Reviews

Liker at verdenen har god størrelse og er gjennomført, og at boka hinter til Ravneringene-serien! Den tok seg opp mot slutten/halvveis ish og lurer på hva som skjer videre:)

thebookfaerie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

4.5

yvannastar's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

libertyreads789's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I want to start out the review by stating that this is a book that originally came out in Norway (in Norwegian) back in 2020 and was translated to English in 2023. I found it over that summer and decided to give it a shot despite not having a lot of experience with translated works. I do want to give translated fiction a better shot than I have been so I picked this one up. It follows Juva who is raised by a blood reader and who doesn't want to get into that line of con work herself. She sees the lies and the effect it has on those desperate enough to fork over their last coin. But, after her mother passes, Juva is forced to face some dark secrets. Like the devil whose heart beats a rhythm against her own. Like the lasting ones and their strangle hold on their community. Like the lies we tell ourselves to make it through the night.

There were some moments when the translation was rough. You will never find me speaking down to someone who knows a second language well enough to translate a whole Fantasy novel. I just want to point out that it did pull me out of the story sometimes. There's one specific word that comes to mind and it's a moment where the narration should have said "spoken" and it said "spoked." Such a small thing when you consider what a bastard language English is. It just took a little something away from the experience at times. Otherwise, I think this book is so heavily plot focused (and lacks in so many other areas as a consequence of that) that this one book could be broken up into three if you fleshed out other aspects of the story. I wanted to connect to the characters but I really only liked one of them (it was the devil character because of course it fucking was). I also found that the lack of world building would throw me off. The settings were never really fully described either. At times, I would find that the layout of Juva's mother's house has to be completely different than what I originally pictured because of a plot point. Or a character would be blonde at the 50% mark when I was sure it never got stated and originally pictured them as brunette. I also didn't like the over sexualization of the narration...without any sex scenes? I mean, I read a spicy romance here and there so I can put up with some sex scenes. And yet? Rugen specifically had to mention sex almost constantly. Or the devil character talking about being ridden (sexually. obviously). Or Juva having sexual thoughts about the devil with no real emotion attached. That last one could just be a me thing. I wish we had seen a real connection between them if Juva's going to get feelings (even lusty ones) for the whole actual devil. But that's a matter of preference.

I did enjoy the lore and the magic here. It's built up from Norse mythology with some sprinkling in of other things that I really enjoyed. I wish we had gotten more from some side characters because they did really seem lovely. It's a band of men who started hunting wolves with Juva when her father passed away and they're all sort of sweet and avuncular to her. (Look who follows John Green's Tumblr. What a nerd.) I also do like what I've learned about the world and the magic even though I felt like we sacrificed a lot in the name of the plot.

Overall, it was good and a definite change of pace from what I normally read. I am at the point where I don't know if I'll continue on with the series when the next books are translated. Maybe some of the things I didn't like could get better with more page time. We'll have to wait and see.

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