Scan barcode
A review by lawbooks600
A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Representation: N/A?
Score: Seven points out of ten.
Well, first, what's wrong with BookTok? I briefly saw this novel on the BookTok shelf at one of the two libraries I go to but I put it off for a while until I finally picked it up and read it. When I finished it, I felt nothing but dissatisfaction as the story looked so promising, unique and original but when I read it, it was too tedious. It starts with a prologue explaining how the world was nothing out of the ordinary until 'The Rupture,' splitting the world into numerous floating islands called 'Arks.' Then it cuts to the main character Ophelia (whose last name I forgot) living on an ark called Anima but here's the catch: she can travel through mirrors (unfortunately I didn't see much of that, shame.) Here is where the flaws surface, well for a supposedly civilised society it's backward since one of the characters forced Ophelia to marry a predetermined partner (Come on. Really? She should have a choice. But she doesn't. Why?) Did I also mention that I wasn't a fan of how the author wrote the female characters to make them look bad? It sounds discriminatory. The issues don't end there, since the plot is slow (normally that wouldn't be a problem since that would let me explore the characters more, but since the author didn't write them well, it didn't help.) I had to push myself to finish the book, otherwise I would've given it a DNF, but it fizzled out anyway, and I won't finish the series. Shame.
Score: Seven points out of ten.
Well, first, what's wrong with BookTok? I briefly saw this novel on the BookTok shelf at one of the two libraries I go to but I put it off for a while until I finally picked it up and read it. When I finished it, I felt nothing but dissatisfaction as the story looked so promising, unique and original but when I read it, it was too tedious. It starts with a prologue explaining how the world was nothing out of the ordinary until 'The Rupture,' splitting the world into numerous floating islands called 'Arks.' Then it cuts to the main character Ophelia (whose last name I forgot) living on an ark called Anima but here's the catch: she can travel through mirrors (unfortunately I didn't see much of that, shame.) Here is where the flaws surface, well for a supposedly civilised society it's backward since one of the characters forced Ophelia to marry a predetermined partner (Come on. Really? She should have a choice. But she doesn't. Why?) Did I also mention that I wasn't a fan of how the author wrote the female characters to make them look bad? It sounds discriminatory. The issues don't end there, since the plot is slow (normally that wouldn't be a problem since that would let me explore the characters more, but since the author didn't write them well, it didn't help.) I had to push myself to finish the book, otherwise I would've given it a DNF, but it fizzled out anyway, and I won't finish the series. Shame.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Full trigger warnings: Forced marriage, physical assault and injury, blood depiction, sexist slur, cheating mentioned