Rating: 
Summary: Skip this & read Riddlemaster again
Review: When McKillip's good, she's very very good, and when she's bad it comes out like this. As in many of her other books, McKillip deals with mysterious characters who live on the edge between reality and dream. However, here she errs by making the character who should be mysterious her narrator. This makes all Roisin's eccentric behavior (slipping off into the forest to commune with the brook, that sort of thing) seem like a pose. A real child of nature, living by instinct, wouldn't be writing this book; a narrator, by definition, has to be self-conscious, and Roisin shouldn't be. It's too bad, because this could have been a good one if told from a different point of view.
Rating: 
Summary: Spellbinding
Review: "They said later that he rode into the village on a horse the color of buttermilk, but I saw him walk out of the wood....Corbet, he called himself to the villagers. But I saw him before he had any name at all."I've read those opening lines at least five times by now, but each time they send a chill down my back. There's something indescribable about Patricia McKillip's style, something otherworldly. It's amazing. Each time I read it, I wonder anew at the beauty of her language and imagery. The story of Winter Rose is deceptively simple. A young man named Corbet comes to claim his old family hall. People begin to talk of a curse that was laid upon his father and passed down to him. A young woman named Rois becomes obsessed with finding out about his past, only to find that what was once a harmless story has become deadly serious. But like all of Patricia McKillip's books, the closer you look at it, the less simple it becomes. The storyline begins to twist and turn unexpectedly, as the characters find themselves caught inside a winter that for some of them may never end, a dream from which some of them may never wake. No matter what they do, no matter where they turn, everything leads them back to the three rooms where Corbet's father was cursed, three rooms from which they may never escape. Winter Rose--with its intricate themse of love and obsession, reality and dreams--is, to my mind, the best book Patricia McKillip ever wrote. I keep coming back to it, and each time it casts its spell over me anew.
Rating:
Summary: Often lyrical, but doesn't live up to its potential
Review: McKillip knows how to use words to good effect, but all too often I got the feeling her protagonist, Rois, was rephrasing something she'd said earlier, or describing the exact same scenario over and over. How often does Rois announce to her family that she is going to traipse off to Lynn Hall _again_? I'd guess at least a dozen times, and each time her father or sister, Laurel, warns her against it. How often does Rois run off into the night, either to stagger back home or to be found having some kind of fit? Also, I don't need to be reminded every time Corbet shows up on the scene that he is beautiful but mysterious. Show, don't tell. And finally, Laurel. I spotted the 'twist' concerning her very very early on, and I dreaded it. In fact, the only reason I finished this somewhat short novel was because I hoped against hope that it wouldn't be resolved in the traditional way. Oh, but it was... I had heard this book praised to the skies. I wish I could appreciate it, really. But it really doesn't bear up, in my opinion, especially not to the many comparisons to Robin McKinley.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Expansion of an Old Tale
Review: This one is a wonderful expansion of the ancient tale about the young woman winning her lover back from the realm of faerie. McKillip takes a short faery tale and turns it into an engrossing novel with fully developed characters and plot. As always, her lavish treatment of detail makes for beautiful reading and I can't get enough of her prose.
Rating:
Summary: Words Are Magical!
Review: Patricia McKillip has a new book out, but if you have not read Winter Rose, buy it now. Some books are just magic. This is a truly wonderful love story. Rois love Corbet, but he seems to be hiding all sorts of secrets, all of them tied to the woods. There is myth and magic in that dark woods. Some evil, some good. But love and family wins all. This is a special book. Lyrical and lovely.
Rating:
Summary: The most eloquent fantasy you'll ever read
Review: It's books like these that makes Patricia McKillip one of my favorite authors. From her one-sentence paragraph beginning to the breath-taking conclusion, I kept this book open until I finished, and when I did, I wanted to read it all over again. I find it amazing how one simple storyline can turn wild right in front of your eyes. The lyrical prose was so beautiful and it doesn't take away from the story at all. The characters are unique, and the whole mystery is kept a lingering secret as it's held at a distance. I wish there were more books like this, but if there were, it wouldn't be so special.
Rating:
Summary: Ethereal adult fairytale
Review: When Corbett Lynn arrives in the town at the wood's edge to claim his family's ruined manor, it sets the small town gossip's tongues wagging. Stories of his father disappearance and his grandfather's murder -- believed to be patricide -- are unearthed, combined with talk of a curse on the family. Rois lives in the house next to Lynn's with her family. A bit of a wild child, she runs barefoot all summer long, collects herbs and brews healing teas, and knows all of the hiding places of the woods. When Corbett Lynn, and his half-heard mystery enters her domain, she naturally perks up, and sets out to find the true story behind the Lynn curse. She starts out interviewing the various people in the community, piecing together a tale of child abuse, loneliness, and magic. Not entirely satisfied, Rois investigates the ruins of the manor. What she finds is a good deal more complicated than the townsfolk can guess. There is indeed a curse on the Lynn family, one that involves Rois' family as well. When winter comes, the curse begins to take effect. Rois finds herself trapped in an ancient web of love, desire, loss and death. The imagery in this story is startling. McKillip makes dream, reality and poetry a seamless whole. This short novel is dense, and the atmosphere of longing is so cogent that you can almost touch it. In one scene, Rois sees the wind, and perceives riders on them, the color of gray clouds. Winter is personified as a beautiful, crystalline, but cold woman, who arrives to gather her harvest of broken dreams and bitterness. Rois, the narrator, is the strongest character in the novel. I see her as a cross between the intense, introspective nature of Emily Bronte crossed with the elemental spunk of Kate Bush. This novel was nominated for the annual Mythopoetic Award.
Rating: 
Summary: Engrossing
Review: There's a certain sound to the speech of faerie that makes each gesture or change of light significant, and spills into the recesses of the mind to be carried throughout the day. McKillip is a master of such a speech, thoroughly evidenced through her novel, "Winter Rose." The story is a common one at heart: a coming-of-age story with romance at its core and a generational mystery beneath that. The plot moves quickly and beautifully along, although Rois' frequent stops to press the elderly for stories pertaining to the mysterious curse at times seem a tad too convenient - but regardless, the book is one that enchants the reader...firmly to his seat. Indeed, "Winter Rose" is so well written, with characters that say so much, though many do nothing extraordinary, that the sheer pleasure of reading it overwhelms the rather unsatisfactory ending (what is it about modern fantastist that they must make love stories ambiguous at their close?), and earns it a more than hearty recommendation for those who long to catch at wonder.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifuly Written
Review: Where to start?Winter Rose isn't an easy book to descibe. Well, first of all, this book has the most beautiful setting I've ever seen(er..read?). You can picture everything,from the hidden well down to the smallest flower. You feel as though you're in a world spun out of roses and light. Unitl the winter comes, of course. Secondly, the characters seem like real people. They each have their own personality quirks that make stand out(such as Crispin's laziness, Shake's case of hypochondria, Rose's love of the wood). They're,well, three dimensional, not the run-of-the-mill fantasy characters. And lastly, the plot is very original. Yes, it has hints of other things in it, but it your usual elf and sword fantasy. You can't guess the entire book's content from the first chapter and the description on the cover. So, in nutshell, this is a very descriptive, beautiful book. To warn you though, the action is virtually non-existant. I liked it, though, because of the language, the interesting storyline, and the fact that a few moments of reading it completely sucked me in. You can't read it bits at a time:). So, make of this review what you will, i hope you'll at least try it. I know i liked it pretty well
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Summary: The Snowball Effect
Review: I have found, as the years progress, that I am not as excited about reading fantasy as I used to be. When I started reading it, I thought, "Yup, this is just the normal fantasy. Whopee." However the end of the first book intrigued me, so I continued to read. By the third book I was spellbound. What a progression! Stand alone, I would rate the last book as one of the best fictional books I have read. Thank goodness for a fantasy that will actually make you think about the world around you!
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