish and head-scratching, I really liked all of them. Now that I better understand what McKillip was trying to do here, I'm eager to re-read this at some point and pick up on the things I didn't get before. I'll also be picking up some of her other books as well.
ginnikin's review against another edition
4.0
My first McKillip. It still knocks me on my ass. :dreamy sigh: