The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner – Review

Published: September 25, 2018

Publisher: Redhook

Series: Stand alone

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 464 (Hardcover)

My Rating: 3.0/5.0

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

Raised in a small village surrounded by vast forests, Liba and Laya have lived a peaceful sheltered life – even if they’ve heard of troubling times for Jews elsewhere. When their parents travel to visit their dying grandfather, the sisters are left behind in their home in the woods.

But before they leave, Liba discovers the secret that their Tati can transform into a bear, and their Mami into a swan. Perhaps, Liba realizes, the old fairy tales are true. She must guard this secret carefully, even from her beloved sister.

Soon a troupe of mysterious men appear in town and Laya falls under their spell-despite their mother’s warning to be wary of strangers. And these are not the only dangers lurking in the woods…

The sisters will need each other if they are to become the women they need to be – and save their people from the dark forces that draw closer.

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I had been looking forward to reading The Sisters of the Winter Wood for several months mostly because it had such a lovely cover. I’m susceptible to such shallow influences as that, but I admit the synopsis was appealing as well. And then there were the early reviews… I swear I don’t think some of these people would dare to say anything negative about a book!

This book was written from the perspectives of Liba and Laya, two Jewish sisters who live outside the village of Dubossary. This is the beginning of a turbulent time filled with anti-Semitism and fear mongering, but when the story starts, things are mostly calm. Their parents leave to visit the sisters’ ailing grandfather, but before they do, their mother explains their family’s secrets. Liba can transform into a bear like her father and his people, but Laya… she is a swan as her mother and her people. Laya’s also a flighty dimwit whose chapters are written in a poetic format. Liba is much more sensible, stable and enjoys food, traits I can support.

Despite being warned about strange men and the possibility that the swan people will come to steal her away, Laya immediately begins to hang upon every move of the strange new fruit sellers in the village. She’s a dumb teenage girl who’s easily swayed by flattery and gifts and Liba, though sensible, can’t seem to share her wealth of young wisdom with her sister. As the story progresses the village becomes more hostile, flooded with anti-Semitic rumors and propaganda. People are scared and matters become worse when bodies show up withered or mangled. There are bears in the woods and people have gone missing…

The Sisters of the Winter Wood just didn’t have enough magic to capture my imagination. As a matter of fact, I thought it was fairly boring and the characters felt flat to me. Liba’s slow blooming relationship with one of the village boys was sweet and added a bit of emotional investment to the story, though it didn’t make up for the lackluster plot. This ended up being an exceedingly average read that will likely not be picked up again.