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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
This is the first in the series of lawyer Thóra Guðmundsdóttir.
The crime that opens the book is the murder of German postgrad history student Harald Guntlieb at the University of Iceland. Some gruesome things have been done to the body that appear to be linked to his research into witchcraft. His family in Germany are not happy with the police investigation, so they ask their family lawyer Matthew to team up with an Icelandic lawyer – Thóra – to dig deeper.
Now, Thóra is the first to acknowledge that she is not the obvious choice here. She’s a contract lawyer at a small firm that doesn’t handle any criminal cases. But she does speak fluent German, and her firm could certainly use the work.
Thóra is a single mother trying to actually spend time with her two children but this case inevitably involves long hours and off-duty homework. She learns about the history of witch trials, ancient books about spells and some unusual hobbies among Harald’s friends. This does involve the occasional info dump, which I tended to find a bit dull, but I liked Thóra enough and found the crime intriguing enough to keep reading. There are some good red herrings and Sigurðardóttir has a sense of humour that I appreciate.
Read my full review:
The crime that opens the book is the murder of German postgrad history student Harald Guntlieb at the University of Iceland. Some gruesome things have been done to the body that appear to be linked to his research into witchcraft. His family in Germany are not happy with the police investigation, so they ask their family lawyer Matthew to team up with an Icelandic lawyer – Thóra – to dig deeper.
Now, Thóra is the first to acknowledge that she is not the obvious choice here. She’s a contract lawyer at a small firm that doesn’t handle any criminal cases. But she does speak fluent German, and her firm could certainly use the work.
Thóra is a single mother trying to actually spend time with her two children but this case inevitably involves long hours and off-duty homework. She learns about the history of witch trials, ancient books about spells and some unusual hobbies among Harald’s friends. This does involve the occasional info dump, which I tended to find a bit dull, but I liked Thóra enough and found the crime intriguing enough to keep reading. There are some good red herrings and Sigurðardóttir has a sense of humour that I appreciate.
Read my full review:
After reading all the translations available of the Children's House series, I decided to explore Sugurdardottir's other works. Last Rituals did not disappoint. Thóra Guðmundsdóttir is as interesting a character as Freyja was and the mystery she is trying to solve takes us back in time as it delves into dark religious mysteries worthy of [a:Dan Brown|630|Dan Brown|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1399396714p2/630.jpg]! I have already borrowed the second book in the series from the library and will probably end up buying the rest.
This was not bad, but it lacked many of the things i look for in Nordic Noir. (I'm hopeful this may be a first book and/or translation issue, so I've put book #2 on hold at the library). Specifically, while the story was complex and intriguing, and I didn't guess the culprit, one of the things I love most about Nordic Noir is the sense of place that comes through (call it armchair travel, I suppose.) This one had such potential, set among various historic sites in Iceland, but really fell short of drawing me in. On top of that, I didn't find the character immediately compelling, and some of her characterization felt vague.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I mostly wanted to read it because I'm interested Scandinavian- and Nordic-related literature but I generally don't go for murder mysteries. It's a decent story, and it took me until the author revealed who the murderer was to figure it out for myself, so I have to give her points for that.
I think at this stage I'm Icelandic Novel'ed out, but it was nice to have a change of pace with a female protagonist! Especially since I had a hard time breaking away from the Kurt Wallender's (lead character from Henning Mankell's novels) image over my time spent in fictional Iceland.
I guess I went into this book expecting a sci-fi twist where witchcraft is actually performed (and takes affect) throughout as opposed to the more realistic approach the book offers. That aside, I did enjoy following Thora and Michael as they unearthed clues to disturbing murder of a university student. Provided there is fact behind the tales of Icelandic Witchcraft (I'm not sure, haven't checked validity), I found it to be an interesting historical lesson as well as a fun novel to read. (for example, they mention that those practicing witchcraft in Iceland were predominately male, as opposed to similar instances in Europe and America).
One random plot point I found out of place was what happens to Thora's son. There really wasn't a great connection, except for the speculation that he was involved in the group practicing witchcraft.
All in all, good read, but I'm ready to leave Iceland...for a while at least...
I guess I went into this book expecting a sci-fi twist where witchcraft is actually performed (and takes affect) throughout as opposed to the more realistic approach the book offers. That aside, I did enjoy following Thora and Michael as they unearthed clues to disturbing murder of a university student. Provided there is fact behind the tales of Icelandic Witchcraft (I'm not sure, haven't checked validity), I found it to be an interesting historical lesson as well as a fun novel to read. (for example, they mention that those practicing witchcraft in Iceland were predominately male, as opposed to similar instances in Europe and America).
One random plot point I found out of place was what happens to Thora's son. There really wasn't a great connection, except for the speculation that he was involved in the group practicing witchcraft.
All in all, good read, but I'm ready to leave Iceland...for a while at least...
In this first in a fairly new Icelandic series, a German grad student at a Reykjavik university is found murdered in a strange and ritualistic manner. Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, a lawyer, is retained by the family of the dead man. They do not believe that the suspect currently in custody for the murder is actually responsible and they want Thóra to investigate. She is teamed up with Matthew Reich, one of the family’s own employees, who has flown over from Germany to help. Together, they must dig deep into the murdered boy’s own questionable activities in order to find out who might be responsible for his death. Along the way, they find that the boy had an almost obsessive interest in witchcraft and Iceland’s own history of the practice, including witch trials of the sixteenth century. Could this obsession have led to the boy’s death? It certainly seems, so, but the mystery is much more complicated than that. Thóra is a welcome heroine; she really is not the typical “sleuth. ” In truth, it is her own smarts and wit, along with her ability to cope with stress (both personal and involving the case) that make her one cool (literal and figurative) main character. Last Rituals is a smart mystery and the translation works well, although there are a couple of connections that readers will probably miss until the very end thanks to language differences.
(review originally appeared at Bookbitch.com)
(review originally appeared at Bookbitch.com)
Trigger warnings: murder, mutilation, gore.
I've read several of Yrsa Sigurdardottir's books now, and they're all wonderfully creepy. Some of them have been slow and creepy, others have been compelling as hell and creepy. This one was...somewhere between the two.
The murder itself was hella disturbing and the dynamic between the victim's friendship group was super messed up. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that the protagonist is a lawyer hired by the victim's family to be their eyes on the ground, rather than a trained investigator.
I did think that the romance was...largely unnecessary, but the characters were compelling enough that I'll likely keep reading the series.
I've read several of Yrsa Sigurdardottir's books now, and they're all wonderfully creepy. Some of them have been slow and creepy, others have been compelling as hell and creepy. This one was...somewhere between the two.
The murder itself was hella disturbing and the dynamic between the victim's friendship group was super messed up. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that the protagonist is a lawyer hired by the victim's family to be their eyes on the ground, rather than a trained investigator.
I did think that the romance was...largely unnecessary, but the characters were compelling enough that I'll likely keep reading the series.