Scan barcode
A review by trish204
Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi
2.0
This was my first novel by this author, who came highly recommended.
The premise of there being an afterlife, making death no big deal, as well as all the political repercussions (Queen Victoria is still ruling Britain, although from Summerland which basically is "the other side") sounded intriguing. The people here not only have a way of talking to the dead on a special phone, the dead can also rent a medium's body to walk among the living. We also have a spy story full of agents, moles, double-agents and whatnot. And then there is something wrong with this other world, the souls and ghosts/spirits.
Unfortunately, I did not connect with this AT ALL. Maybe it's because I'm not made for spy stories or maybe it's because I was hoping for a bit more otherworldliness.
Whatever it was, I did not connect with any of the characters.
While I hated how Rachel was treated simply for being a woman (this takes place in the late 1930s so sexism, especially in the Service, was even worse than it is nowadays), I also didn't care (except for one of her decisions and that made me hate her).
Peter, Roger, Max, Joe, Nora, Otto, the Prime Minister ... it really didn't matter at all. There was a back-and-forth like a tug-of-war as in any spy story and the writing really was solid but it didn't tickle any of my senses.
Sadly, the same goes for the last effort to make the supernatural more intriguing. I like the idea of much like the idea of the Presence was kinda funny. However, like I said, I was not invested despite that.
Still, thanks go to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to reading this ARC.
The premise of there being an afterlife, making death no big deal, as well as all the political repercussions (Queen Victoria is still ruling Britain, although from Summerland which basically is "the other side") sounded intriguing. The people here not only have a way of talking to the dead on a special phone, the dead can also rent a medium's body to walk among the living. We also have a spy story full of agents, moles, double-agents and whatnot. And then there is something wrong with this other world, the souls and ghosts/spirits.
Unfortunately, I did not connect with this AT ALL. Maybe it's because I'm not made for spy stories or maybe it's because I was hoping for a bit more otherworldliness.
Whatever it was, I did not connect with any of the characters.
While I hated how Rachel was treated simply for being a woman (this takes place in the late 1930s so sexism, especially in the Service, was even worse than it is nowadays), I also didn't care (except for one of her decisions and that made me hate her).
Peter, Roger, Max, Joe, Nora, Otto, the Prime Minister ... it really didn't matter at all. There was a back-and-forth like a tug-of-war as in any spy story and the writing really was solid but it didn't tickle any of my senses.
Sadly, the same goes for the last effort to make the supernatural more intriguing. I like the idea of
Spoiler
God not being dead but hungry and of the old ghosts eating the young eventually, with some fading and some young enduring to become the new old ones, making the cycle go on and on and onStill, thanks go to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to reading this ARC.