Seasonal Fears

Seanan McGuire

Book 2 in the series:Alchemical Journeys

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competition for seasonal crowns

adolescent lovers

magic quest

fantastical north america

themes of love and treachery

writing style with snow white imagery

simplistic character portrayal

narrative fluidity issues

lengthy pacing

romance and adventure fantasy

deep love contrast with dark challenges

repetitive passages

less complexity than predecessor

Seasonal Fears by Seanan McGuire, the second book in the Alchemical Journeys series, follows teenagers Melanie and Harry as they find themselves in a competition to become the Winter King and Summer Queen. The book intertwines a complex outer story of magic and a quest to embody the seasons with a simpler inner story of a deep and unwavering love between the main characters. The writing style incorporates Snow White imagery and personifications of the seasons seamlessly, creating a compelling narrative that explores themes of love, loyalty, and treachery.

Characters:

The characters in this installment are primarily two adolescent lovers, portrayed as simplistic and idealized, lacking the depth seen in earlier characters.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style features repetitive and explanatory passages that detract from the narrative's fluidity, needing better editing to improve its impact.

Plot/Storyline:

The narrative follows teenagers in a competition for seasonal crowns, contrasting their strong love with dark, treacherous challenges, but lacks the complexity and intrigue of its predecessor.

Setting:

The setting features a fantastical North America focused on seasonal themes, but lacks the complexity seen in the previous installment.

Pacing:

The pacing is initially slow but improves significantly halfway through, although many feel it is still excessively lengthy.

Notes:

The author, Seanan McGuire, created characters that embody concepts like words and math in the previous book, Middlegame.

In Seasonal Fears, lovers Harry and Melanie compete for the crowns of the Summer and Winter Kings.

The book features a theme of love where the main characters are deeply in love without serious doubt of each other's feelings.

The story attempts to explain complex themes but often ends up redundant and convoluted.

Some readers found the plot simpler than that of the first book, Middlegame, which was more imaginative and intricate.

Critics feel that McGuire's writing pace leads to repeated information, pointing to a need for better editing.

Seasonal Fears includes familiar characters from Middlegame, described as a sequel within the same universe.

The book mixes magic and a love story, creating a contrast between a complex outer narrative and a simpler inner one.

Readers noted that the pacing improves significantly after the halfway point of the book.

Some aspects of the book, like the antagonist's complexity, felt toned down compared to the intense characterizations in the first novel.

Despite mixed reviews, former works by McGuire are often seen as classics, leading to high expectations for her newer stories.

Has Romance?

There is a significant romantic element as the central plot revolves around the love story of Harry and Melanie.

From The Publisher:

From New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire, Seasonal Fears is the extraordinary companion novel to Middlegame.

The king of winter and the queen of summer are dead. The fight for their crowns begins!

Melanie has a destiny, though it isn't the one everyone assumes it to be. She's delicate; she's fragile; she's dying. Now, truly, is the winter of her soul.

Harry doesn't want to believe in destiny, because that means accepting the loss of the one person who gives his life meaning, who brings summer to his world.

So, when a new road is laid out in front of them-a road that will lead through untold dangers toward a possible lifetime together-walking down it seems to be the only option.

But others are following behind, with violence in their hearts.

It looks like Destiny has a plan for them, after all….

"One must maintain a little bit of summer even in the middle of winter." -Thoreau

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings (4)

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1 comment(s)

Michelle L Beasley

Liked It

1 year

I like it and understand it. We often times get in our own way of doing things when something fearful arise in our lives, but we handle things our way rather taking it to God.

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