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kaylasbookishlife's review against another edition
2.0
There comes a time in every readers journey where you need to realize that your current read is just not the story for you.
I’ve been trying to read this one for months. I was super excited about it. It takes place in Sweden during WWII, something I had never read before. However I was hit with a lot of confusion right from the start.
There were a few too many characters and not enough background for me to feel attached to any of them. I am unfamiliar with Swedish culture and their Indigenous peoples so I would have liked a note at the beginning with a brief explanation of who the Sami peoples were.
Time to put this one down. I do want to thank @harpercollinsca for sending this book to me. Perhaps when I read more books about this topic and time I can return to this one. It was just a little too dense for me.
I’ve been trying to read this one for months. I was super excited about it. It takes place in Sweden during WWII, something I had never read before. However I was hit with a lot of confusion right from the start.
There were a few too many characters and not enough background for me to feel attached to any of them. I am unfamiliar with Swedish culture and their Indigenous peoples so I would have liked a note at the beginning with a brief explanation of who the Sami peoples were.
Time to put this one down. I do want to thank @harpercollinsca for sending this book to me. Perhaps when I read more books about this topic and time I can return to this one. It was just a little too dense for me.
booksbythecup's review against another edition
Thank you to publisher (Harper Perennial for gifted review copy)
At first it took me a little while to get into the storylines (I didn't read synopsis again before starting) but pretty soon I was drawn into the story wondering who killed Laura's friend, if she was a spy that was killed because of her work to expose a conspiracy. WWII stories often revolve around Hilters disgusting reign of terror, but the perspective of this book, from Swedish, that they set up a eugenics and racial superiority. To describe what happened as horrific feels like an understatement.
As Laura digs to discover the truth, it's clear none of it is anything she would have ever imagined.
At first it took me a little while to get into the storylines (I didn't read synopsis again before starting) but pretty soon I was drawn into the story wondering who killed Laura's friend, if she was a spy that was killed because of her work to expose a conspiracy. WWII stories often revolve around Hilters disgusting reign of terror, but the perspective of this book, from Swedish, that they set up a eugenics and racial superiority. To describe what happened as horrific feels like an understatement.
As Laura digs to discover the truth, it's clear none of it is anything she would have ever imagined.
mellymel35's review against another edition
2.0
I thought it looked good, like the new genre of WW2 historical fiction. But...nope.
downtomarsjen's review against another edition
4.0
I love a good historical fiction, and this one added intrigue into a part of history that I wasn’t familiar with. I did feel as if it was slow at first, frustrated with the different story lines after each chapter, but once it clicked, it had me on the edge of my seat!
I did feel as if the twist was fairly predictable and I am slightly disappointed that there wasn’t a better explanation at the end of everything.
Overall, it was good but not amazing!
I did feel as if the twist was fairly predictable and I am slightly disappointed that there wasn’t a better explanation at the end of everything.
Overall, it was good but not amazing!
abookishtype's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
There is something terribly wrong at the iron mine at Blackåsen, in rural Sweden. There are hints of the wrongness in a brief scene early in The Historians, by Cecilia Ekbäck, when a Sámi woman disappears. It will take the rest of the novel to find out what’s really going on at Blackåsen, when the deep dark secret is eventually unraveled by the tenacious Laura Dahlgren and Jens Regnell, who follow clues through old college friendships, government archives, and interviews with paranoid Swedes. This book is a slow burn, however, which may frustrate some readers...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
laceylou10's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death
mlafaive's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
emjen16's review against another edition
4.0
Whew! This was a doozy of a story. I had no idea how the plots were going to intersect for the longest time and a few of the plot twists I didn't see coming. Kept me reading until I was finished!
d_nice_'s review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.75