One of the biggest things I appreciated about Winter Rain was Chris’ pace during the early installments. He gave details as they would occur to the point-of-view character, allowing them to unfold as the reader went on, as opposed to explaining everything for the benefit of the reader. I REALLY prefer the former style to the latter. I don’t want to be told what’s going on, I want to find out.
I’m not used to reading first person fiction, but Chris did a pretty good job with it. Most of the time it flowed, with the occasional glitch.
I really liked the pragmatic take on werewolf culture and the decided lack of high drama. The early and increasing angst on the part of the main character, however, was quite a turn off. I was reading regularly and checking for updates up until the story ground to a halt. The last few chapters, while I liked their premise, were inundated with angst and redundancy. Several times I felt like I was reading the same chapter over again. I think it would be great if the story picked back up and was able to move past the angst, because I feel like it has a lot of potential.
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First of all, I have to say that Chris Poirier has accomplished something I thought was absolutely impossible: a story in present tense that is actually fun to read. After the first couple of episodes, I completely forgot that I was reading present tense, and it never once threw me out of the prose. Amazing? Absolutely.
The prose and writing style were also very engaging, the descriptions were good, the pacing was fast and kept me turning the pages. Chris is a very good writer, he hits hard and drags you down the rabbit hole before you can think to escape. I read all of his chapters in a single night, and then got frustrated when there weren’t any more.
For all of that, I want to give Winter Rain five stars. There are two reasons I don’t, although I’m aware other readers might not agree or just might not notice these things to be bugged by them. All the same, I don’t feel like this would be an honest review unless I am . . . well, honest.
First, the plot is hazy and so far (as of part 74), not particularly original. I’m pretty sure this is meant to be a coming of age story with a little "war" thrown in as a backdrop, but unless the author throws in some twists ASAP, then his coming of age and winning the war is all a foregone conclusion (as is getting the girl) and the whole plot really doesn’t hold my interest. I have yet to see anything unusual about the story line, since I’ve read the same hazy plot in a dozen books before and I’m still waiting to be surprised by something. As this is a work in progress and unfinished, this could change with future episodes, and if it does I will increase my rating to match.
Second, the personality of the main character, Tiergan, seems to be defined by sulky obedience with occasional flashes of temper tantrums, which is not exactly admirable. While I understand this is a coming of age story in which we can expect a young, raw teenager to grow up and make something of himself, after 74 installments, I’m still waiting . . . and he’s just getting more sulky with more tantrums. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m losing interest in the story simply because I’m losing interest in the main character. Don’t get me wrong, I like flawed characters and anti-heroes as well as the next person, and I get desperately bored with perfect people, but I would like to see a character with personal strength leading the story. He can be good or evil, as long as he has personal drive, momentum, or just plain old backbone.
However, in the last couple of episodes there was a hint that maybe Tiergan will change his ways, and if this proves to be true through future episodes, it could redeem the character. He may start to take responsibility for himself and his actions, which could easily lead to him taking a stand for what’s important to him, which would be good. At that point I would be rooting for him. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
In conclusion, I found Winter Rain to be a fast paced, well written, engaging story with real potential. And Chris will always have my admiration for the miracle of making first-person present-tense storytelling work.
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I sat down today and read through all ten parts currently posted.
I have to say it took me a while to get into the story, as the point of view shifts back and forth between characters, the dialogue sounds forced, and there is an overabudance of backstory (the same-old telling instead of showing pitfall).
Several chapters in, however, the story picked up. The plot itself is intriguing: Ketrin is a wild child, brought up by "lupinoids" (basically wolves), and thus posseses many wolf skills such as telepathy, rapid healing, and so on. He decides to rejoin human society in an attempt to understand humans, so he can report back to the wolves. Of course, things go awry what with greedy villagers, and the general human misconception that wolves are evil creatures.
The story then splits off to follow several other characters, amongst which Sherinel (Ketrin’s lover) and Mavrida (his human mother). There is also intervention by superior beings (gods? something else?), and a sense that there is a larger, darker force at hand. So far, so good.
The problem is, however, that the writing has very little sense of suspense and emotion. The narrator is omniscient, making it hard to sink in and enjoy the story. It doesn’t help that the narrator knows every character’s thoughts and motivations, and tells them to you, meaning that the plot loses much of its potential tension. That said, I am generally not a fan of stories with a mythic narrative tone (which Ketrin has), so perhaps fans of myths may enjoy the writing.
Furthermore, later chapters seemed to devolve into a PWP, and the sex scenes aren’t even smutty and enjoyable. As a matter of fact, all the explicit sex became repetitive, and I ended up skipping through the sections, as they hardly seemed to contribute to the plot. And, frankly, I found it a little hard to believe that everyone would be getting off with everyone all the time.
The characterization is quite weak, as well. There is a large cast of characters, but I got very little sense of diversity in their thoughts or actions: they all fit into one of several neat boxes. It didn’t help that the reader hardly gets a sense of a character’s growth. Ketrin adapts to human society unnaturally fast, with few examples of struggle or confusion; Sherinel goes from coward to strong leader in a matter of days, his previous insecurities forgotten despite having been abused as a child; and so on. I found it particularly hard to swallow that Ketrin and Sherinel declare their love for each other in chapter 2, after only having spoken a couple times.
There are also continuity errors, particularly with regards to the timeline. Sherinel is told he’s been unconscious for days, but the story then picks up with ‘a day or two later’. The same occurs with Ketrin’s arrival in human society: his weeks of adjustment are described in a couple sentences, then the story picks up as if no time has passed at all.
The website itself leaves a lot to be desired. It’s quite cluttered, and feels very much like an old-school 1990s website, the text stretching as wide as your screen. To make matters worse, the website is cluttered with author story notes and commentary, while all I wanted was just the meat itself. Yes, there are ‘skip to story’ buttons, but that didn’t make the excess commentary any less annoying.
The author is honest about being unskilled with web design, but with so many free blogging options out there, it hardly seems like an excuse.
What I did like about the website was an inclusion of a hand drawn map on the side of the chapter, showing the setting. With each chapter, as new areas of the world are discovered, the map becomes more detailed.
Overall: the plot itself is interesting, but the writing lacks suspense and intrigue. The author shows all his cards too quickly, meaning that the development of the plot becomes predictable, and all that is left is a series of repetitive sex scenes.
Recommended for patient readers who enjoyed The Jungle Book and like a lot of explicit sex.
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