Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones (review)

Winter song is a lavish literary pleasure but the plot and characters lack substance. Read my review of Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones

Wintersong
S. Jae Jones
436 pages
My rating ★★

This was not the book for me. A lot of things about this book (some small) annoyed me to a point where I thought of not finishing the book. But I kept reading because I wanted to give it a chance but also because the language of Jae-Jones is amazing! Truly.
But let’s start with the more negative things so we can finish on a more high note. 

The first thing I didn’t like was the main character Elizabeth. Normally I think it is great when you don’t always like or agree with the main character. It challenges you in a good way. It can challenge your views on society, your standpoints on certain topics or make you see things from a different perspective. But Elisabeth didn’t challenge me. She made me think her pathetic (sorry!). Her character’s personality we just overdone. I didn’t pity her or felt sorry for her I just got annoyed with her. The “good girl does everything right loves her brother above everything else” was just too much. It made me take a step back and withdraw my emotional investment.  And the fact that, Elisabeth having sex for the first time, was the beginning of her personal development was just sick. (Like what is that?! Sex isn’t a soultion. Sex doesn’t make you a new person, sex can’t change your whole character.)

Another thing that I didn’t like was the whole deal with the Goblin King. It wasn’t coherent. A lot of things happens that I didn’t get the purpose of and that seemed without meaning. Like why didn’t the Goblin King just steal Elisabeth in the first place instead of the sister? The hole bride-thing-sacrifice seemed a bit too messy/confusing for me. What also was confusing was Elisabeth’s relationship with the Goblin King. One only get a glimpse of their past together as children but that’s it. As the story unfolds you don’t get more details about the two’s history especially the Goblin King. I think that would have made the story more coherent and you would feel invested in the characters both individually and as an item. 

Throughout the entire story, I didn’t feel anything in particular for the characters I was never afraid of the faith of their life because they never seemed I real danger. When there was just some danger or close to danger Jae-Jones skipped over it so fast. The danger/action was over even before it had started. That way I was never given the opportunity the wonder or fear what would happen.  

The last thing I wasn’t a fan of was the “laws of the world”. Even though fantasy is just fiction is still has to be realistic. It still has to follow the boundaries/laws of the fantasy world that the author creates. And those “laws” have to be believable. The laws of the world in Wintersong weren’t accounted for so they didn’t seem realistic or serious. There was talk of some “old law” but it was not explained what that implied. The old law just made some things possible and some things impossible. In general, I would have liked more information about this fantasy world and how it works. More knowledge about the old law and the species of the world but especially the concept of the Goblin King. I think this lack of information regarding the Goblin King was meant to put you next to Elisabeth and make you wonder so you would read the next book. But if you don’t explain the concept of Hogwarts, no one will go to Hogwarts and that would be a pity indeed.

I mentioned something about a higher note to finish of this review – here it is 😉  One thing that I liked and really liked about Wintersong was Jae-Jones writing! Like wow! That was beautifully done! It is amazing how she plays with words, sentences and different tenses. I especially like how the change of the tenses amplified certain scenes. The language was compelling in its own way. If I had the just 1/10 of Jae-Jones literacy I would make a comparison about a flexible and playfully caramel. But I don’t so I will save myself the embarrassment.

But overall this wasn’t the book for me. What the story lacked in plot, motive and characters couldn’t be made up for in the overflow of brilliant language. Two stars from me. 

Have you read Wintersong? What did you think of it? If you enjoyed it more than I did I would be happy to hear about it. Maybe I just missed something and this review would be embarrassing.