Lauren
The Red Winter unfortunately did not work for me. In theory, it should have. I love historical fiction and I love more folklore-inspired fantasy, but unfortunately, I simply could not get into this. I
First, however, the pros:
I liked the overall writing style and atmosphere. I also really liked Sarmodel and his relationship with Sebastian. In fact, their relationship was by far the strongest aspect of the story and I wish that was the focus instead.
However, that’s kind of it, which is a bummer because I’ve been really excited for this book. I really didn’t like the portrayal of women, for starters. There were not many prominent women characters, and the ones that were had their entire identities built around being mothers, wives, gold diggers, or sex crazed. And of course when women were no longer good/useful/trustworthy they were no longer young and beautiful (in fact, in one specific example a woman became repulsive and fat. Her fatness and lack of a young body is made a huge point of focus. Why is fatphobia still in my fantasy books???). Not to mention Joan of Arc (yes, THE Joan of Arc) loses all her credit in this narrative.
Additionally, the men literally constantly had boners. I would have counted the number of times it was mentioned (or they were seen palming the front of their pants) but who has the time?
I think the duel timeline was another weakness, but this may be in part due to the poorly crafted female characters and the fact that I didn’t buy into the romance at all. Additionally, while this book was folklore heavy, it was also Christianity heavy, and I can’t say I love the combination. Partially because they do not blend well together, but it also lead to weak world building, particularly with beings like Mars and Michael. If you can’t fully flesh out one, I don’t think including both is wise.
I also hated the foot notes. I can enjoy a footnote, but, they seemed more an attempt used to try to cover up the lazy world building than anything else.
I will say, the audiobook was well done. The narrators are talented and almost convinced me I liked this book more than I really did.
The Red Winter unfortunately did not work for me. In theory, it should have. I love historical fiction and I love more folklore-inspired fantasy, but unfortunately, I simply could not get into this. I
First, however, the pros:
I liked the overall writing style and atmosphere. I also really liked Sarmodel and his relationship with Sebastian. In fact, their relationship was by far the strongest aspect of the story and I wish that was the focus instead.
However, that’s kind of it, which is a bummer because I’ve been really excited for this book. I really didn’t like the portrayal of women, for starters. There were not many prominent women characters, and the ones that were had their entire identities built around being mothers, wives, gold diggers, or sex crazed. And of course when women were no longer good/useful/trustworthy they were no longer young and beautiful (in fact, in one specific example a woman became repulsive and fat. Her fatness and lack of a young body is made a huge point of focus. Why is fatphobia still in my fantasy books???). Not to mention Joan of Arc (yes, THE Joan of Arc) loses all her credit in this narrative.
Additionally, the men literally constantly had boners. I would have counted the number of times it was mentioned (or they were seen palming the front of their pants) but who has the time?
I think the duel timeline was another weakness, but this may be in part due to the poorly crafted female characters and the fact that I didn’t buy into the romance at all. Additionally, while this book was folklore heavy, it was also Christianity heavy, and I can’t say I love the combination. Partially because they do not blend well together, but it also lead to weak world building, particularly with beings like Mars and Michael. If you can’t fully flesh out one, I don’t think including both is wise.
I also hated the foot notes. I can enjoy a footnote, but, they seemed more an attempt used to try to cover up the lazy world building than anything else.
I will say, the audiobook was well done. The narrators are talented and almost convinced me I liked this book more than I really did.