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sophia_sol) wrote2021-01-03 02:38 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2021-01-03 02:38 pm
The Winter Duke, by Claire Eliza Bartlett
The last book review for books I read in 2020!
Hmmmm I did not love this book. It's not BAD but...it's not really for me. It's very YA is the thing. And like, nothing wrong with YA tropes but I am no longer exactly the audience for Young Teen Has Romance Problems And Saves The World (Or At Least Her Kingdom).
There are aspects of the book I did like. I loved how casually queer it was, that being queer is a normal and expected possibility.
And I loved the love interest, Inkar, I thought she was the most interesting character in the book and was happy whenever a scene involved her!
But so much of the book felt like it was going in a conventional narrative direction, that even though it switched gears at the end I still couldn't really enjoy it because the vast majority of the narrative had been spent hanging out in that more conventional narrative, where autocracy is good and also you can definitely develop a forever love at the age of 16.
From the beginning I'd been wishing that the main character (Ekata), instead of Taking Her Rightful Place As Heir Of The Country, had just left and gone to university to study biology like she'd always wanted to. And the end of the book DOES have her deciding to do that so I should be happy about it! But instead I'm just annoyed she didn't do that to begin with instead of going through her journey of Being The Grand Duke To Live Up To Her Family Role.
I didn't particularly care about Ekata either. She didn't seem (to me at least) to have a lot of personality beyond Being A YA Main Character.
I am kind of charmed by the romance arc, though, where Inkar and Ekata get married for political reasons, then realise they like each other, then don't stay married but do want to continue exploring what their relationship could develop into. It's pretty great!
Idk. It's a perfectly reasonable book doing perfectly reasonable things, and it has its strengths, but the way it was put together bugged me.
Hmmmm I did not love this book. It's not BAD but...it's not really for me. It's very YA is the thing. And like, nothing wrong with YA tropes but I am no longer exactly the audience for Young Teen Has Romance Problems And Saves The World (Or At Least Her Kingdom).
There are aspects of the book I did like. I loved how casually queer it was, that being queer is a normal and expected possibility.
And I loved the love interest, Inkar, I thought she was the most interesting character in the book and was happy whenever a scene involved her!
But so much of the book felt like it was going in a conventional narrative direction, that even though it switched gears at the end I still couldn't really enjoy it because the vast majority of the narrative had been spent hanging out in that more conventional narrative, where autocracy is good and also you can definitely develop a forever love at the age of 16.
From the beginning I'd been wishing that the main character (Ekata), instead of Taking Her Rightful Place As Heir Of The Country, had just left and gone to university to study biology like she'd always wanted to. And the end of the book DOES have her deciding to do that so I should be happy about it! But instead I'm just annoyed she didn't do that to begin with instead of going through her journey of Being The Grand Duke To Live Up To Her Family Role.
I didn't particularly care about Ekata either. She didn't seem (to me at least) to have a lot of personality beyond Being A YA Main Character.
I am kind of charmed by the romance arc, though, where Inkar and Ekata get married for political reasons, then realise they like each other, then don't stay married but do want to continue exploring what their relationship could develop into. It's pretty great!
Idk. It's a perfectly reasonable book doing perfectly reasonable things, and it has its strengths, but the way it was put together bugged me.