Hello, I'm Richard Nicholas Nimz, prospector of the written word. I've also talked about the Michael Printz award, supposedly for general excellence in fiction for youth. Last year I reviewed Walter Dean Myers' Monster, and I could believe that book was worthy of at least a shot at the title. This book, however, I'm not quite sure of. It's not bad, but I don't know if I'd call it the best youth fiction of a year where Rick Riordan released The Kane Chronicles: The Throne of Fire and Brandon Mull released Beyonders: A World Without Heroes (although I'll admit this book is more unique, I enjoyed those more). This is Midwinterblood.
Citation: Sedgwick, M. (2013). Midwinterblood. New York: Roaring Brook Press.
(For those who've noticed the discrepency with the release dates of the above books, this book won the 2014 Printz award for its first American release the year prior [competing with Rick Riordan's The House of Hades and Ruta Sepetys' Out of the Easy, in my humble opinion]. It was first released in the UK in 2011 by Odion Indigo.)
Plot: One day, far in the future, a reporter goes to a small island that seems to have stayed in the medieval days. Once on the island, he finds a woman he can't help but fall in love with as well as the leader of the island, whom he can't help but be suspicious of. He investigates the island, but he can't be prepared for just how much of a mystery he finds. This is a mystery that had gone on for thousands of years, and for many, many lives, all involving the same names.
Impressions: The mystery was quite intriguing and I thought that all of the revelations made sense. While the author cuts away from the first section at the most annoying part to do so and doesn't get back to the hanging plotline until the very end of the book, the other stories are mostly good. However, the author's use of overt symbolism can get annoying, some parts of the story might not add up, some parts of the story might add up in a slightly disturbing way, and the ending might not be satisfying. I could get involved with the mystery aspect of this story, but everything else can be iffy. Thus, I'd use this as part of a display for writers, showing how to do a mystery well, since that's where this book really shines, with its use of foreshadowing. This is an impressive book, but I just didn't enjoy it that much. You might.
Second opinion: "[A] story that's simultaneously romantic, tragic, horrifying, and transcendental is more than enough to hold readers' attention, no matter their age."
Citation: Midwinterblood. (2013). Publishers Weekly, 124.
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