Maggie Stiefvater got this on my radar when she tweeted lovingly about it a few months ago. It’s got a dreamy, melancholy atmosphere, and it hurts a little to read. The moments of kindness and sweetness balanced out the sadness somewhat (I’m firmly on the side of taking the ending literally), but I’m not sure who to recommend this to. I guess adults and kids who gravitate toward WW2 settings won’t be shocked when a book has sad content, and they’re probably the best audience for this, even if the description does promise winged horses. I recommend reading the print copy so you can see the lovely illustrations by Dan Burgess. ( )

Too ambiguous for my taste, although I feel like I learned a lot from a historical perspective. Historical fiction and fever dreams. ( )

This is astonishing, magical, and totally unexpected. A book to keep and to savour forever. Congratulations to all for the brilliant combination of story and illustrations.
The story follows an orphaned, ill girl who is sent to a country hospital (a former manor house) during WWII to be treated for tuberculosis, but although that is the story line, that is not really what this book is about.
Life, death, imagination, magic, the veil between the worlds, the realms of possibility, the lasting impressions of love. If this book was a poem, I would call it a meditation, reflective but not mournful, though it deals with the hard, inescapable facts of our mortality. Viewed through the eyes of children, this novel is an absolute treat. Memorable and somehow inevitable: reading about the secret winged horses of Briar Hill immediately makes me believe in them - as if I had always known that they existed. Read it; I hope you will be just as pleased to add these divine creatures to your inner landscape. ( )

I didn't like it that much, but let's be clear, this isn't a pedestrian book, it's thoughtfully written by a talented author. I just found it overwhelmingly sad, frustrating, and ultimately unsatisfying. It may or may not have an unreliable narrator, or it may or may not also have unreliable other characters. The author admits there is no definitive way to intrepret her ending (I HATE those kinds of ending).

So it was with reluctance I continued to read, rather than pleasurable excitement.

(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!) ( )

Not exactly the kind of book I like best but it was well written and a compelling story. ( )