Excellent book with a genuine threat feeling.
I found it better to listen to the audiobook as I had trouble with a lot of the Jewish terms and names. It was much easier to hear it.
The Sisters were fully fleshed-out characters with their individual personalities and you could feel yourself routing for them. I always love books where the siblings have strong loyalty and this was just brilliant.
You could feel the love, acceptance and family loyalty that the two of them had for each other- even with the secrets that had to be kept between them.
It does start a little slow but once we get into the heart of the story we have a dark, atmospheric Russian Fairy tale with Grimm's tale vibes.
Loved it.

Really wanted to like this one, as I enjoy the weaving of magical realism in real-life stories, but this just didn't quite work for me in this case.

While this one didn't hit me as well as I thought it would, there were some amazing elements involved. i loved the overall fairy tale vibe of the book but found the characters a little annoying to read about. that being said, the diversity was spot on and i'd definitely read more from the author. the worldbuilding was fantastic and really got me in the setting of the story.

I was very excited for this book.. the premise, the cover... sounded amazing, I was expecting a lush world, full of atmosphere, but it fell a little flat for me, a bit too far from the fantasy world and more towards romance. Writing was okay, but not great.

I know you shouldn't judge books by their cover but....

I was so excited for this book - the cover, the synopsis. A lush fairytale, weaving Russian folklore with strong female leads. I was willing myself to be swept away into an atmospheric, lush world. I was hoping for something on the lines of Novik's Uprooted but, alas, there is only ONE Uprooted.

But unfortunately this falls a little flat of my expectations. In the end, it seemed to move away from the fantasy aspects into more of a romance and murder mystery, which is not what I was sold.

Though easy and quick to read, the execution fell short for me. A solid 3 stars, but not a book I'd recommend for the fantasy genre.

If you liked "The Bear and the Nightingale" or "Uprooted." this book is for you it is a beautifully paced, character-driven dark fairy tales and if that's what you love give it a go.

I loved this book. Very atmospheric, love the Russian folklore inspiration that I didn't know anything about it. The characters were so inspiring. The sisters were so different and yet so similar. They just wanted to live their lives at the best. This book is a story of a family love, what we are capable to do to protect our loved ones. The writing is unique, the author did an amazing job.

A bit of a eccentric read. A very unconventional fantasy book. Not one of my favourites but I did enjoy reading it. I liked that the book followed the story of two sisters who were very different from one another but that it didn’t matter.

Unfortunately I no longer wish to review this book as the first few chapters did not reel me in. Thank you for the opportunity.

The last TBR jar pick that I picked up in February was The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner, and thankfully this ended up being the highest rated of the five books in the first round.


Following two sisters called Liba and Laya, The Sisters of the Winter Wood is an ambitious debut novel. Their mother is a swan and their father is a bear, and throughout the course of The Sisters of the Winter Wood Liba and Laya discover that they take after their parents, making this a coming-of-age tale which is chockablock with magical realism.

Not only that, but Rena Rossner tackles the plight of the Jews, who are being shunned in a small town following the death of one of the local girls. Animosity is already in the air, but when a group of fruit sellers sets up in the local market – all non-Jewish boys, one of whom starts wooing Laya – their racist attitudes cause tensions to be raised, and an impending pogrom seems certain.

One of the things I liked the most about The Sisters of the Winter Wood was the difference between Laya and Liba’s viewpoints. Liba is very logical and follows all of her parents rules so her perspective is written in prose, but Laya has her head in the clouds (quite literally, she is a swan after all!) and is much less restrained, which means it makes perfect sense that her chapters are written in verse. The contrast between the styles makes it easy to tell the difference between the characters, making this one of the first dual perspective novel I haven’t had to pause while reading to remind myself who I’m currently following.

However, the reason I couldn’t give this five stars is because there are a lot of gaps in the story where one character will pass out while the other isn’t present and you’ll suddenly time jump to when they’re back together, meaning there are times when you feel you’ve missed a chunk and get a bit disoriented. All in all, this is a very strong debut novel and I’m definitely interested in seeing what Rena Rossner writes next (whenever her second novel gets announced!).

Loved this book, especially the sisterly love between our heroines. Loved the setting but sometthng was missing for me. Still, I enjoyed it. I just wanted a bit...more.

This is a beautiful magical book set in a forest in our own world but infused with the magic of fairytales - particularly those of Russian, German and Yiddish origin. I really loved the subtle hints of magic in this book and the true strength it took both Liba and Laya to accept themselves, and the journey to get there.

The sisterly relationship is the strongest one in this book, and I did really love Liba's devotion to Laya though on the other hand Laya was quite annoying, selfish and rash a lot of the time. There really wasn't any time given to the girls' parents leaving and basically everything going crazy - I'm pretty sure it was literally the next day that Laya began moon eyes at Fedir. I did enjoy the slower, sweet relationship between Liba and Dovid.

The book felt quite slow for a while, and some scenes and problems appeared to repeat themselves constantly. I would have liked the swans and bears to come into the book a lot sooner as I would have just liked more time to get to know them.

Overall a nice book and an enjoyable read but I needed to have a bit more substance and meat to the story I think. I enjoyed the overall quality of writing and will read Rena Rossner again.
4 likes

This is a story of two sisters, Liba and Laya who have been living with their Tati and Mami in the woods outside of Dubossary.

Social outcasts by their town for their father marrying an outsider and for their mother being a convert, they receive news that Tati’s father is gravely ill and Tati and Mami must travel to see him before he passes.

With Tati and Mami needing to travel, they leave the girls on their own as they don’t have the right documentation to go with them and to protect them.

This is where the fairytale side of the story kicks in, with the girls learning the truth of their heritage in that Liba and Tati can turn into bears and Lava and and Mami can turn into Swans.

Left with this knowledge and only each other to rely on they are tempted when the Hovlin brothers arrive in town with their fruit stall. They tempt the sisters while propagating hate against all of the Jews in the world.

I liked that the chapters in the story alternated with the sisters, I find that it’s sometimes easier when you have this changing perspective as well as the fact that the elements of the animals they shift into, reflects their own personalities.

If you have a knowledge of the Goblin Market, this story would probably make more sense and it might be worth looking this up before delving into this book if you aren’t familiar. It did really remind me of Wintersong, which I loved so it was great reading a book that ran along the same vein.

Overall, I did really enjoy this book. I love modern retellings of Fairytales and this book was no exception. There was a lot going on and once you got into it, it was fine to keep up with for me. I feel like this is a book I will revisit in a few weeks time.

It’s an enchanting story with strong ties to family, magic, love, pain and it not forgetting that it has a killer cover!

I totally get why this book is super important for many people out there, and I felt the intention and history behind every word, but I couldn't really get into the story and the characters.
In my opinion the actions were first really slow and not easy to understand, to then get absolutely hurried, with no real understanding from my side either.
"The sisters of the winter wood" is a reimagining of "the Goblin Market" and several other folklore stories. Its about two sisters, that can shapeshift into a bear and the swan, and this is their story. I often think retellings and folklore is really heavy on the language part, but often not that understandable on the story part, and that's what I also felt reading this one. I liked the lush language and the atmospheric world, but the actions were too rushed and really not that likable. Characters rushing from house to house without a sense, no one is really thinking and everyone is the whole in panic or ecstasy and in the end it was just too much for me.
This book also was really heavy in the Jewish Language department, which is great for the story and you could feel the depth of the story and how much effort the author put in it. But for me as a not Jewish Person it was really hard to understand AND read in parts and therefore took me way longer to read it than usually.
In the end its a gripping tale, with a surprising plot and lush language - but a little bit too heavy for me!

Unfortunately, I did not finish THE SISTERS OF THE WINTER WOOD and do not feel comfortable writing a review for it.

A dark historical fantasy featuring two sisters and their Jewish community.
Don't make the mistake in thinking this is a fluffy YA fairytale - there's a lot of darkness in here and sometimes that works and at other times it feels like it clashes with the more typical romantic elements.
There's a lot to cover in this novel. It is a coming of age story with the gradual metamorphosis of the sisters being both literal and symbolic of their maturing into you women (who also happen to be a bear and a swan), it's a retelling of the Goblin Market with charming young men not being quite so charming in reality and, most interestingly, it covers some parts of real, and brutal, history. The Jewish community at the centre of this story happily coexists with their non-Jewish neighbours before rumours lead to the Pogroms (murderous riots) and they must unite to save themselves.
The chapters switch between the sisters with one written in prose and the other in verse. Liba is in prose and receives the greatest amount of time and, I think, gets the better character development. I'd have liked more verse so that we had more of Laya's perspective and got to understand her better.
One criticism I have is in the handling of the parents and how very convenient their removal was to allow the story to kick off - but then, I suppose, this is a folktale/fairy tale and you can't have them getting in the way.
An enthralling, magical story about the love between sisters, growing up, faith and resilience.

I adore this book I also have it in hardback I loved it that much. It’s an entertaining read and retelling, captivating writing, wonderful characters. The difference in POV of the sisters is so well done. A great read and thoroughly recommended

Death lives here. Death will always live here.

Oh my god. Where do I even start?
This was an amazing book. I loved how diverse it was, I adored the fairytale retelling. The writing was breathtaking and magical, rich in detail and I could see everything playing out in front of me. The Sisters of the Winter Wood dances between despair, something beautiful and danger, with revenge and betrayal at is core. It talks about the issues surrounding a society undermining and hating on their women and Jewish people. The character building was an A+, bringing them to life in a way that made it feel incredible. It was a gorgeous story and I can't recommend it enough.

I got 16% into this before giving up. The writing felt very stilted and unnatural, and I didn't warm to the characters. I just couldn't get into the story

Lyrical and alluring, this books feats on fantastical imagination and the complexities of sister relationships. Slow-paced, and fairytale-esque, it's immersive from the very beginning, and the alternate chapters - one prose, one verse - add to the heavy atmosphere.