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kleonard's review
5.0
This is a good collection of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy from Scandinavia. Including pieces both written in English and translated into it, the collection represents a lot--but not all, as the editors discuss in their introduction--of places within Scandinavia. There are fantastic tales inspired by folklore as well as stories about aliens, robots, dystopias, elves, and much more. I'd love to re-read these in a class or group where I could learn more about the contexts in which the writers are working.
kittystory's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
mctore21's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
trhodes2319's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
pvp_niki's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I'm a huge fan of nordic literature but have recently realized that only a very few of the titles I read are speculative fiction so I was overjoyed when I found out about this collection.
I really like that the selection was curated carefully to cover a wide variety of genres and have at least one story from each country of the region. However, I think the balance tilts a bit toward science fiction. Which is not a problem for me or a surprise if you know the nordic SFF scene a bit, but might be useful to mention because it is in odds with the cover art. Otherwise astounding and aesthetically pleasing, the cover rather suggests a selection of nordic mythology-based stories with a lot of nature themes, and overall rather suggests fantasy than sci-fi in my opinion, which might surprise or even disappoint a few readers.
With all that said, natural themes still appear a lot in this collection but rather in stories that had at least some climate fiction in them. The editor's story "A Lion Roars in Longyearbyen" and Johanna Sinisalo's "A Bird Does Not Sing Because It Has an Answer" both revolved heavily around climate fiction themes and these were actually some of my favourites. And I really liked the ideas and the swamp-agricultural setting behind the otherwise generic biopunk noir story "Heather Country".
As expected with anthologies, my reading experience had its ups and downs and the approach, execution or writing style of most of the stories were not my cup of tea to be honest. I'm not a fan of short stories with very open or vague endings and though the ideas of most of the stories were very unique and the execution great otherwise, the conclusion of these stories felt lacking for me.
However, the last section of the book with the Finnish stories proved to be my favourite part, and I also enjoyed some stories with open-endings like the first one, "She" the concept of which is quite disturbing but I still liked it very much.
Though I didn't enjoy all of the stories as much as I had hoped I would, in the end the unique atmosphere and excellent ideas in this selection makes this quite a memorable experience.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing the ARC.
I really like that the selection was curated carefully to cover a wide variety of genres and have at least one story from each country of the region. However, I think the balance tilts a bit toward science fiction. Which is not a problem for me or a surprise if you know the nordic SFF scene a bit, but might be useful to mention because it is in odds with the cover art. Otherwise astounding and aesthetically pleasing, the cover rather suggests a selection of nordic mythology-based stories with a lot of nature themes, and overall rather suggests fantasy than sci-fi in my opinion, which might surprise or even disappoint a few readers.
With all that said, natural themes still appear a lot in this collection but rather in stories that had at least some climate fiction in them. The editor's story "A Lion Roars in Longyearbyen" and Johanna Sinisalo's "A Bird Does Not Sing Because It Has an Answer" both revolved heavily around climate fiction themes and these were actually some of my favourites. And I really liked the ideas and the swamp-agricultural setting behind the otherwise generic biopunk noir story "Heather Country".
As expected with anthologies, my reading experience had its ups and downs and the approach, execution or writing style of most of the stories were not my cup of tea to be honest. I'm not a fan of short stories with very open or vague endings and though the ideas of most of the stories were very unique and the execution great otherwise, the conclusion of these stories felt lacking for me.
However, the last section of the book with the Finnish stories proved to be my favourite part, and I also enjoyed some stories with open-endings like the first one, "She" the concept of which is quite disturbing but I still liked it very much.
Though I didn't enjoy all of the stories as much as I had hoped I would, in the end the unique atmosphere and excellent ideas in this selection makes this quite a memorable experience.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing the ARC.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Body horror
kellshelf's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
jessthanthree's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Racism
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Murder
Minor: Excrement and Body horror
danibee's review
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
I thought “The Cormorant” by Tone Almhjell was particularly moving. I imagine I reread it for years to come.
The best page-turner was The Dreamgiver by Johann Thorsson. So scary! I do most of my reading at night, and this short story put it on my “daylight reading only” list. Which is probably why it took me so long to finish this collection!
The best page-turner was The Dreamgiver by Johann Thorsson. So scary! I do most of my reading at night, and this short story put it on my “daylight reading only” list. Which is probably why it took me so long to finish this collection!
lasamviela's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
adam_penny's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5