An otherworldly, tempting mystery hides in the woods, but world of fairies and magic is a dangerous one, consuming victim after victim, ensnaring them with illusions of beauty and grandeur that turn out to be barren shadows of true – if short and tragic – human life.īut the details of that are for us to discover. Mysterious young man, a captive of a fairy queen, and a special young maiden that will try to save him… featuring a traditional medieval village and two families torn by tragedies. It is, basically, a variant of one of the fairy tropes – the story of Tam Lin (and while researching that, I’ve ordered Diana Wynne Jones’ version, another writer I enjoy for her style).

I’d describe it as a Tolkienian fantasy at its best, not what Brooks practised and Moorcock mocked as Epic Pooh, but a legitimate and worthwhile additions to the genre.įor me, she goes particularly well with Loreena McKennitt 🙂Īnyway, Bookstooge posted a favourable review of Winter Rose earlier this year and I felt I need to revisit this unique author. I like the worldbuilding, I follow the events with interest, archetypical characters were written with mastery that made me invested in the outcome, but the most charming thing was McKillip’s style. My first encounter with her prose was in 2016, when I’ve read the Riddle-Master trilogy, a simple (but very engaging) high fantasy tale made unique by its wonderful, atmospheric prose. Still, a book review every now and then is probably a good idea… so, I will postpone my top 11 for now to write a few words about a short novel full of magic and mystery, Winter Rose by Patricia A. Laying out our yet-unread books to form an inscription, or nominating other bloggers to reveal their top 11 is quite a lot of fun. Place dedicated to books we said, and, the way I see it, it doesn’t have to be a weekly exercise in literary criticism. I’ve checked our manifesto to make sure, but we actually never claimed to be a strictly book-review blog.

Winter rose patricia mckillip