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gromithorror's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
the book was an enjoyable read, and would probably be more enjoyable if youre more into this genre than i am. overall im glad i read it, the story was good and the ending was decent however i personally dont think i'd re-read it or be compelled to buy another book by this author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Gaslighting, Murder, Death of parent, and Child abuse
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Vomit
amalia1985's review
5.0
‘’Once you’ve been out here for a while,
you can see them.
You can see them all.
We have been out here for a long, long while.’’
The fir tree is a symbol in a distinctive array of cultures. In Celtic Mythology, it is one of the nine sacred trees, a symbol of honesty, truth and strength. Its evergreen nature is a reminder of the continuation of life amidst the stillness of winter. In Native American culture, the fir tree is associated with protection and spirituality. And of course, we should not forget that the fir tree is the king of Christmas. In this exciting, mystifying novel by Sharon Gosling, the proud, eternal tree acquires a much more sinister role…
The young narrator and his/her parents (although I strongly believe we’re talking about a boy) abandon Stockholm for a mansion in Norrbotten, in the northernmost part of Sweden, an area of harsh climate and influenced by different ethnicities. Our narrator hardly cares for the symbolism of the new home, though. The family is warned by a young teacher that should they ever attempt to alter the environment, the forest will exact revenge. Add a rather terrifying maid in the mixture, along with strange sightings of children, accidents, disconcerting photos lying around and a constant humming resembling a lament that seems to come from the fir trees and you have one of the eeriest, most haunting thrillers I’ve ever read.
Gosling knows her subject and themes well. She uses the mystical, wintry nature of Sweden to full extent and creates superb atmosphere, where crime-noir blends with myths and supernatural tropes seamlessly. The trees become a character, they are singing, speaking in rhymes and cryptic manifestations. They acquire a voice and a focal part in the course of the story. The snow, the wood, the northern wind, the darkness and silence of the remotest of places compose the perfect background. The writer centers the story around the myth of the varulv, a forest spirit of wolf-like appearance. A protector of the northern forests, created when a human is bitter by the creature. The myth originates in the ancient traditions of offering a sacrifice to the heathen gods and is considered the basis for the werewolf tale.
The writing is excellent. The fact that the story is told in the voice of a teenager helps the flow of the action as we have short, clear-cut, always on point sentences without being dry or abrupt. This is a child who is very bright and logical but has the unfortunate lot of living with two extremely irrational, selfish, incompetent and all-around stupid parents. The father of the family takes the award for Best Idiot of the Year...The ending can only be described in a very cultured, eloquent way. Bang! It’s wonderful. It came out of nowhere and made me jump from my seat.
This is an eco-thriller, Scandinavian noir, paranormal novel of the finest kind. It reminded me of the films ‘’Edge of Winter’’ with Joel Kinnaman and ‘’The Village’’ by M. Night Shyamalan and the novel ‘’The Grip of It’’ by Jac Jemc. It is exquisitely written, building suspense and sustaining the eerie, haunting atmosphere, the constant feeling of dread until the fantastic finale.
….and please, read the appendices!
‘’Yes, say the trees.
You are not lost.
You are ours.
You are us.
And we will not forgive.’’
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com
you can see them.
You can see them all.
We have been out here for a long, long while.’’
The fir tree is a symbol in a distinctive array of cultures. In Celtic Mythology, it is one of the nine sacred trees, a symbol of honesty, truth and strength. Its evergreen nature is a reminder of the continuation of life amidst the stillness of winter. In Native American culture, the fir tree is associated with protection and spirituality. And of course, we should not forget that the fir tree is the king of Christmas. In this exciting, mystifying novel by Sharon Gosling, the proud, eternal tree acquires a much more sinister role…
The young narrator and his/her parents (although I strongly believe we’re talking about a boy) abandon Stockholm for a mansion in Norrbotten, in the northernmost part of Sweden, an area of harsh climate and influenced by different ethnicities. Our narrator hardly cares for the symbolism of the new home, though. The family is warned by a young teacher that should they ever attempt to alter the environment, the forest will exact revenge. Add a rather terrifying maid in the mixture, along with strange sightings of children, accidents, disconcerting photos lying around and a constant humming resembling a lament that seems to come from the fir trees and you have one of the eeriest, most haunting thrillers I’ve ever read.
Gosling knows her subject and themes well. She uses the mystical, wintry nature of Sweden to full extent and creates superb atmosphere, where crime-noir blends with myths and supernatural tropes seamlessly. The trees become a character, they are singing, speaking in rhymes and cryptic manifestations. They acquire a voice and a focal part in the course of the story. The snow, the wood, the northern wind, the darkness and silence of the remotest of places compose the perfect background. The writer centers the story around the myth of the varulv, a forest spirit of wolf-like appearance. A protector of the northern forests, created when a human is bitter by the creature. The myth originates in the ancient traditions of offering a sacrifice to the heathen gods and is considered the basis for the werewolf tale.
The writing is excellent. The fact that the story is told in the voice of a teenager helps the flow of the action as we have short, clear-cut, always on point sentences without being dry or abrupt. This is a child who is very bright and logical but has the unfortunate lot of living with two extremely irrational, selfish, incompetent and all-around stupid parents. The father of the family takes the award for Best Idiot of the Year...The ending can only be described in a very cultured, eloquent way. Bang! It’s wonderful. It came out of nowhere and made me jump from my seat.
This is an eco-thriller, Scandinavian noir, paranormal novel of the finest kind. It reminded me of the films ‘’Edge of Winter’’ with Joel Kinnaman and ‘’The Village’’ by M. Night Shyamalan and the novel ‘’The Grip of It’’ by Jac Jemc. It is exquisitely written, building suspense and sustaining the eerie, haunting atmosphere, the constant feeling of dread until the fantastic finale.
….and please, read the appendices!
‘’Yes, say the trees.
You are not lost.
You are ours.
You are us.
And we will not forgive.’’
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com
iblamewizards's review
2.0
Sharon Gosling’s Fir was an interesting addition to the already extensive collection of YA horror, but like many books in the genre didn’t quite live up to expectations.
Fir tells the story of the Stromberg family, who leave their comfortable inner city Stockholm life to move to a remote tree farm where the Stromberg patriarch hopes to rebuild the lumber business. But there is something out in the old growth forest that begins terrorising the family, while they try and survive the harshness of Sweden’s remote winters.
There were some fascinating elements in Fir. The forest had character, and the descriptions of the woods, the cold, the dark and the isolation were incredibly well rendered. There were some promising moments with the introduction of old world mythology which had the potential to make this a much deeper story and Gosling took the opportunity to make some important and tactful observations about environmental ethics without coming across as forceful or on the nose.
Unfortunately, despite these elements, Fir utterly failed to be believable. Within the first few pages, it had already fallen into the YA trap of choosing just to have unreasonably rubbish parents to mask the fact that it’s difficult to write a believable relationship between a teenager and a parent once you’re past the age where you no longer rely on them. I say difficult, whichis why so many YA authors just either omit the adults of the story entirely (I’m looking at you Leo Hunt) or make them such caricatures of bad parenting that the focus naturally sways toward its teenage protagonists. Their reactions to situations and lack of communication with their daughter were simply not believable, and so made the plot feel entirely contrived.
One of the most effective elements was that the plot developed to allow for some ambiguity as to the truth of the ‘supernatural’ occurrences in the book. I liked this, as it left it entirely open to interpretation, and made the premise of isolation even more frightening. Letting the characters’ experiences speak for themselves made the local mythology even more interesting, as it highlighted how remote isolation could give rise to fears like these. Had the book ended before the appendix I might have rated it far higher, but instead, Gosling chose to spoon feed the readers a supernatural ending that detracted from the whole narrative. A book is only as good as its ending, so had it ended a few pages earlier, it would have been a much better book.
Overall, Fir was a quick and easy read. It wasn’t particularly cerebral, certainly didn’t bring much to the YA horror genre, but was most definitely full of unrealised potential. The plot had the potential to be unique with a critical message about environmental responsibility, but instead just read as a generic supernatural YA story about bad parenting.
Review also at I Blame Wizards.
Fir tells the story of the Stromberg family, who leave their comfortable inner city Stockholm life to move to a remote tree farm where the Stromberg patriarch hopes to rebuild the lumber business. But there is something out in the old growth forest that begins terrorising the family, while they try and survive the harshness of Sweden’s remote winters.
There were some fascinating elements in Fir. The forest had character, and the descriptions of the woods, the cold, the dark and the isolation were incredibly well rendered. There were some promising moments with the introduction of old world mythology which had the potential to make this a much deeper story and Gosling took the opportunity to make some important and tactful observations about environmental ethics without coming across as forceful or on the nose.
Unfortunately, despite these elements, Fir utterly failed to be believable. Within the first few pages, it had already fallen into the YA trap of choosing just to have unreasonably rubbish parents to mask the fact that it’s difficult to write a believable relationship between a teenager and a parent once you’re past the age where you no longer rely on them. I say difficult, whichis why so many YA authors just either omit the adults of the story entirely (I’m looking at you Leo Hunt) or make them such caricatures of bad parenting that the focus naturally sways toward its teenage protagonists. Their reactions to situations and lack of communication with their daughter were simply not believable, and so made the plot feel entirely contrived.
One of the most effective elements was that the plot developed to allow for some ambiguity as to the truth of the ‘supernatural’ occurrences in the book. I liked this, as it left it entirely open to interpretation, and made the premise of isolation even more frightening. Letting the characters’ experiences speak for themselves made the local mythology even more interesting, as it highlighted how remote isolation could give rise to fears like these. Had the book ended before the appendix I might have rated it far higher, but instead, Gosling chose to spoon feed the readers a supernatural ending that detracted from the whole narrative. A book is only as good as its ending, so had it ended a few pages earlier, it would have been a much better book.
Overall, Fir was a quick and easy read. It wasn’t particularly cerebral, certainly didn’t bring much to the YA horror genre, but was most definitely full of unrealised potential. The plot had the potential to be unique with a critical message about environmental responsibility, but instead just read as a generic supernatural YA story about bad parenting.
Review also at I Blame Wizards.
onewingedpsycho's review
4.0
Wrap up warm before you dive into this one! Sharon Gosling certainly knows how to set a scene. It is a YA novel but don't let that put you off the writing is very good and the scene is perfect for the eerie story that is told. It's a short read but one that's worth enjoying.
madarauchiha's review
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜 my about info carrd: https://uchiha-madara.carrd.co/ 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡❤️
It felt very YA novel and I liked the ending. I'm sure most wouldn't but it was a great plot twist. It felt solid to me. I liked most of the cast and it felt very horror movie in mentally screaming at the characters to not do something. Very fun!
It felt very YA novel and I liked the ending. I'm sure most wouldn't but it was a great plot twist. It felt solid to me. I liked most of the cast and it felt very horror movie in mentally screaming at the characters to not do something. Very fun!
aoife26935's review
4.0
Why do the Red Eye books insist on making me afraid of everyday things? Dolls in [b:Frozen Charlotte|23357071|Frozen Charlotte|Alex Bell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1413110648s/23357071.jpg|42913516] and [b:Charlotte Says|35005611|Charlotte Says (Red Eye)|Alex Bell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1504015991s/35005611.jpg|56284210], exams in [b:Sleepless|24980159|Sleepless (Red Eye)|Lou Morgan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424453032s/24980159.jpg|42857120] and now snow! Between this and [b:Whiteout|42084552|Whiteout (RedEye)|Gabriel Dylan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1538126557s/42084552.jpg|65631997] I'll be lucky if I get any sleep in the snow storms predicted for the end of this month. At least my house is not built on ancient forest ground. I hope.
I do wish I knew what happened at the end, but c'est la vie.
I'm definitely on board to read more Red Eye. I mean, I can still sleep some nights right now, so...
I'm definitely on board to read more Red Eye. I mean, I can still sleep some nights right now, so...
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