Review: Midwinterblood - Marcus Sedgwick

Have you ever had the feeling that you've lived another life? Been somewhere that has felt totally familiar, even though you've never been there before, or felt that you know someone well, even though you are meeting them for the first time? It happens. In 2073 on the remote and secretive island of Blessed, where rumour has it that no one ages and no children are born, a visiting journalist, Eric Seven, and a young local woman known as Merle are ritually slain. Their deaths echo a moment ten centuries before, when, in the dark of the moon, a king was slain, tragically torn from his queen. Their souls search to be reunited, and as mother and son, artist and child, forbidden lovers, victims of a vampire they come close to finding what they've lost. In a novel comprising seven parts, each influenced by a moon - the flower moon, the harvest moon, the hunter's moon, the blood moon - this is the story of Eric and Merle whose souls have been searching for each other since their untimely parting. Beautifully imagined, intricately and cleverly structured, this is a heart-wrenching and breathtaking love story with the hallmark Sedgwick gothic touches of atmosphere, blood-spilling and sacrifice.

Visit Marcus Sedgwick's website more information.

Review:
I've heard a lot of good things about Marcus Sedgwick but I have to confess that this is the first of his books that I've actually read, I'm going to have to go out and get more though because Midwinterblood is a compelling book.  The story is told in seven sections and begins in the future, slowly each section takes a step further back in time until sometime before the 10th century.

Although each of the stories can be read separately and all have very different themes there is an overlaying plot that is woven through each section.  As you read each section you start to unravel clues that add meaning to events in the previous stories.  This layering was incredibly well done and made for a fascinating reading experience, I particularly loved the way the story moves backwards in time until you reach Eric and Merle's first life together.  You get great little snapshots of different eras from future, to present, to during WW2, right back to the time of the vikings.

Midwinterblood is a story about soul mates but it also shows love in many different forms, Eric and Merle aren't always partners, they are sometimes brother and sister or mother and son but in each of their lives they cross paths and find a way to be together.  I don't want to go into anymore detail about the plot as it would be far to easy to spoil the book for you.  What I will say is that the book has a great gothic feel too it and the island setting is incredibly creepy.  If you're looking for something different, something that is easy to read and that will stick with you long after you read the final page then look no further - Midwinterblood is the book for you.

Source: Received from Orion in exchange for an honest review

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