Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

by S Jae-Jones

[Empress of Sass]

I received an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.
2.5/5 stars

I’m in the pits of despair. I wanted to love this book. I was prepared to have it become my next obsession, to inspire and delight me, and bring me back to one my childhood loves.

As soon as I learned of it’s existence, I knew I had to read it. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. It was never the right time to buy a copy, so I kept it at the top of my list, gazing longingly at the gushing reviews online and wishing for the day when I could be one of those smitten reviewers. That day was never meant to be.

Imagine how thrilled I was when I saw it was available for request on Netgalley. I polished up my profile, hit the request button and squealed with delight when the book downloaded to my kindle app. I was in the middle of another book for review, so I had to wait an excruciating extra three days before starting Wintersong- curse responsibility to hell!

As a child, every friday night my parent’s would stop at the local video store, and for years I would pick out the same movie- Labyrinth, starring David Bowie’s pants bulge. I knew almost every line of that movie by heart, and I was guilty of frequently wishing for the Goblins to take away my baby brother.

I listened to the soundtrack- still do in fact. When I’m sick, its one of my go to comfort watches. I was incensed when my grade 9 English teacher chose to use Legend for our unit on the Romantic Vision, when the other teacher used Labyrinth. All this backstory is to let you see dear reader how much I thought I would love this book.

“What’s the use of running, if we are on the wrong road.”
― S. Jae-Jones, Wintersong

The fast and dirty spoiler free reason I did not love the book like I thought it would is that it did not contain any of the things that made me fall in love with Labyrinth. Below this point, I’ll get into more details about why that is, so if you want to keep yourself completely spoiler free, I’d recommend stopping at this paragraph. In the words of the Goblin King himself,”Turn back before it’s too late Sarah”. Just know that the writing was fine, there’s some quotable moments to make a pretty desktop book art out of, but I found myself struggling to keep reading because of a dull, plodding plot, an unlikable protagonist and some really questionable aspects to the romance story line.
The Spoilers Section: (because I love a good spoiler- seriously, I actively seek them out)


The characters felt flat, and while Sarah in Labyrinth and Liesl in Wintersong share the predisposition to believing they are put upon, misunderstood special snowflakes who the world never gives its proper due to, that was not something I enjoyed in the movie. Liesl pretty much enslaves herself to her family, taking on responsibility for all of them, mostly unasked of her, and then holds grudges about not being appreciated. Her internal narrative is a very judgmental and condescending one, and while her family is definitely not without faults and foibles, they also don’t deserve as much criticism as Liesl heaps on them.

“Once there was a little girl who played her music for a little boy in the wood. She was small and dark, he was tall and fair, and the two of them made a fancy pair as they danced together, dancing to the music the little girl heard in her head.”
― S. Jae-Jones, Wintersong

Take Kathe for instance. She’s written as the bubbly, boy crazy sister who flits across the surface of life, all shallow beauty and ease. Liesl clearly resents not being as beautiful as Kathe, and keeps her at arms length- choosing to see her as vapid, but never allowing Kathe to show her the depths that we eventually learn are there. Kathe may be focused on her upcoming marriage, but Liesl doesn’t see how Kathe is dreading it- she only agreed to the marriage to help her family. With Liesl though, she’s the single victim in the family- no one else can be a martyr.

“A sparrow is beautiful in its own way,” Käthe said severely. “Don’t force yourself to be a peacock, Liesl. Embrace your sparrow self.”
― S. Jae-Jones, Wintersong

With her brother Josef- or Sepperl as she calls him (with zero explanation as to why), Liesl treats him the opposite way- while Kathe is a eye roll inducing burder, Josef can do no wrong, he’s the brightest star in the sky. I find it a little strange that while Liesl loves music and composing, she is not allowed to actively pursue it because the family is investing in Josef’s talent- I’d think she, given the rest of her relationships/opinions would be likely to resent him, yet she doesn’t at all. We find out near the end that Josef is actually a changeling, her real brother having died in early childhood. This is a B plot and is not really explored much other than he weakens when he travels too far from the Underground, and he needs someone to love him in order for him to stay on the surface.

Her parents and Grandmother were after thoughts at best- Mom is beautiful and wants to keep up their social status and appearances. Dad is a former musician turned drunken inn keeper who struggles to keep a roof over his family’s head and is living vicariously through his son’s music. Grandma is a crazy old lady who believes the legends and fairy tales of the past and is always popping up to cryptically warn or criticize Liesl, then fading back into the bushes. Well not literal bushes but I’m sure you get it. Spoiler- Granny’s stories were true! There is a Goblin King! More on him later.

The Goblins were stock characters, with only 2 of them being named goblins and the rest being tragically underutilized set dressing. Twig and Thistle are our two named goblins, assigned to act as weird little ladies maids for Liesl when she is staying Underground. One is more helpful, one is more harmful, both kind of blend into each other, and I have difficulty remembering which was which or giving a description of them other than earthen gobliny? It seems some goblins are small and imp like, others can appear more human but exact species and taxonomy descriptions you will not find in this book.

The changelings suffered a similar fate, they could have been interesting characters to explore but instead sat on the sides lines for most of the book. The one changeling who is relevant to the plot stays nameless, and his inevitable betrayal of Liesl is not in the slightest bit shocking. After he betrays her, that story line just kind of stays there, not going any farther.

“You are a man with music in his soul. You are capricious, contrary, contradictory. You delight in childish games, and delight even more in winning. For a man of such intense piety, you are surprisingly petty. You are a gentleman, a virtuoso, a scholar, and a martyr, and of those masks, I like the martyr least of all. You are austere, you are pompous, you are pretentious, you are foolish.”
― S. Jae-Jones, Wintersong

Now for the one I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for- I know I was hyped to meet him. The Goblin King, Der Erlkonig, the…austere youth? This author is super fond of archaic words. If I had to read “troth” one more time I may have pitched my phone across the room. Which would have been fine, as I’m due for a free upgrade anyway. I didn’t want to accidentally bean one of the dogs though, so I bit down on my fury and forged along. Right, the Goblin King. David Bowie he is not. This version was allegedly the Lord of Mischief, feral like a wolf but charming like prince and…no…I just never saw it. He has a “MYSTERIOUS BACKSTORY” but it’s over used and played to give him an air of mystery, but it feels forced and fake. I wanted him to be darkness and light, magic and mystery, swoon worthy and dangerous, but no. He was just kind of there. Waving his fingers and saying “look, magic”. Okay, that didn’t happen but that’s what it felt like. I was like Dorothy, pulling the curtain back on the wizard, revealing his mundanity and wishing I had never grasped the fabric.

Moving on from the characters. The setting felt flat and dull, when it should have been magical and enchanting. The labyrinth itself was just tunnels underground. The few times Liesl had to “escape” it were some of the dullest parts of the book, when they should have been the most exciting. Where was the Bog of Eternal Stench? The Riddle Doors? The lovable characters you meet along the way? Most of the traversing the labyrinth scenes amounted to the Goblin King stalking and taunting her, and Liesl having to avoid been gnawed on by hungry goblins. The one trap that actually worked on her- the Goblin King using magical music to mess with her mind was thwarted by the fact that apparently if you are tone death like Kathe, the music doesn’t work on you. The changelings tried an illusion on Liesl too but that one was a bust because “they couldn’t mimic Josef’s talent with the violin accurately.”

“Have I not?” I gestured to the night sky. “I have beaten you and your godforsaken labyrinth.” “Ah, but are we not, in some ways, all trapped in a labyrinth of our own making?” the Goblin King asked lightly.”
― S. Jae-Jones, Wintersong

I found most of the locations underground to be pretty uninspired and poorly described. With how much effort the author put in to describing music in this book, I thought the setting would receive the same rich and lush descriptions. I was left wanting. The mental impressions of the settings left on me at the end was that the world above was glistening snow and blackberries and rich red wines, while the underground was brown and stone and tangle mossy roots that smelt of damp and rot.

Story wise, there’s just not much here. The majority of the book is the unhealthy love between Liesl and the Goblin King, but I’m not sure why they actually LOVE each other. Liesl is just desperate for someone to choose her, to find her beautiful, to validate her worth and existence. The Goblin King…loves her music and her…spirit? The constant references to Liesl not being beautiful really got old fast. She is so hung up on it, on the cross she has to bear for being born “plain”. Note- she is not ugly, she has no disfigurements, she is just average.

“What I wouldn’t give to be the object of someone’s desire, just for one moment. What I wouldn’t give to taste that fruit, that heady sweetness, of being wanted. I wanted. I wanted what Käthe took for granted. I wanted wantonness.”
― S. Jae-Jones, Wintersong

The sex scenes were uncomfortable. I don’t mind sex scenes in novels- as long as they serve a narrative or character purpose. These ones were excruciatingly badly written, and the connection between the two loves felt so forced. I also hate that Liesl constantly slut shamed her sister for flirting, but she is so ready to jump the Goblin King’s bones and is super sexually aggressive for someone so critical of her sister acting in anyway aware of human sexuality. Own your sexuality Liesl, but don’t deny your sister hers. It makes you a hypocrite. The whole “passion of sex causes the Goblin Queen to burn her life out faster” is some serious bullshit too.

“You are the one who wanted a happy ending, my dear. So you tell me, how does the story end?”
Tears slipped from my face, and he wiped them away with his thumbs.
“The foolish young man lets the beautiful maiden go.”
“Yes.” His voice was clotted thick with unshed emotion. “He lets her go.”

I can’t even begin to unpack how dumb I found the ending. The whole point was that she was supposed to sacrifice herself to give the world light and warmth, yet they are able to just say “Just kidding, take-backsies on our vows” and have her walk out of there, pretty much consequence free? I don’t get it but, full disclosure by that point I saw the light at the end of the book and I was barreling toward it, eager to be free of the Labyrinth of Boringtude. Book 2 is probably about how she finds a way to free the Goblin King, because she loves him. Despite knowing nothing about him, and never really having a good time with him. One of them was always upset.

The writing was okay. There’s quotable lines sure, but I found it to be overwrought and finicky. For a tale about characters who are supposedly wild and untameable, the writing went in the opposite direction style wise and was discordant.

This is definitely my least favourite read in the last year, and probably the most disappointing read for me in awhile. Have you read it? Were you like most people and loved it? If you loved it, I’d love to hear why in the comments. If you were disappointed and left feeling personally victimized by this book, let me know. We can go to group therapy together