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fieldofhats's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
The first half of this book is an easy 4/5 stars. It’s atmospheric, beautiful, and intriguing. I love the way it plays with the themes of taboo, betrayal, and religion, and there’s just enough creepy elements to keep one on their toes. Much of this review, unless stated otherwise, deals with this first half. The second half of the book is a 1.5/5 stars. Most of it feels incredibly unnecessary and jarring, likely due to the fact that the main character is dead. I don’t like it when the character we’ve been following dies out of the blue, it feels like a betrayal. And on top of that, the perspective we do get is not anywhere near as interesting as Folkví’s. It’s all around disappointing. Also, I listened to the audiobook which was amazing, but apparently the written copy doesn’t have dialogue tags??? This is probably my biggest pet peeve with adult literary fiction, it’s unnecessary and pretentious and awful. Both ratings would have been one star higher if it weren’t for that.
The main theme of this book is confronting taboos. The premise is an incestual relationship which Hesselager uses to analyze other taboo acts. There’s one scene between the siblings with dubious consent, for example. But what really interest me is the way the book makes you think about love. If we accept the premise, that these siblings are in love with each other, it paints Áslakr in a rather unfavorable light because when he insists that Folkví is in the wrong for loving him even though he clearly loves her too. She was willing to leave her partner for him, but he wouldn’t do the same. Hypocrisy and betrayal aren’t taboo, but they are morally corrupt. Hesselager uses the taboo situation to explore moral corruptness in a way the audience has never thought of it before.
Except that this theme is undermined at the end of the novelwhen Folkví kills Gerd and takes over her body to be with her brother? Or something? I didn’t really follow the last chapter, but if that is what happened it seems to be portraying Folkví as more morally corrupt than Áslakr, which feels wrong. It feels wrong because Folkví seems like the victim of this story — and seeing her do what she did feels a little like victim blaming. I don’t know, it just doesn’t sit right with me.
The way that Maria Hesselager writes about the human body is incredibly interesting to me. The portrayal of bodies is raw and unpolished, but on full display. She doesn’t shy away from the uncomfortableness that’s usually associated with speaking openly about the body, which makes for a book that isn’t afraid to question our perceptions of the natural world no matter how scared we are to do it. With the intimacy of the body comes some scenes that truly are bizarre and uncomfortable, though.In one in particular, Folkví has a dream about a tree sprouting from her foot… and it’s grotesque and weird and altogether unpleasant. I’m not saying it shouldn’t be in the book, but it does go a step further in challenging what we’re comfortable with. It plays into the theme of taboo, one that’s especially present throughout the book, and the theme of magic so it makes perfect sense. But still. Ick.
Folkví is a Volva, or a sorcerer, and the way that magic is presented is really good, I think. This isn’t a fantasy book, but magic is present; it’s the magic of the old Pagan tradition, represented through song, nature, and dreams/visions. I love it when Viking media does this not only because not many fictional stories about the Old Norse people do, but also because it puts the focus on Paganistic practices rather than christianized philosophies.
I think the broader theme of religion could be developed more as well. It’s clear that the author has made Folkví’s cultural religion the truth of the book, and so it would have been fascinating to see her interact with christianity more. There’s one really good chapter on it, but that’s it. Perhaps instead of spending a third of the book with Áslakr, Hesselager could have focused on this.
The problem with adult literary fiction is that it’s always trying to be a classic. It’s trying to emulate what the classics did, not so much in tone or action, but in the writing itself. Lit fic authors are always “pushing boundaries” or doing something “revolutionary”. This often translates to favoring theme over everything — the themes have to be set up right and have to say something meaningful. Characters often come second, and plot third. I love theme, but a good author doesn’t need to sacrifice other elements for it. They also don’t need to create something revolutionary to be a good story. That’s why I hate adult lit fic. Essentially, it’s pretentious, most of it at least. In some ways, First Comes Summer is a step above most of its contemporaries; it still has the ever-pretentious lack of dialogue tags, but its story and characters are much more interesting and tie very directly into the main themes of the novel. Hesselager pretty much throws all that away after the first half, though.
I wish that the main character didn’t die halfway through. I understand why she did; to progress the themes of the book and make them more poignant. Folkví was quite literally sacrificed for the sake of thematic completion. What makes this worse is that we witness the story from Áslakr’s perspective for most of the second half, a character whose perspective I didn’t care to witness the story through. I think switching to his perspective briefly after her death makes sense, but not for as long as we do. His perspective lasts about two of the five hour audiobook, and it could easily have been cut to one hour. Hesselager could have explored much more interesting themes (like religion) in the remaining hour.
Overall, I’m not sure this was worth it. It was undoubtedly weird and grotesque, but there’s no payoff or reason. There are themes, but they’re just left hanging. I went in mostly blind, having just heard the premise from a Tiktok recommending weird books, but I was expecting more bizarre weird and less bad weird. It’s definitely a mix of both, but the bad weird definitely overshadows the bizarre weird.
The main theme of this book is confronting taboos. The premise is an incestual relationship which Hesselager uses to analyze other taboo acts. There’s one scene between the siblings with dubious consent, for example. But what really interest me is the way the book makes you think about love. If we accept the premise, that these siblings are in love with each other, it paints Áslakr in a rather unfavorable light because when he insists that Folkví is in the wrong for loving him even though he clearly loves her too. She was willing to leave her partner for him, but he wouldn’t do the same. Hypocrisy and betrayal aren’t taboo, but they are morally corrupt. Hesselager uses the taboo situation to explore moral corruptness in a way the audience has never thought of it before.
Except that this theme is undermined at the end of the novel
The way that Maria Hesselager writes about the human body is incredibly interesting to me. The portrayal of bodies is raw and unpolished, but on full display. She doesn’t shy away from the uncomfortableness that’s usually associated with speaking openly about the body, which makes for a book that isn’t afraid to question our perceptions of the natural world no matter how scared we are to do it. With the intimacy of the body comes some scenes that truly are bizarre and uncomfortable, though.
Folkví is a Volva, or a sorcerer, and the way that magic is presented is really good, I think. This isn’t a fantasy book, but magic is present; it’s the magic of the old Pagan tradition, represented through song, nature, and dreams/visions. I love it when Viking media does this not only because not many fictional stories about the Old Norse people do, but also because it puts the focus on Paganistic practices rather than christianized philosophies.
I think the broader theme of religion could be developed more as well. It’s clear that the author has made Folkví’s cultural religion the truth of the book, and so it would have been fascinating to see her interact with christianity more. There’s one really good chapter on it, but that’s it. Perhaps instead of spending a third of the book with Áslakr, Hesselager could have focused on this.
The problem with adult literary fiction is that it’s always trying to be a classic. It’s trying to emulate what the classics did, not so much in tone or action, but in the writing itself. Lit fic authors are always “pushing boundaries” or doing something “revolutionary”. This often translates to favoring theme over everything — the themes have to be set up right and have to say something meaningful. Characters often come second, and plot third. I love theme, but a good author doesn’t need to sacrifice other elements for it. They also don’t need to create something revolutionary to be a good story. That’s why I hate adult lit fic. Essentially, it’s pretentious, most of it at least. In some ways, First Comes Summer is a step above most of its contemporaries; it still has the ever-pretentious lack of dialogue tags, but its story and characters are much more interesting and tie very directly into the main themes of the novel. Hesselager pretty much throws all that away after the first half, though.
Overall, I’m not sure this was worth it. It was undoubtedly weird and grotesque, but there’s no payoff or reason. There are themes, but they’re just left hanging. I went in mostly blind, having just heard the premise from a Tiktok recommending weird books, but I was expecting more bizarre weird and less bad weird. It’s definitely a mix of both, but the bad weird definitely overshadows the bizarre weird.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, and Incest
Moderate: Sexual violence, Misogyny, Rape, Death of parent, Sexism, Slavery, and Suicide
Minor: Colonisation and Classism
bellesbookshelf's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest and Violence
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
ohheyclaude's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest and Murder
Moderate: Animal death
rose_android97's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest and Murder
bannedfrombookclub's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
3.0
Breaking up is hard, and it's probably harder when you're an orphaned Viking shaman during the coming of Christianity and the guy you're breaking up with is your ... brother.
Atmospheric, great world building, a novella of pure vibes (not good vibes).
I'm not sure how to rate this, it's always hard to judge with translated works. Something about the occasionally odd word choices in the prose jars with the otherwise convincing world of viking age scandanavia in a way that makes me suspect the translator. It's very dreamlike and non-linear, with dual POV but also a fair amount of head hopping within POV's. I didn't feel the ending was telegraphed at all thematically.
Also, the marking and blurb frames Folkvi as swim-fan style creeper-villain, but she's also a victim and I don't think this is made clear enough when the book is sold as a tale of "obsessive love".
I listened on audiobook with Elizabeth Evans (Nina from Six of Crows audiobook) and she does an excellent performance but I might recommend reading this with your eyes, the changes in time might be clearer with paragraph breaks. The audiobook needs longer pauses at least.
Atmospheric, great world building, a novella of pure vibes (not good vibes).
I'm not sure how to rate this, it's always hard to judge with translated works. Something about the occasionally odd word choices in the prose jars with the otherwise convincing world of viking age scandanavia in a way that makes me suspect the translator. It's very dreamlike and non-linear, with dual POV but also a fair amount of head hopping within POV's. I didn't feel the ending was telegraphed at all thematically.
Also, the marking and blurb frames Folkvi as swim-fan style creeper-villain, but she's also a victim and I don't think this is made clear enough when the book is sold as a tale of "obsessive love".
I listened on audiobook with Elizabeth Evans (Nina from Six of Crows audiobook) and she does an excellent performance but I might recommend reading this with your eyes, the changes in time might be clearer with paragraph breaks. The audiobook needs longer pauses at least.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest and Mental illness
Moderate: Violence
leonineliterature's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
4.0
For en ganske kort bog, synes jeg virkelig, den har meget på hjerte. Jeg er slet ikke sikker på, at jeg opfattede alt det, som karaktererne følte. Hesselager har virkelig formået at skrive komplekse mennesker frem. Jeg forstår alet ikke Folkví, men hun var en spændene karakter, som aldrig kedede mig. Om hun er "like-able" er noget andet - det behøver hun ikke at være. Desuden har bogen den perfekte mængde magisk realisme efter min smag. Slutningen kom virkelig som et chok!
This book is so eerie! I was really shocked, the ending really took me by surprise.
This book is so eerie! I was really shocked, the ending really took me by surprise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Animal death
miriamahs's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest
ditte's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
What in the Lannister?!
Bogen havde helt sikkert nogle gode elementer, men den meget litterære skrivestil hænger ikke helt sammen med resten af bogen.
Dog glæder jeg til at følge forfatteren, og de næste mange bøger
Bogen havde helt sikkert nogle gode elementer, men den meget litterære skrivestil hænger ikke helt sammen med resten af bogen.
Dog glæder jeg til at følge forfatteren, og de næste mange bøger
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest and Murder
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