Marcus Sedgwick

Midwinterblood

Evan

I considered giving this two stars, but ultimately chose one because most of this story felt like a waste of time after finishing it.
 
"Midwinterblood" tells seven tales going backwards in time with recurring character names, themes, and imagery. I found the first story to be the most interesting and every story afterwards quite boring and poorly told (I didn't care for Marcus Sedgwick's prose in the first story, either, but it bothered me less as at least something somewhat interesting was happening).
 
The first story builds the world of Blessed Island and every subsequent story supposedly expands upon that world, but I never felt intrigued by any of the added information. The final story pretty much only exists to say precisely what has been happening in this dull book, a character literally shouts it out. Thank goodness for the epilogue, which briefly returns to the first story and acts as a bookend for the time-spanning story, though that was perhaps too brief and ended in a way I'd ultimately call "unsatisfying". I'd have liked something different, there.
 
I read this because an article called it "delightfully tricksy" after I had Googled for something similar in tone to "House of Leaves". I don't think it was "delightfully tricksy", nor was it either of those words alone. The painting this story is inspired by is a pretty one but this book is an unneeded accompanying piece.
 
I do not recommend "Midwinterblood".

Julie D.

Bryanna M

This was a really intriguing book, and I think that's the best way to describe it. It was one of those books that doesn't completely make sense until the very end, and then it all clicks together. If it had been longer, the confusion would have irritated me, but since it was so short, I enjoyed waiting to understand how all the pieces fit. The storytelling in this is phenomenal! I definitely want to reread this one day because I feel like I'll understand it even better with another read.

Kristen

Intriguing, inspiring, and thought-provoking. It was a quick and easy read, told in seven parts that connect. It has a brilliant theme of love and sacrifice, and all the different ways people can experience and offer both. Beautifully written and compelling.

However, I was glad when it was over. It is a personal problem that is probably specific to me, but I had gotten pretty tired of reading all the different parts by the last one and I just skimmed the last part so I could finish the book and move on to something new. I did really like it overall.

Have you ever had the feeling that you've lived another life? Been somewhere that has felt totally familiar even when you've never been there before, or felt that you've known someone even though you are meeting them for the first time? In a novel comprising seven short stories each of them influenced by a moon - flower moon, harvest moon, hunter's moon, blood moon - and travelling from 2073 back in time to the dark of the moon and the days of Viking saga, this is the story of Eric and Merle who have loved and lost one another and who have been searching for each other ever since. In the different stories the two appear as lovers, mother and son, brother and sister, artist and child as they come close to finding each other before facing the ultimate sacrifice. Beautifully imagined, intricately and cleverly structured this is a heart-wrenching and breathtaking paranormal romance, but it also has the hallmark Sedgwick gothic touch with plenty of blood-spilling, a vampire and sacrifice.

b.andherbooks

What an odd little duck to have in the YA section at my library. Midwinterblood follows seven different lifetimes for two souls who yearn to be together. The timeline goes backwards, which is a super cool concept, but unfortunately when I got to the end I did not find much to make me care about their struggle over eons. Lots of creepy weird blood sacrifices, people who don't age, halluecineginic orchids, and Vikings. Also, sometimes the souls were brother and sister, or child and adult, so I didn't know if it was simply being together or a sexual/love relationship they were striving for.

Quick read, thought provoking, but I wish there was a bit more meat to the story. I like to feel something about the characters I read about and I didn't really here.

Elad Schulman

WOW. I loved reading this book, if only to see each storyline start to weave itself into this intricate story that spanned years and years. I loved how, in each storyline, the love shown is a little bit different - the love a mother has for her son, the love siblings have. It wasn't just your common girl/boy attraction. Really surprised by this book, but I really loved it.

Seven stories of passion and love separated by centuries but mysteriously intertwined—this is a tale of horror and beauty, tenderness and sacrifice. An archaeologist who unearths a mysterious artifact, an airman who finds himself far from home, a painter, a ghost, a vampire, and a Viking: the seven stories in this compelling novel all take place on the remote Scandinavian island of Blessed where a curiously powerful plant that resembles a dragon grows. What binds these stories together? What secrets lurk beneath the surface of this idyllic countryside? And what might be powerful enough to break the cycle of midwinterblood? From award-winning author Marcus Sedgwick comes a book about passion and preservation and ultimately an exploration of the bounds of love. This title has Common Core connections. A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of 2013 A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of 2013

Kristin Gray

My advice: be patient, and pay attention... It all comes together in the end.

Emma

Trying to find the right words for a review and I can't seem to. Maybe it's because this story doesn't feel tangible. It really is... otherworldly. You get lost in its pages, in the story; it leaves you feeling a little... foggy... as if you've just been daydreaming, I suppose you could say. As far as romance goes, I think it is pretty damn mystical, though it might not catch you right away. At first, I was a little jarred when learning some of the connections, but then it had me thinking about the definitions of love and its boundaries and how it can all change and evolve and blend together over time without losing its most basic meaning. I like that the story was told backwards. The style affords a unique view of the carefully-unfolding tale, raising questions while giving you answers to questions you don't even know to ask yet. I actually REALLY liked the end-to-beginning style. Things are less predictable that way. Even as the pieces come together, there are still mysteries that carry you to the end of the book. I admit I am used to happy-ending, all-wrapped-up-with-a-neat-bow kind of love stories and in that respect found this tale to be a tad unsatisfying, but I am aware that my taste is still growing. Midwinterblood is a beautiful, tragic, striking story.