Winter's End

Oct 12, 2010 Cara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, male-protagonist, science-fiction

The whole premise of this book was very promising: oppressive government, four teenagers escape their boarding schools, there is a whole underground rebellion in the works, and to seal the deal we get a glimpse of the new kind of gladitor games. Sounds awesome right? Well it was interesting and kept my attention, but it fell a little flat.

Milena, Helen, Milos and Bartolomeo are the protagonists of this story and each contribute their own unique perspectives. Unbeknowest to them they have been pu...more The whole premise of this book was very promising: oppressive government, four teenagers escape their boarding schools, there is a whole underground rebellion in the works, and to seal the deal we get a glimpse of the new kind of gladitor games. Sounds awesome right? Well it was interesting and kept my attention, but it fell a little flat.

Milena, Helen, Milos and Bartolomeo are the protagonists of this story and each contribute their own unique perspectives. Unbeknowest to them they have been put into boarding schools not just because they are orphans, but because their parents were part of a rebellion. All their parents were killed and now it will fall on their shoulders to bring change again. Can they do it? Or will they fail like their parents before them?

It's kind of unfair to this book that there are so many great dystopian novels out there; it really had to bring something pretty original and mind-blowing to the table. It didn't necessarily have to be extremely impressive but have that epic feel to it. There were some really fascinating aspects like when we get to the part where a character has to compete in the gladitor games, but the book's main focus isn't that. My real problem was the dialogue sounded unrealistic, but that might be due to it's translation from French. I didn't get a good sense of where they were or even what time period it was. There is of course the whole love thing between the characters, which was sweet but not done as well as it could have been. Kind of far-fetched ending but it did try to keep it real in other aspects. Not everything is sunshine and roses and the idea of the cart-horse men was neat.

Towards the end I serioulsy got sad, so I did get attached to the characters, but not to the extent I am used to. Number one mistake is that it didn't have enough suspense. How do you expect us to get invested without that? Could have been epic but it is a solid story that will remind people that split-second decisions sometimes do really make all the difference.(less)

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Sep 27, 2010 Teresa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Winter's End by Jean-Claude Mourlevat is a dystopian YA novel translated from the French by Anthea Bell. The story focuses on four orphans who are confined to a boarding school. They know next to nothing of the outside world, until the events of the early chapters of the book. They soon find themselves in a world of vicious dog men, trustworthy horse men, and gladiatorial fights to the death. The Phalange, the government that oversees this world, has deliberately kept the orphans confined, for r...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Nenia Campbell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-baby-ya, x-2009s, everyone-hates-it-but-nenia

The Hunger Games meets Nazi Germany in this young-adult dystopian novel. There are several things that set Winter's End apart from the rest of its kind, though. One: the novel was originally written in French. So instead of taking place in America, WE is set in the ruins of an ambiguous European country, we never find out which. Two: with the exception of the genetically engineered humans, this is actually a quite plausible story, which makes it all the more frightening. And three: whereas other...more The Hunger Games meets Nazi Germany in this young-adult dystopian novel. There are several things that set Winter's End apart from the rest of its kind, though. One: the novel was originally written in French. So instead of taking place in America, WE is set in the ruins of an ambiguous European country, we never find out which. Two: with the exception of the genetically engineered humans, this is actually a quite plausible story, which makes it all the more frightening. And three: whereas other writers feel the need to over-explain, Jean-Claude Mourlevat takes the less is more approach, with characters and scenes that are developed, but just sparse enough to force the reader to engage his or her imagination for further details. Lovely!

WE starts off in an all-girls' boarding school. We learn that all the children are orphans, with little to no memories of their parents, who all seemed to have disappeared. The conditions are strikingly Dickensian, with children being forcibly coerced into obeying strict and unfair rules by seeing another suffer the crimes for their own misdeeds. The main character, Helen, is using one of her three yearly visits to her "Consoler": a nice lady who's like a counselor/surrogate mother, providing most of the children's motivation for good behavior as misconduct causes consoler privileges to be revoked. She takes her friend Melina with her as her companion/accountabilibuddy. On their way to the consoler building, they meet two boys- Milos and Bartolomeo - who are also visiting their consolers. When Helen finishes her appointment, she discovers that Melina has run off with Bart.

The two boarding schools are thrown into chaos as word gets out of their escape. Because it turns out that all the children in the schools are actually descendants of the original Resistance that fought against this tyrannical dictatorship. And Melina and Bartolomeo are the daughter and son of two of the key figures in said resistance. Does that scare the Philange dictators? Oh, hell yes.

A gestapo-like police chief hunts the two runaways down with his dog-men: savage creatures who obey only their masters, and tear people limb from limb in a shark-like blood frenzy with a single command. And that's not the only consequence, either. Torture and death loom large on the horizon, in addition to the sinister arenas where captured prisoners are forced to train and, ultimately, compete in a gladiatorial arena at the Philange capital for paying members of the tyranny. After three battles, the gladiators are free forever- but first they have to survive.

I really enjoyed reading this book! The translator did a fantastic job, and the story-telling borders on lyrical. I also loved the focus on music: Melina's mother was a nationally-beloved singer, whose folksy songs inspired revolutionary spirit in the same way that many songs inspired blacks to escape and join the underground railroad. I loved that aspect of this book, because it could have gone horribly awry, but Mourlevat carried it out so well.

He's also not afraid to kill off characters. Which can be a good or a bad thing. Good, because it really shows you how devoted the characters are to their cause. Bad, because dammit! We wanted them to succeed and Mourlevat insists on showing that all wars have casualties, and not all of them are on the enemy's side.

Really, this is an absolutely wonderful book that is in serious need of some serious love! I was so shocked to find this at my local used bookstore for only a dollar. I mean, it's obscure AND it's French, so what are the odds? Do yourself a favor- read it! Especially if you loved (1) The Hunger Games, (2) After, or (3) Borderliners.

4 to 4.5 stars!(less)

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May 31, 2012 Lauren rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: boarding-school, dystopians-end-of-the-world, my-little-runaway, orphans, roadtrip

It started out promising enough but Winter's End ultimately did not deliver.
Winter's End is about an oppressive government called the Phalangists. The boarding schools the four leads are in are very strict and cruel. This was where the book could have gotten away with not explaining enough how the Phalangists operated. The school discourages talking and the students are formed in solidarity not to turn on each other. No one in the community interacted with them and news of the real world was ke...more It started out promising enough but Winter's End ultimately did not deliver.
Winter's End is about an oppressive government called the Phalangists. The boarding schools the four leads are in are very strict and cruel. This was where the book could have gotten away with not explaining enough how the Phalangists operated. The school discourages talking and the students are formed in solidarity not to turn on each other. No one in the community interacted with them and news of the real world was kept from them. They had three outside appointments a year to see a consolor. Helen is depressed and has an attachment to hers so she takes Milena along with her.
Milena meets a cute boy named Bart and they run away together.
The school has a system that if a student doesn't return then another child takes their place "in the sky". The sky is a dark dungeon.
This system works because the students have a system that no one turns on the other.

I expected more consequences to result from Milena and Bart taking off as two other students were locked in dark dungeons in their place.
Bart felt some guilt but Milena had a birth right of being fawned over and had beautiful blond hair. She was underwritten to the say the least. Her mom was a singer for the resistance movement so naturally once people heard her sing then everyone would rebel against the government.
Why on earth do people today pick presidential candidates on actors ["Oooh Tyra Banks likes this guy so I will too."] and why was her mom that influential? That still didn't make sense people would rebel because she sang. The few glimpses of the town seemed like DDR Germany. The secret police hid behind newspapers and everyone told on each other.
You would think Milena abandonment that resulted in Catharina being imprisoned might have set off a chain reaction. Why didn't these kids work the systems too? There parents were all resistance movement people but surely Totalitarianism isn't inherited?
We didn't get enough of the outside world to explain the rebellion. This wasn't The Hunger Games. I often found myself at times wishing it was.

There were many ways it could have gone on to be interesting but then didn't happen. I kept waiting for Helen to do something other than pine for Milos or follow Milena around. They left her behind twice.
Milena and Bart live happily ever after cause their parents were comely and talented.
Helen never learned her precious Paula, a counselor called consoler wasn't that great. She earned her living off comforting the abused children but admitted to liking the system because she had a place in it.
I skipped the Milos scenes where he battled in the arena. His story wasn't very compelling.
I wish we'd have learned more about the other kids who escaped the school after they did it.

The bottom line is the resistance was weak like the fake French resistance so popular in films and a.. err.. *quiet voice* Sweet Valley Twin book I read as a kid.(less)

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Apr 24, 2012 David Barajas rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thought "Winter's End" was an...okay book. When I read the preview I thought it was going to be an amazing book, but ended up disappointed in the beginning of the book. After a while it did get more interesting, finally getting what was going on in the story. The story was really weird at times, like when the dog-men were introduced in the plot. I believed that the story's expository wasn't placed in a good location in the story. The book just started out with the story, and then explained ev...more I thought "Winter's End" was an...okay book. When I read the preview I thought it was going to be an amazing book, but ended up disappointed in the beginning of the book. After a while it did get more interesting, finally getting what was going on in the story. The story was really weird at times, like when the dog-men were introduced in the plot. I believed that the story's expository wasn't placed in a good location in the story. The book just started out with the story, and then explained everything as you went along, which was a bad technique since the story-line is very complicated. I also never quite understood what time period it was, because they seemed to have present day culture, but really disadvantaged in technology. The car was already invented, but the gun, or other equipment that would have been useful for the protagonists, weren't invented yet. This fact annoyed me a lot, and I really wanted to know what time period it happened on.
What got me to want to read this book was the preview. I read it and figured that it was a book about people resisting against a really bad government, which got got me interested, especially since it was fiction. When I started reading the book I was annoyed by the fact that being sent to an orphan boarding school really isn't that bad, there are way harsher things in the "real world" that I can think of. I thought the whole purpose of the resistance was pointless, but then again, I am not in an oppressive society with a phalange government.
What I hated most about the book was how the author was omnipresent. I guess it was pretty cool to see how everything fit together, but this technique got pretty annoying after a while. I do have to admit, it is a good way for an author to keep a reader hooked, because once you're done with a section, you'll want to read more about, but the next section isn't about the section you have just read. This technique also increased dramatic irony, but I thought that this type of irony was overused too much. This technique also made me feel bad about the antagonists after they died because I got to know them, like when Pastor died.
I also thought it was weird how Helen and Milos, and Milena and Bartolomeo fell in love so quickly. I know that they are the first man/woman they've probably ever seen their whole life, but they barely knew each other and already thought they were in love with one another.(less)

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Mar 19, 2012 LeNore rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I really tried to finish this book. I made it to 40%. When it became clear that I wouldn't be able to stick with it until the end I wanted to know why this book didn't appeal to me. It may well be a great book that just didn't resonate with me. So why? I didn't feel connected to the characters, not any of them. And the narrative described conflict and danger but I didn't feel any tension. Finally around 34% I noticed what probably kept me from getting into the book. The POV was a little too remo...more

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Oct 15, 2011 Elizabeth (Elizziebooks) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopia, young-adult, library-books

I was going to make a video about this because I really liked this book. A lot. But after spending 4+ hours on the Linger Read-Along video last night, I’m not feeling like making a video for this. So, here we go.

This past week, I read the English translation of Winter’s End. It was originally written in French, so some of the wording is a little odd. That’s not to say it’s hard to understand. It’s absolutely brilliant.

Winter’s End is about this group of kids (Bartolomeo, Milena, Milos, and Helen...more I was going to make a video about this because I really liked this book. A lot. But after spending 4+ hours on the Linger Read-Along video last night, I’m not feeling like making a video for this. So, here we go.

This past week, I read the English translation of Winter’s End. It was originally written in French, so some of the wording is a little odd. That’s not to say it’s hard to understand. It’s absolutely brilliant.

Winter’s End is about this group of kids (Bartolomeo, Milena, Milos, and Helen) who go to two different but very oppressive boarding schools. Their parents were killed when this group of barbarians (Phalangists, as they are called in the book). The four kids escape their respective schools in search for freedom and to find out what actually happened to their parents. Along the way, they find many hardships and even face death at times. And they’re actually the ones to lead their country’s revolution against this evil government.

I found this story to be quite interesting and original. The whole idea of a barbarian government oppressing them rather than some uptight dictator is new to me. At least as far as fictional literature goes. The story in this book is very fresh and original. I’m sure you could compare it to other dystopic novels or to novels set in World War II Germany, but really the story stands on its own.

The characters were amazing. From the four main characters to Catherine Paneck, Jahn, and the horse-men. You will love the good guys and absolutely loathe the Phalangists. Especially Van Vlyck. He’s just plain awful.

The setting was absolutely dismal. That is to show how harsh the times were. Just like winter, these people were battling through some terribly cold times. Everyone is questioned. Anyone who objects with authority is thrown in jail or ripped apart by the dog-men. And near the end of the novel, Spring comes forward and times get better. The Phalagists either disappear or give up their reigns.

Although on Amazon they say it’s an 8+ book, I’d say it’s more of a 14+ book because of some of the violence in the novel. So have a mature mindset and a strong stomach. I mean, if you could handle Hunger Games books, you can handle this.(less)

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Sep 14, 2011 Ebster Davis rated it 3 of 5 stars

The good: The starts out feeling fairly normal, like it's taking place in the real world (albiet in an oppressive bording school in France). But it's actually more of an alternate reality, the world contains some pretty fantastic things (including Dog-men and Horse-men). And there's a pretty neat mystery going on as to why the children are in the school and why they have professional "consolers" instead of parents.

The bad: the story was translated from French to english, and some parts of the b...more

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Jan 29, 2011 Angie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-fiction

I love dystopic fiction and this one definitely fits into that category. It is a dark and ugly world these kid inhabit and they have to struggle through it. I loved it. It was gripping and unique. I loved that it was a stand alone novel...so few books are written that way these days that it is refreshing to find an author that can write just one book about something. I really enjoyed the revolution plot. I thought the multiple narrators really brought the story to life. My only real quibbles are...more

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Jun 09, 2010 Cornmaven rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-school

Three stars is generous, but this is because I was never sure if the problems I was experiencing were becaues things got lost in translation (from French) or just not fabulous writing. I found myself skimming the last sections just to find out what happened.
My biggest difficulty with the narrative was the author's habit of recapping the story all along the way. Every time someone meets a new character, or meets back up with a new character, the narrative would launch into a sort of list of what...more

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Mar 24, 2010 J.Elle rated it 1 of 5 stars

This started out with SUCH promise in a girl's orphanage with strange, strict rules about everything, such as, each girl may only go see their consoler twice a year. But, within a few pages, the girls had left the orphanage and here the story lost its' way. One of the girls runs off with a boy from the nearby boys orphanage and they try to get to the bottom of whatever happened to their parents and if indeed, they were murdered by a corrupt government. The girl left behind ends up leaving with a...more

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Mar 04, 2010 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: washyarg

Helen and Milena are students at the girls’ school, Milos and Bartolomeo go to the boys’ school across town. Both schools are oppressively strict. Students are allowed off campus rarely, only when accompanied by another student, and must return to campus on time or a third student is punished. When Milena and Bartolomeo disappear one night, shy and quiet Catharina is thrown in the “Sky” – a dungeon like cell, and the dog-men are sent out after the missing teens. At this point, the reader is cer...more

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Jan 16, 2010 Donna rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen, adventure, fantasy

I checked this book out because it's a dystopia story and the description I read sounded really interesting. It started out well, with orphans at an orwellian boarding school who learn that their parents were murdered by the authoritarian government. It gets really exciting when a few of them escape and have to struggle to survive in the mountains in winter.

However, the writing was uneven. Some sections were riveting while other sections just fell flat. The book was written in French and transl...more I checked this book out because it's a dystopia story and the description I read sounded really interesting. It started out well, with orphans at an orwellian boarding school who learn that their parents were murdered by the authoritarian government. It gets really exciting when a few of them escape and have to struggle to survive in the mountains in winter.

However, the writing was uneven. Some sections were riveting while other sections just fell flat. The book was written in French and translated to English, so I wonder if some of the issues with writing can be blamed on the translator. One especially ridiculous passage (that had me laughing out loud) was the aftermath of a fight-to-the-death struggle for survival in the mountains.

There's another odd passage around page 218 where we see events from one character's point of view, then see them again from an unnecessary flashback that repeats some of the very same details without adding anything new.

The very worst thing about this book though, the unforgivable thing, involves the characters who are referred to as dog-men and horse-men. The dog-men are described as if they are dog-human hybrids. They have been trained to hunt down and kill people who resist the government. Since this is a dystopic fantasy, I assumed that they must have been the sad result of some government experiment, and that eventually the story of their creation (in a lab) would be revealed. But no, their existence is never explained.

Even more disturbing are the horse-men. I assumed at first that they must have also been the result of an insidious experiment, but then I got to page 277, and the chapter titled "The Horse-Men." Reading this chapter made me feel icky, and killed any enjoyment I had in reading the book. Here are a few of the statements made about the horse-men, who share some horse-like characteristics, but are still people .

p. 281 "All of them are brave, tough, and strong as oxen. But they are unable to learn to read or write ... people even saw a certain nobility in their rustic manners... horse-men need a master, they like to choose that master for themselves. And simple and uncomplicated as they may be..."
p. 286 "It certainly wasn't difficult to worm information out of these people."
p. 293 "The horse-women were no better at lying than their children."

There's more, especially about a young woman named Gerlinda who is treated like a faithful dog by the other people in the story.

I can't recommend this book to anyone.

(less)

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Feb 19, 2013 Rachel Hunter rated it 5 of 5 stars

I think that the book starts out a little confusing so I thought I would explain it. The main character Helen goes to an all girls boarding school that is right next to an all boys one. The schools allow no contact between the guys and girls. The kids are not allowed to leave except to visit their counselors, and even when they do they have to travel in pairs and if they are late coming back a girl (or guy)is put in the sky which is basically a prison cell until the girls (or guys) get back, if...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Joseph rated it 3 of 5 stars

Trilogies are popular in young adult fiction. So in his YA debut, popular french children's author Jean-Claude Mourlevat decided to write a trilogy. And in an impressive show of efficiency, Mourlevat finished his trilogy in just one book.

For Winter's End is three books in one! The first book is set in a strict boarding school, the second at a training school for gladiatorial games and the third during a music-inspired revolution against a repressive regime. How Mourlevat's editor let him get awa...more

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Mar 22, 2011 Liz rated it 2 of 5 stars

What's too bad about this book is that it first came out in Europe but didnt come out into North America until 3 years later and by that point the Hunger Games had already come out. This book isn't a series but bears such a striking resemblance to the Hunger Games that by the time I'd gotten half way through I was pretty much bored. Whereas the Hunger Games expanded into a trilogy, allowing for more time to add depth to the characters and the game itself, this book rushed everything and did the...more

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Dec 03, 2010 Courtney rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-adventure, sci-fi-speculative, teen-fiction

It's kind of like...a post-apocalyptic Les Mis! And I loved it. There's really something unique about this one. It seems so much richer and more sophisticated than many that would claim to share the genre. Alternating between four narrators, all escapees from state-run, prison-like boarding schools, the plot thickens when they learn more about their past and what it might mean for the future. There's so much more going on than can be addressed in a lil' ol' book review. I can only recommend read...more

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Jul 16, 2012 Anh rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, young-adult

The start was very promising, almost a can't-put-down. But sadly, that was all. The story was ridiculously simple, and if you'd excuse me, foolish. Win a country over a deep-rooted, ruthless organization by singing? Seriously?

Of course, they didn't just sing and win the capital. No, there were some (unorganized) riots and killing and violence, but the core of them all was the voice of a teenager. Her voice was wonderful it moved everyone, provoked them to stand up, to fight back. No weapons what...more

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Jan 06, 2010 Carllee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-lit

This book is fantastic – if you’re not too bothered by the pesky little plot and character problems like “I’ve known you for one day but you’re the love of my life!” I feel like I always come off too harsh in my reviews so I’m going to start with what I liked about the book first this time and then move on to its problems. Like most books I read I love them while I’m reading them, I get caught up in the plot and the characters and I often over look glaring plot problems. As it turns out my thoug...more This book is fantastic – if you’re not too bothered by the pesky little plot and character problems like “I’ve known you for one day but you’re the love of my life!” I feel like I always come off too harsh in my reviews so I’m going to start with what I liked about the book first this time and then move on to its problems. Like most books I read I love them while I’m reading them, I get caught up in the plot and the characters and I often over look glaring plot problems. As it turns out my thoughts on Winter’s End are no different. But you’re right – I was going to start with positives.

First, I want to disclose my bias. I read every YA sci-fi / apocalypse / dystopian book I can get my hands on. So I have read a lot of this kind of book. I don’t know which was way gives me bias but I know its there so I’m sharing it for a sense of full disclosure. Second, I should say that I was expecting this to be the first in a series and to my great, joyful surprise (and disappointment but I’ll get to that) this is not a series. This is a complete story, with an epilogue and all. This may not seem abnormal to some but there is a glaring trend in YA literature right now to serialize everything. It is one of my biggest pet peeves so I was relieved when I got to the final chapters of this book and realized that it was a finished story.

Probably most importantly I loved the ‘main’ character, Helen. This is, of course, arguable because there are 4 main characters all of which could be considered the ‘main’ character. Perhaps its my own perceptions or biases but I felt that Helen was given the most narrative voice, and the most character development so in my mind that makes her the main protagonist. I also love Helen because she is completely ordinary. I have never encountered a protagonist who had no specialness. And I loved it. I kept waiting for her specialness to appear, but it never did. Turns out she’s just like you and me. Sure all of her friends are super special and talented but that doesn’t mean there is anything extra great about Helen. She’s a nice person and works to do right by her friends but other than that, nothing. At one point in the book the other characters leave to go do something important and they leave Helen behind. When does that happen? Who has ever left their main character out of the main action? I was completely put off by this but not in a bad way.

Now the problems: First, the author spends far too much time on exposition. It’s ½ of the book. The catalyst: page 31. Start of actual action: mid-300’s. It’s like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows all over again. Far too much time is spent in the woods / running from the fascist leader / talking about planning and far too little time is spent on actual action. This book has 3rd person omniscient narration that jumps from character to character depending whose story the reader is receiving. However, in a strange way it’s also limited to Helen, which, I know, doesn’t make any sense. We, as the audience, are left out of all secret meetings. In some ways it reinforces Helen ordinariness but at the same time it’s a strange plot device. I can’t quite understand it. Second, while I loved Helen’s character is was also very strange to be following 4 characters and at the same time 1. Since Helen was the focal main character and she was often left out of major decisions I as the reader also felt left out. Finally, this was a book about something but not quite the characters or the throwing over of a corrupt government. I’m not quite sure which it was about. It’s touching and I liked but it’s not the greatest piece of fiction I’ve ever read. *(I feel I should mention here that this book was originally written in French and was translated into English. So some things are maybe, as they say, lost in translation).

Still with me? Okay. Read this book. It’s good. Just don’t think about it too much.

Book Rating: 7/10(less)

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Mar 15, 2010 Gen added it

Winter's End by Jean-Claude Mourlevat was a good book. It was about four teenagers that escape from their horrible boarding schools. It is about them and their journey to the capital. There they meet friends and decide to move against the Phalange, a corrupt government who was responsible for the death of the teenagers parents. The book is very interesting and had some action.
One of the teenagers in the book was Milos. Milos is 17 years old and is a strong guy with brown curly hair. He likes t...more

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Apr 04, 2009 Éowyn rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: misc

Aimed at a young adult audience, this had a little of the feel of the His Dark Materials trilogy. I found it an easy read, and read it in under one day. I was underwhelemed on the whole - I thought the ending was unsatisfying and anti-climactic and most of the characters 2-dimentional and under-developed. Some of it seems pointless and some of it unexplained.

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Jul 31, 2012 Kelly Springford rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jean- Claude Mourlevat uses "Winter's End" to emphasize that friendship is important on anyone's journey. Friendship is what keeps people sane, what keeps people together. He also shows that no matter who you are, what the odds are, to never give up, because as long as you set you rmind to something, you will prevail. Mourlevat uses the four unlikely heros to show that anything is possible and that anyone can be a hero in their own way.

In the beginning of the novel, the four main characters st...more Jean- Claude Mourlevat uses "Winter's End" to emphasize that friendship is important on anyone's journey. Friendship is what keeps people sane, what keeps people together. He also shows that no matter who you are, what the odds are, to never give up, because as long as you set you rmind to something, you will prevail. Mourlevat uses the four unlikely heros to show that anything is possible and that anyone can be a hero in their own way.

In the beginning of the novel, the four main characters start out in a prison, which they call their school. Then they escape and change their destinies along with everyone else's. This shows that Mourlevat believes that heros aren't just born and told that one day they will be heros. No. They are created through compassion, determination, and the desire to help someone, they aren't just born as a hero. Another exaple is when one of the main characters discovers her fantasic gift that could change the world, and she decides to use it instead of hiding it. This proves that Mourlevat thinks that when someone has the ability to do something, they will, and even though they may not change the world, they might change one person's bad day into a good day. Also, Mourlevat believes that there are happy endings, but not everyone's ending is a fairy tale. However, in his novel, he proves that there is life after the death of a loved one, and that someone can still be that happy person they were with that person they loved.

In the beginning of the novel, Mourlevat sets up two perfect couples. Two girls from one bording school who fall for two boys from the boys bording school.In the end of the novel, two of the main characters fail to have their happy ending. This made me realize that even in story books people don't have their happy endings; although, there is life after you lose a person. You can still move on, and this novel has shown me that you need to move on because all the mourning in the world won't bring them back, and they wouldn't want you to just have sad memories about them. They would want you to remember teh good.

I would recommend this book to almost everyone because it has everything in it. Action. Romance. Fantasy. Mystary. And above all it has life lessons burried into it. It also isn't a slow book, yet you get enough detail. This book also hooks you. It bounces back and forth from each person's point of view and you just want to get back to everyone's story to see what happens next. It is definantly a book worth reading! (less)

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Aug 17, 2011 Joy Mo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Hello obscure French book no one's heard of.
What's that?
~~The entirety of the human population~~ A lot of people haven't read you?
Well,
~~FUCK THEM~~ They should. In fact, I think a copy of you should be bundled with every Hunger Games book sold, and you will not be able to read the latter until you've read the former.
Then, I can judge ~~with extreme prejudice~~ people on which one they like better!
Sound like a good idea?

WHOOPS, I mean:

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Mar 02, 2011 Annie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopias, lonely-and-sequelless, least-favorites, 2000s-release, would-have-put-down, meh, male-pov, female-pov

First Look: 4/5 I honestly thought this would be a remake of The Hunger Games. The premise was so similar.

Setting: 2/5 It was actually kind of...bla. The whole creepy wow-this-could-be-us-in-a-century dystopia thing just wasn't there. I could barely figure out what even made it a dystopia at all. Every single place was drab and none of it stood out.

Characters: 1/5 They weren't likable at all. I was never cheering them on. There wasn't anything special about them to even try to make me like them....more First Look: 4/5 I honestly thought this would be a remake of The Hunger Games. The premise was so similar.

Setting: 2/5 It was actually kind of...bla. The whole creepy wow-this-could-be-us-in-a-century dystopia thing just wasn't there. I could barely figure out what even made it a dystopia at all. Every single place was drab and none of it stood out.

Characters: 1/5 They weren't likable at all. I was never cheering them on. There wasn't anything special about them to even try to make me like them. They made decisions that no *sane, common-sense-using* human would make. They felt sad at the smallest things, but were strangely emotionless when it really mattered. Helen and Milos, and Bart and Milena fell in love way too fast. It was kind of like, "Wow, I haven't seen a teenage boy in years! You're my only only option, so I guess that means I'm madly in love with you!"

Plot: 2/5 It was very slow. The jacket promised me a tyrannical government I would hate, an exciting resistance movement, and more, but I didn't feel like any of it was there. The characters kept going on about how the government was bad, but yet...there was nothing to back that up. The so-called tyrants never actually did anything wrong, from what I can tell. So why does everyone hate them? The resistance was really more of a large group that liked to complain. And by the way, you can't overthrow an entire government system by gathering a bunch of people, swarm a city, and yell. It just doesn't work in real life.

Cliché-ness: 3/5 The tyrannical government, the Severus Snape-like teachers, the oppressive boarding school...and unless you can be unique, they've been overused.

Writing: 2/5 At first I was thinking that some of the writing quality got lost in translation, but then I remembered that the same translator worked on Cornelia Funke's books, and those were amazing. So there's no excuse here. I can't count the number of times my mind was screaming Show, don't tell!

Likes: I do really like the name Milena. It's pretty. Other than that, not much.

Not-so-great: I hate it when a book's jacket promises excitement and intensity and just doesn't live up to it. This book had so much potential, but I had to force myself to get through it. And, speaking of Snape, was that what the author was going for with Van Vlyck? A sort of I'm-evil-but-I-love-her thing? It didn't work for me.

Total Score: 2/5 This book could have been so good. It had all the right ingredients for an awesome, The Giver/The Hunger Games epic dystopian novel. In the end, it was a flat, dull read. I wouldn't recommend it at all unless you really, really want to read it. But I can't see why anyone would.

Note: When I said Severus Snape-like, I mean that the teachers were mean and nasty (use both meanings of that word). Those teachers didn't have the awesome three-dimensionalness as Snape. I honestly think Snape might possibly be the most well-developed character of all time.

Read even more reviews at http://www.anniesepicblog.blogspot.com!(less)

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Oct 21, 2012 Evk rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, ya-d-a, škola-20-knih

Zimní bitva je dystopie, kterou česky vydalo nakladatelství Baobab. Napsal jí francouzský autor a označila bych jí jako kvalitní kousek. Nejde v ní o žádné milostné trojúhelníky a milostné vztahy mezi hrdiny jsou celkově potlačeny na minimum. Každopádně je to hodně silný příběh. Sledujeme osud sedmnáctiletých hrdinů, jejich vzepření se režimu a jejich boj za svobodnou společnost.
Příběh začíná v internátu, který je příšerná depresivní díra a postupně odkrýváte, že je všechno ještě tisíckrát horší...more

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Oct 06, 2011 Rebekah rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm going to agree with a lot of other reviews when I say that it started off sounding really interesting. The concept was great. I love dystopia. I love the idea of a boarding school for orphans whose parents were killed by the oppressive government. But we're not really told a whole lot about the boarding school, or why the school would provide them with consolers at all. I found the horse-men and dog-men fascinating but they're not really explained. The characters don't have much by way of pe...more

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Aug 10, 2010 Davina rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-fiction-sci-fi

It took me almost half of this book to figure out why I couldn't stand it: it is very badly translated, so the characters are awkward and the plot is jerky. TO be honest, I never finished it, but I don't think I was missing much...
It begins at a girls' boarding school, where the girls are treated as prisoners who barely get through their days. When two girls, on their way to their "consoler," meet two boys from a nearby boys' school they exchange information in order to stay in contact. But when...more

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Feb 03, 2010 Rachael rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really, really liked this story in the beginning. It took place in a boarding school with harsh ways and torture-like punishments. Though, in my opinion, the author quickly led the main characters away from this interesting setting to a new one that wasn’t as riveting. The characters were intriguing, and government opposition took a new spin on a book that I previously believed would be shallow. But while I liked this book for these reasons, the writing often became dull and flat. I’m not sure...more

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Jun 19, 2010 Gwen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, ya

This is a dystopian novel about a group of four orphans who decide to flee their sadistic boarding schools, and find themselves in the middle of a political rebellion. There's alot of really interesting characters and relationships going on, but none of them are central, so it's sometimes difficult to really get attached to any of them. There's gladiator training and fights to the death that reminded me a lot of the Hunger Games, especially since the fights are for the government. But there's so...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Amanda Balding rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-r-c-finished, reviewed

A good read, but I found that I had trouble differentiating the four main characters for most of the book. That being said (WARNING mild spoilers to follow) the death of one of the main characters near the end of the book was one best written death scenes I have read in a while. While I understand the morbidity of the topic, I still feel that I should continue with it. As someone who has read a lot of different death scenes in a lot of different books, I could probably count on one hand the amou...more

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