Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

First Comes Summer by Maria Hesselager

1 review

bannedfrombookclub's review against another edition

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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.

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