Wintersong

So I knew this was inspired by Jim Henson's Labyrinth. That's partially why I picked it up, as I love that movie and David Bowie as the Goblin King. I didn't expect to get, basically, Labyrinth fanfiction. That was my first impression. As the book carries on, though, and especially as you get into the second book, it's more like a musician's fever-dream of their favorite childhood movie. There are so many elements taken from the movie, but they are deconstructed and put back together in such unexpected ways.

You'll recognize a line or two from the movie. The fairies still bite. The Goblin King is still beautiful and angular and strange. Liesl's after a stolen sibling. But Liesl and her family live in rural, probably 18th century Bavaria. She is not a spoiled, baby-sitting half-sister. Her grandmother has taught her the old stories, and unbeknownst to her, she's played music for The Goblin King her entire childhood.

The first book concerns Liesl's first foray into the Underground to save her sister when The Goblin King steals her to be his bride. This is where the acid trip starts. If you're familiar with Labyrinth, remember the ballroom scene? With people whirling about and appearing and disappearing and mirrors and the sense of disorientation as it all falls apart? Yeah, that's basically the entire time in the Underground. Though there is a ball scene, and it is especially trippy.

While Liesl manages to save her sister (that's a spoiler, but it isn't much of one), she has a harder time saving herself. Whether she actually does or not could be debated.

The second book of the duology, Shadowsong, has an interesting author's note in the front of it. The author first gives a content warning for self-harm, suicidal ideations, addiction, and reckless behaviors. She goes on to say Liesl has bipolar disorder, and further, that so does she. (The author.) She says Wintersong was her bright mirror, and Shadowsong her dark one. I can see that. Wintersong is a much happier book than Shadowsong, but the story would be incomplete without both books. Wintersong does end in a satisfactory conclusion, but Shadowsong just completes the tale in a way that I, at least, really enjoyed.

Shadowsong also contains more throwbacks to the movie - she falls and is caught by goblin hands; goblins form a giant face that talks to her about the old laws. These things don't happen in the same scene, though.

I loved the elements of music woven throughout the story; Liesl is a composer, and music - her music - is almost a character in its own right. It's definitely a huge plot element. It's in her connection to her brother, and her connection to The Goblin King. It's her way into the Underground, and her way out, and her way to reach back in.

It's an enchanting duology; I don't know if it would be as good for someone who didn't love Labyrinth the way I do. If you dislike the movie, I would probably advise against reading these. But if you like it or have simply never seen it, these would be good, atmospheric books to read in the dead of winter.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

DNF

That's it. I'm giving up. No matter how long I wait or how much I try to find something to interest me in this book, it's not helping. Just the thought of continuing this book makes me feel bad. It's like work, not fun. I did read almost 60% and at this point, that's all I'm willing to give.

If I can muster up the energy, I'll write a review of what I have read on my blog. But don't count on it.

I have been a massive fan of the movie Labyrinth since my teenage years (way too many years ago for my liking) and so when I heard about Wintersong by S Jae-Jones and its story about Liesel who travels to the underworld to rescue her sister who has been captured by the Goblin King to be his bride it evoked so many memories of this marvellous movie that I absolutely had to read it.

Set in historical Europe we are introduced to Liesel, daughter of an innkeeper who lives with her musical parents and her sister and brother. Liesel is a plain girl but a talented musician but she has always stood in her sibling's shadows are her sister Kathe is beautiful and her brother Josef is a violin prodigy. She will be the one who will be left behind to care for her parents and keep the inn running when they go off to follow their dreams and her own ambitions as a composer are sure to come to nothing. She loves her family but feels overshadowed and ignored.

From childhood her grandmother Constanze has told her tales of the Goblin King who seeks young women to steal away to the underworld to be his bride. Liesel has always held faith with her Grandmother's superstitions and remembers playing in the woods with a young man when she was a child who she was sure was the magical Goblin King. When her sister Kathe goes missing she finds out she's been taken to the Underworld, home of the Goblin King, where he intends to make her his bride. Liesel must follow her sister and rescue her before it's too late but the magical Underworld will be full of challenges she's never dreamed of.

This story is an unusual one, we often read stories of the Fae but in this case, it is a slightly darker story with Goblins and their wickedness focused upon and their tendency to trick and perplex us into believing things that are not true. I fell in love with the mysterious Goblin King in this story, his character is written cleverly so that we are drawn into his mysterious world and trust that deep within there is good in his soul. We are never given any clear resolutions as to who he is or his entire story but as this is the first in a duology I am hoping this might be explored more in the second book in the series.

Liesel is an interesting main character. As opposed to other books where our heroine is written as being ‘plain' but really they are startlingly beautiful, Liesel is in fact exactly what she is initially described as, an ordinary girl but one whose talents and compassion and soul mean her character is beautiful and we are pulled into the story of the Goblin King being captivated by her soul rather than her outward beauty. Her appeal ebbed and flowed through the story. At times I loved reading her point of view and at others I found she dragged a little and became a little tedious.

There is some wonderful storytelling in this book, the descriptive passages about the Underworld, the Goblin Ball and the surroundings through which Kathe and Liesel travel are immersive and draw you in. At times the character interaction can lag and at times I'd need to focus and keep pressing onward to the next chapter but it was overall a rewarding and good reading experience.

I will definitely be reading Shadowsong, the second in the series, if only because there are lots of untied ends from this book and I want more time with the enigmatic Goblin King. I want to know his story, I want to know more about the bride that returned to the world above and find out if what I suspect may be true. This book was good, and if I'm being really critical I'd give it a 3.5 stars out of 5 as I feel it was good but there is room for improvement in the second book.

Dit boek was echt hypnotiserend. De woorden waren zowel donker, verleidelijk, poëtisch, dromerig, fascinerend als weelderig loom, stroperig, log en traag.
Je wordt samen met Liesl het labyrint van de Ondergrond binnen gesleept en deelt haar verwarring. Maar terwijl Liesl in het verhaal begrip begint te krijgen, bleef de verwarring bij mij hangen.
Op een bepaald moment had ik er echt genoeg van, het verhaal vloeide tergend traag verder zonder dat ik een jota wijzer werd.
Het feit dat er ook een nogal grote klemtoon op muziek en componeren ligt, wat soms heel technisch wordt voor niet-kenners, zorgde mee voor een gevoel van langdradigheid.
Ondanks het feit dat ik moeite had het boek opzij te leggen, door zijn hypnotiserend karakter, bleef het verhaalgewijs extreem verwarrend tot op het einde, waardoor ik toch een dubbel gevoel heb bij dit boek.
Enerzijds ben ik fan van het feit dat het boek me echt naar binnen zoog, me meesleepte en in dezelfde dromerige staat bracht als Liesl zelf. Anderzijds heb ik echt het gevoel dat het extreem dunne verhaal gecamoufleerd werd door de mooie tekst, zonder dan ook nog een resolutie te geven op het einde. Hierdoor bleef ik echt wel op mijn honger zitten.
Jawel, er is een vervolg, waar dan hopelijk wel alle vragen opgelost zullen worden en de puzzelstukjes eindelijk een verhaal zullen vormen, maar voorlopig heb ik geen zin om weer in deze wereld te duiken. Ik heb precies wat tijd nodig om terug adem te halen, een andere sfeer op te snuiven voor ik maar kan denken deel twee te lezen.

It's difficult to rate this book. On one side, the writing os beautiful. It is clear the author loves classical music from all the details and the references, and since I love it too I really enjoyed the musical artistry in the words.

The story is good too, but I am again biased since it drinks from probably my favourite movie ever.

Characters are good, but not enough to make me fall for them completely? Still, good and interesting. A little repetitive at times but nothing horrible.

The love scenes are ridiculous, I must say. I had to re-read them to even understand they were happening. Let's not be that afraid of calling things by their names, please. If was really confusing.

So, I enjoyed it in general, but I disliked the ending A LOT. And I know there is a second book but I expected something different and it was quite underwhelming. I will read the sequel, though.

This was very beautiful and magical! It reminded me of Holly Black's dark fairy tales but in like, Olden Mozart Times. There's a lot of beautiful description of music–playing, composing, listening–that would probably land even better on readers who aren't totally tone deaf like me, but I still appreciated them.

“Wintersong” is the first in a duology written by S. Jae-Jones. The novel follows Liesl, who is obsessed about the ‘beautiful, dangerous' Goblin King. She has heard stories of the Goblin King her whole life, and these stories helped inspire her musical compositions. The Goblin King takes Liesl's sister instead of her and well she is some what jealous, so to save her sister she journeys to the Underground and eventually she replaces her sisters place as the Goblin King's bride.

The main character is annoying, and the romantic relationship within the novel is also very strange and weird. I did not enjoy this novel, I only gave this novel a 2/5 Stars.