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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
In my quest to read more non English & American mysteries, I grabbed this from the library. I'm glad I did. It was interesting to read about Icelandic society. It's so small! Only 300,000 in the entire country. Also, apparently there are very few trees - I did not know that. And everyone seems to speak multiple languages, especially English. More fun facts - prisoners are allowed to wear their own clothes, the University of Iceland has in front of its main building a statue of a guy beating to death a seal with the Bible(it's true! I looked it up!), back in the olden days Icelandic Catholic priests were allowed to get married and have kids.....
As for the mystery itself, it was gripping and rather gross. I learned a lot about witch trials in Europe during the middle ages. (It's related to the crime). I did not guess the killer at all. My guess was totally wrong - and that's ok because when you guess the killer then that makes the book dull.
The weakest part of the book concerned the love story between the main character and the German lawyer. YAWN. I would have preferred there to be no love story. This is the first in a series so I imagine I will get the second book from the library at some point. It wasn't amazing enough that I feel the need to directly jump into the second book.
As for the mystery itself, it was gripping and rather gross. I learned a lot about witch trials in Europe during the middle ages. (It's related to the crime). I did not guess the killer at all. My guess was totally wrong - and that's ok because when you guess the killer then that makes the book dull.
The weakest part of the book concerned the love story between the main character and the German lawyer. YAWN. I would have preferred there to be no love story. This is the first in a series so I imagine I will get the second book from the library at some point. It wasn't amazing enough that I feel the need to directly jump into the second book.
This was a slow buildup story that follows Thora and Matthew as they try and solve the mysterious murder of the foreign exchange student Harold.
The beginning starts off with a bang and hooks the reader off the bat. Then the story comes to a halt and then slowly builds itself back up as these two begin to uncover the events that took place.
I have this a 3 star rating because it wasn’t as suspenseful as I thought it was going to be. Nor did it have any paranormal activity that I went in thinking there was going to be based off of how the story started off. I was also a little disappointed in how it really ended and what the cause of death was for. All in all it was a decent read, but I did feel a little let down.
The beginning starts off with a bang and hooks the reader off the bat. Then the story comes to a halt and then slowly builds itself back up as these two begin to uncover the events that took place.
I have this a 3 star rating because it wasn’t as suspenseful as I thought it was going to be. Nor did it have any paranormal activity that I went in thinking there was going to be based off of how the story started off. I was also a little disappointed in how it really ended and what the cause of death was for. All in all it was a decent read, but I did feel a little let down.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Another Nordic mystery. A student is dead, and he was mutilated after death. He was a history student, interested in past German and Icelandic witches and witch hunters. He had a group of friends that were supposedly interested in black magic. Is there something weird going on here? His wealthy parents don't think the person arrested for the murder did it. They send a representative to enlist an Icelandic lawyer to help investigate. She finds stuff out.
This one may have some infelicities due to the translation. I thought some of the language was a little clumsy. For the rest of it, I didn't find the characters particularly compelling or interesting. It's actually a pretty straightforward mystery, not very exciting or compelling, to me at least.
This one may have some infelicities due to the translation. I thought some of the language was a little clumsy. For the rest of it, I didn't find the characters particularly compelling or interesting. It's actually a pretty straightforward mystery, not very exciting or compelling, to me at least.
Realmente es un thriller que me sorprendió bastante, de un desarrollo interesante mezclando la historia con la actualidad, la magia y la cacería de brujas de la antigüedad. Una historia que tiene muchos sospechosos del crimen pero que hasta el último momento no se sabe quien fue el que lo cometió, poco a poco vamos conociendo más y más cosas sobre el muerto y su familia a la par que también obtenemos más información de los amigos de la víctima y también posibles sospechosos. Con toques de humor y dos personajes principales un tanto diferentes a lo que estaba acostumbrada tengo que reconocer, que este libro fue mucho más de lo que me esperaba, lo cual seguramente hará que próximamente lea algo más de esta autora. Una reseña más completa en las páginas de mi blog Pensamientos Libres
About the only thing I liked about this one was the setting. I enjoy getting to visit different countries thru books, and I haven't read one set in Iceland before. My main love is historical fiction, and based on the blurb I expected more of that than what the author delivered. You get a little bit of the political background (though the author seems to assume those outside of Iceland be more familiar with that than at least I am) and a very little bit about witchcraft trials in the 16-17th centuries - mainly that in Iceland it was primarily men who were tried and executed for witchcraft, not women. I would love to learn more about that and maybe why that was so, but this book never gets into any of that.
I have to say I've never read a book where I have had such a strong dislike for the main character, Thora. She is far too concerned, not only about her appearance, but also everyone elses too. She also spends a considerable amount of time worried about what others are thinking about her and/or her status (i.e., the kind of car she drives, shoes, handbag). The author also seems to have issues with women who don't wear makeup - she also has other characters commenting on that in the book. Thora is also a hypocrite - continually making derisive remarks about one characters or anothers appearance, and then turns around and says that she doesn't judge people based on their looks!
And her 6 year old daughter isn't old enough to be able to brush her own teeth? And she doesn't think anything is amiss when her daughter mentions her older 16-year-old brother spends the afternoon jumping on the bed and howling? And she's supposed to be this super-smart investigator?
Fortunately this was a pretty quick read, and I got this from the library. I've heard her book "I Remember You" is supposed to be much better, but my library doesn't have it. And after this mess, I'm not going to spend any of my money of any book of hers!
I have to say I've never read a book where I have had such a strong dislike for the main character, Thora. She is far too concerned, not only about her appearance, but also everyone elses too. She also spends a considerable amount of time worried about what others are thinking about her and/or her status (i.e., the kind of car she drives, shoes, handbag). The author also seems to have issues with women who don't wear makeup - she also has other characters commenting on that in the book. Thora is also a hypocrite - continually making derisive remarks about one characters or anothers appearance, and then turns around and says that she doesn't judge people based on their looks!
And her 6 year old daughter isn't old enough to be able to brush her own teeth? And she doesn't think anything is amiss when her daughter mentions her older 16-year-old brother spends the afternoon jumping on the bed and howling? And she's supposed to be this super-smart investigator?
Fortunately this was a pretty quick read, and I got this from the library. I've heard her book "I Remember You" is supposed to be much better, but my library doesn't have it. And after this mess, I'm not going to spend any of my money of any book of hers!
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Ég er ekki vel að mér í glæpasögufræðum en er þessi saga ekki ídeallísk fyrir "hina sögulega glæpasögu" sem tröllreið öll á árunum sem bókin kom út? Þetta er allavega þema sem er mér að skapi. Sagnfræðilegu upplýsingarnar hefðu sennilega límst inn í heilann minn hefði ég lesið hana á árunum rétt undir tvítugu en núna glápti maður á þessi ártöl eins og naut á nývirki. Kannski er það fínt, ekki hef ég tíma til að greina á milli skáldskapar og sagnfræðinnar.
Húmorinn er sjarmerandi. Henni tekst líka að lýsa hversdagslegu harki á mjög góðan hátt.
Bók sem hitti í mark og ég þarf greinilega að dusta rykið af fleiri Þóru-bókum Yrsu en þær hafa legið í dvala eftir að ég las Auðnina. Sú kýldi mig kaldan. Þessi hér er langtum betri bók.
Húmorinn er sjarmerandi. Henni tekst líka að lýsa hversdagslegu harki á mjög góðan hátt.
Bók sem hitti í mark og ég þarf greinilega að dusta rykið af fleiri Þóru-bókum Yrsu en þær hafa legið í dvala eftir að ég las Auðnina. Sú kýldi mig kaldan. Þessi hér er langtum betri bók.