Rating - ⭐⭐⭐1/2
"The last night of the year. Now the days of winter begin and the Goblin King rides abroad, searching for his bride…
All her life, Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, dangerous Goblin King. They’ve enraptured her mind, her spirit, and inspired her musical compositions. Now eighteen and helping to run her family’s inn, Liesl can’t help but feel that her musical dreams and childhood fantasies are slipping away.
But when her own sister is taken by the Goblin King, Liesl has no choice but to journey to the Underground to save her. Drawn to the strange, captivating world she finds—and the mysterious man who rules it—she soon faces an impossible decision. And with time and the old laws working against her, Liesl must discover who she truly is before her fate is sealed."
Wintersong is a fantasy novel by S. Jae-Jones and is first installment in the Wintersong duology.
This was...okay? I think I will give this a very loose 3.5 stars. I liked the writing style, and I didn't mind the overall concept, but where this falls short for me is the themes (and by extension the people through which the themes are portrayed).
In books, the female lead is usually depicted as being beautiful in some way, shape, or form. This book tries to do the opposite by describing Elisabeth as ugly on the outside but beautiful on the inside. This would have been fine if I didn't feel like the theme of ugliness was being shoved down my throat. Time and time again it was mentioned how ugly she was, and I got it after the first time, so I could have done without being told it constantly.
This was made worse by the fact that I thought that concept of Elisabeth having a beautiful soul was completely backwards. It wasn't her outward appearance that was ugly, but her soul. This could be seen through how the author kept trying to drive home the themes of selflessness/selfishness.
Elisabeth kept saying how she was always selfless when that was clearly not the case. She was jealous of her siblings and was blinded to their troubles because of that. She lashed out at everybody when, for the most part, they did no wrong. She would also not hesitate to use her wishes to make the goblins do things for her which toed the line of the non-consensual.
She also almost made a huge mistake, but didn't think anything of it afterwards because nothing bad actually happened. Her reactions and intentions in the book just don't fit how her character is described. What this all comes down to is that she was not a good person.
What also bothered me was the relationship between Elisabeth and the Goblin King. Not for one second did I believe that there was any form of love or attraction between them.
While this can be considered a standalone book, especially as I felt like everything wrapped up in the end, there is a sequel/companion novel which the length of a normal book...and I don't think I need more from this universe so I don't know if I will read it.
留言