Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Review: Winter's Light by M.J. Hearle (Winter Saga #2)



THE DETAILS:
Pages: 448
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy
Release Date: 01/05/2012
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
RRP $16.99

Received from Publisher.
Second Book in Series.

THE BLURB:
Blake is gone.
He sacrificed himself to save Winter, leaving her alone, unprotected... hunted.
An ancient enemy is rising, but Winter is no longer the innocent girl who was fated to die at Pilgrim's Lament. She will not wait to be saved. She will do what she must to survive, even accept an unsavoury alliance with those who destroyed her love.
In the gathering darkness, the enemy of an enemy is not always a friend, and Winter must find the strength to stand alone and fight for the one she loves. For she is the key to unlocking the secrets beyond the veil of shadows.
And she is Blake's only hope.

THE REVIEW:
It's no secret that I enjoy being surpirsed by a story and 'Winter's Light' did just that. I had really enjoyed its predecessor 'Winter's Shadow' and despite my high expectations for this novel I still managed to enjoy it more than I thought I would. Like 'Winter's Shadow', 'Winter's Light' has twists, turns, deceptive characters and a story-line that spits in the face of a lot of typical YA paranormal romances out there.

To start off with, 'Winter's Light' is quite slow paced. It started to feel a bit 'New Moonish' (Mind you, like most sequels) and I thought that the charcters were all changing for the worse and reinacting something quite typical and horrible; Winter misses Blake, Winter is sad about it and Winter meets up with rival male Sam... At this point I was a little dissapointed at how this was all playing out. It made the book a little difficult to get through - I guess it probably didn't help that there was a Deb Ball going on and our house was full of excitement. After I made it about a quarter of the way through, this all changed. The book was suddenly much easier to read due to some interesting changes happening in the story.

I really liked that Winter had to change sides. I got to learn more about the Bane and see everything from a new perspective. Suddenly Demori are the enemy and the cats - which were once protectors - are now something to be weary of. Along with this role reversal there is a quest to save Blake (Yes, the girl is the heroic one, or at least attempting to be heroic) there are big  doubts as to whom Winter can trust. See what I mean about it getting better?

Amoungst all the supernatural dramas in Winter's life, she still has regular problems to deal with. She's worrying about someone who she knows is being lied to and she's unsure about what she's going to do with her life. I think this gave the story the realistic edge it needed. Winter's problems don't all revolve around the supernatural love of her life, which is awesome!

Again, I really enjoyed all the surprises in 'Winter's Light'. When you keep saying or thinking "OMG" or you are explaiming "HA!" during a novel, you know that you are reading good quality YA!

Another thing that I enjoyed about 'Winter's Light' that I also appreciated in 'Winter's Shadow' was the great writing style. The imagery was just great!

Overalll, I think this book is worth 4/5 stars. It was a great read, but a little slow to begin with. If you haven't yet, you should definitely check out 'Winter's Shadow'. Also, how gorgeous is that cover?!
Your Favourite Blogger,
Natalie

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the review, Natalie. I'm glad you enjoyed it.