There's a lot of weighted mood here, a lot of pain, but all of it is crafted into something absolutely stellar.

There is love between mother and son, between siblings, between friends and yes,of course romantic love which also included love between two people of the same gender.The moment I read this book's description, I knew I had to read it, and as soon as I started, I raced through it, lost in the oddly hypnotic world that the author creates. Ultimately, Midwinterblood reminded me of Romeo and Juliet and The Lottery with a dash of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, minus all plot and with poorly drawn characters whose sole identifying characteristics are relationships through seven generations.

If you're the type of reader who prefers goth over gore, mood over mayhem, or disquiet over digust, this is exactly the kind of horror story that will appeal to you--one that is odd and beautifully strange, and one written with passion, but also with great restraint. And for a second chilly tale, this time set in a more down to earth but equally atmospheric cabin beyond the Arctic Circle, try Revolver.

I have a habit of reading weird stories and I appreciate them, so if you want a different kind of story that doesn't have any cliche on it, then go please check out Midwinterblood. Though the story as a whole itself is very complex when put together at the end, the base of the world and the characters themselves are very simply built - no convoluted overwrought characters fighting in a love triangle like so much of we've seen in YA as of late. Across the different tales, the two souls appear as lovers, mother and son, brother and sister, and artist and child as they come close to finding each other before facing the ultimate sacrifice . Things weren’t properly explained and maybe (probably) that wasn’t the point of the story but it still made me sad.

They're presented as flowers that a) make people on the island live forever, b) make people on the island infertile, c) have healing powers, and d) can also be brewed into a tea that causes forgetfulness.

Each story occupies a different genre, though they all have the dreamlike quality that pervades the entire novel. Further reading suggestion: If you want another strange and unsettling story by Marcus Sedgwick, try My Swordhand is Singing, a spine-chilling tale set in seventeenth century Romania. Eirikr's words to his wife brought a tear to my eye: "I will live seven times, and I will look for you and love you in each life.

Even though the idea of reincarnation and epic love has been done to death, I was still intrigued by it. In seven stories that take place on the strange island of Blessed, two souls seek each other over a period of a thousand years. The Archaeologist also doesn't fit the pattern of the other stories: two gothic, two stories which explain the plot and two stories which you just know would win Oscars were they films, The Archaeologist is the odd one out and doesn't belong in any of these pairings. The prose was sparse, providing only the barest hints of description, but I like it that way, and it made the whole thing feel a bit like a folktale, or perhaps something a Viking storyteller would recite. Poe's story, as well as his own fascination with technique, provided that final piece of the puzzle.I can understand why Sedgwick's books are not very widely read, especially seeing as he is writing for a teenage audience. Playing on tropes of folklore, horror, myth, historical fiction, fantasy, and science fiction, Sedgwick imaginatively weaves something highly original and completely compelling.