Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Review: Winter Damage by Natasha Carthew

Title: Winter Damage
Author: Natasha Carthew
Genre: Young Adult, Adventure
Release Date: September, 2013 (Australia)
Source: Bloomsbury Sydney. Thank you!
Goodreads | The Reading Room



On a frozen Cornish moor, a fifteen-year-old girl lives in a trailer with her dad and little brother. Ennor's mother left years ago, when things started to go wrong - and gradually their world has fallen apart. Now her father's gravely ill, school has closed, and Ennor knows they're going to take her brother away if things don't pick up soon. So three days before Christmas, when the wind is cold and her dad's health takes a turn for the worse, Ennor packs a blanket, a map, a saucepan and a gun into her rucksack, and sets off to find her mum and bring her home. Ennor thinks she knows where she's going. But this journey will change her life for ever - it becomes a battle for survival, a heartbreaking story of love and friendship, and a fable about not finding what you were looking for, but finding something more important instead . . .
Review by Nara

To be quite honest, it's hard to put a finger on what exactly I liked about this book. I mean, obviously I liked it, seeing as though I gave it a 4 star rating, but for some reason, it's really quite difficult for me to articulate why. Partially this may be because while the book was an enjoyable read overall, there was no one thing that particularly stood out for me. The characters were well developed, but not amazing. The plot was pretty average. Although if I perhaps had to choose one thing that sets this book apart from others, it would be the narrative voice.

Winter Damage has quite an interesting narrative voice. It's written in third person perspective from Ennor's point of view, with quite a distinctive voice- think Blood Red Road or The Assassin's Curse or even The Knife of Never Letting Go. Carthew puts a weird twang on the characters' speech which aided in creating quite memorable characters- or at the very least their speech was memorable. After reading the book, I almost caught myself thinking "I int" to myself instead of "I'm not".
Ennor Carne was alone in the world and she would die alone. This was her truth, her destiny.
In terms of the characters: while I did like them, I didn't at any point feel any connection to them. I was simply observing them, not really feeling what they were feeling (as I feel should happen in a good book). The greatest evidence for this was probably the fact that I felt nothing whatsoever when one of the central characters dies (DUN DUN DUN!). I'm also quite unsure how I felt about how quickly the relationship between Ennor and Sonny (a gypsy girl Ennor meets on her "adventures") built up. It was really kind of an insta-friendship (does that term even exist? Well if it didn't before, it does now :P)

The book on the whole is pretty slow. And not a lot happens. Well, I suppose that actually isn't true. Quite a few things happen, but they're not really exciting things. No actually that's not true either, some things are exciting, but for some reason they just didn't impact me as profoundly as I would have expected. For example, one character kills another (keeping it vague and spoiler free hehe). My response: yeah, okay... I guess in a way, the plot just seemed a bit unrealistic to me. I do have to say, though, I thought the ending was perfect, and really tied together the story rather nicely.

It's a bit difficult to put a label on the genre of the novel. I guess it's technically a post-apocalyptic or dystopian, but there was actually a feel to it that made it seem like it was set in the past. If you like lyrically slow writing and memorable characters with weird-ass accents, then I'd definitely recommend this book to you.

Liked it

Ratings
Overall: 7/10
Plot: 3/5
Writing: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Cover: 3/5





14 comments:

  1. Weird-ass accents. Well, okay . . .

    It still must be good in some way if you would give it a rating of 4 stars. But from that small excerpt, the writing must be really nice. I like lyrical writing, so maybe I'll try it if I can find a copy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are really weird. If you've read the Dust Lands series, it's kind of like that.

      The writing is definitely very lyrical and descriptive, so it's worth a read if you like that style of writing :)

      Delete
  2. Ooh, I really like the font for the author's name on the cover! This book is completely unfamiliar to me, and this is an extremely intriguing review. I agree with Shannelle: the author's writing does sound very beautiful, from that short excerpt you gave us, but it's so strange that you enjoyed it when nothing really stood out to you. I don't think I'd enjoy it much though, because as you probably know, I'm a person who likes action and interesting things happening in her books. (I just have... attention problems, okay?!) But apart from that Winter Damage sounds pretty unique. Great review, Nara!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like the red writing as well! It's slightly raised so it feels nice to run your fingers over it :P

      Yeah the majority of the book just seems to be Ennor walking in the winter snowscape. It's weird. I guess it's kind of like The Fellowship of the Ring where not much is happening except they're walking around.

      Thanks Meg :)

      Delete
  3. I haven't seen any publicity for Winter Damage, but that cover is beautiful! I don't necessarily think that this one would be for me because I tend to like a little more action. But, I do like unique narrations, so I still might have to give Winter Damage a chance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not 100% sure, but I think that might be because it's not out in the US yet. Yeah, if you like action, it might be best to avoid this book. This one's more about appreciating the descriptive writing, I guess.

      Delete
  4. My main problem was connecting with the characters- it was hard. I guess I was harsher on this book than you were because the book was really hard to get into as well.

    Fab review, Nara! <33

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I really couldn't connect with the characters at all. Even when the person died at the end I was like, alright, whatever.

      Thanks Mel :D

      Delete
  5. Hmm, sounds like you liked it but it wasn't too standout. If anything, at least it had a unique 'voice'. I haven't heard of this book either, thanks for drawing our attention to it!

    Jeann @ Happy Indulgence

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you like unique voices, this book definitely has one! But yeah, while I did like it, there wasn't anything in particular that I can say was amazing, if that makes sense.

      Delete
  6. I know what you mean by average, I think there are a lot of books like that. Hey, at least it's better than being awful, LOL. I love how you mentioned the book has a unique voice, that was the best thing about Blood Red Road.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, definitely better to read an average book than a terrible one haha. I feel like the voice in this book was quite similar to the one in Blood Red Road, but perhaps more lyrical.

      Delete
  7. It happens to me sometimes too. I mean I read a book and I really like all the elements but non of them blow me away. I guess it makes a good balance to the story. I have never heard of this one but I must check it out. Great review :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a nice way to put it! Yeah, the book was pretty balanced I guess.
      Thanks Tanja :D

      Delete