isaarusilor's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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joanacosta's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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embla_v's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful

3.75

En ganska bra bok som jag läst pga skolan. 

Boken handlar om en 7-åring vars mormor dör vilket leder till att flickan skickas ut på en skattjakt. En jakt efter sanningen om alla hon känner och framförallt om sin mormor. 

Rekommenderar till all som gillar Backman böcker. 

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cassie7e's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I didn't love this book and I'm not totally sure what I didn't like about it. It seemed to try to make up for the dark parts with sweetness that came across as saccharine instead. I did appreciate how the fairytales and real world stories interwove.

Since I've soured on JKR the constant references to Harry Potter don't feel quite so whimsical and heartwarming.

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missknown's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The sweetest book I've ever read. Told from the perspective of a almost 8 year old girl, Elsa, who just lost her grandmother and best friend, and now as to learn how to deal with all her emotions. The narrator takes the simple view of the world from a child perspective to tell a Christmas tale of loss, love, friendship, and above all else the power of imagination.
Most of the characters, if not all, can be frightening, challenging or straight obnoxious. Although the author manages to transform those same characters into likable people. Explores their past and stories, making them more human, making the reader see they are in fact good people that occasionally do shitty things.
Despite the harshness of some stories and the topics it explores, like grief, the book is very humorous. The light-hearted view of the world from Elsa's perspective and the chaotic energy of Elsa's grandmother, there is plenty of funny moments to break an otherwise very melancholic narrative. 

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qiqiwooo's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this book overall, the characters are extremely loveable and it’s wonderful to see how they change as the book progresses. I feel like this book talked about many more serious topics than I first expected? I finished it in 2 sittings ~3 and a half hours altogether

I think the further I read the more I grew to love the other characters and the more I grew to dislike the main character ?? She gets frustrating and also doesn’t seem to fit her age of 7 (nearly 8) years old  (elsa stop feeding chocolate to the “dog” and referring to your neighbour as “the monster”) 

Also the aimless referencing to “miasma” got really confusing after a while and I felt like I couldn’t really tell what was really happening?? It made it harder to read and made me go “oh huh ??” a bunch of times

Anyways, it was a good experience and whilst I dont regret reading it the ending felt well, not very ended?? Which I dont tend to enjoy greatly, especially since a lot of the characters are kind of left with issues that I wish were explored more
a good example being w/ wolfheart someone please help the poor boy what ?? is he just going to be left with his definetely unhealthy obsessive compulsions whatt

also as relationships are explored in the stories I wish there were more experiences actually between the characters ?? I love alf

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brookebatesratesbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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bookedwithbrie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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themirrorball's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

for the first 150 or so pages of this book i could not get into it. i didn’t understand what was going on with the fantasy worlds (miamas, etc.) and it almost seemed like it was trying too hard to be quirky, which was a lot considering i love this author’s writing. but halfway through it really picked up and i began to fall in love with the characters and become interested in where they were going. the way the fairytale kingdoms tie in with the real world is insanely creative and interesting to read about. while i did find the plot towards the end a little predictable, i didn’t mind because the story seemed to be focusing more on characters anyway. once i got past 200 pages, i couldn’t put this book down.

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amavi's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book wasn't for me, I disliked many things. I wanted to dnf it at least five times. I didn't like the fairytale aspect, the repeated references, the very unbelievable situations, felt very meh, I was annoyed many times, and I forced myself to finish it. The ending is wholesome and a lot of things come together into a cute story, that's why I bumbed it to a 3 star read. The writer did make me cry again, I'll give him that but A man called Ove was quite better for me personally 

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