A review by pages_with_puppies
Helluland by C.R. Lindström

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I got this book in a giveaway on The StoryGraph.
I read the synopsis and was absolutely hooked I love prophecy stories, and self discovery. I felt the description was a bit misleading though. I was expecting an academia based story from our main character Erika
but got a hockey based story from her, and her dad was the academic, which I still enjoyed but as hockey was not mentioned at all in the synopsis I was a bit thrown off
I also didn’t expect it to go into so much historical or mythological detail but I absolutely adore both of those topics so it was a welcome addition for me. The timeline and POV switches confused me quite a bit until I learned the characters names which took me a while but that could also be a personal issue. The chapters with Erika at the beginning felt pretty bland and I was not super invested in the characters until about the middle. The middle dragged a bit for me as well but wasn’t bad I feel like it could have been tightened up. The end was great I just wish it was given more time and pages to give a full satisfying ending because it did feel rushed and I was a little lost in parts since it was going so quickly. The climax was too close to the end and I didn’t get enough follow up and closure for the characters, this could also be a personal issue I just like to see how characters are doing afterward. 
Also the on page deaths were not super impactful to me maybe if we knew the characters at least a little it would be, but every time there was a gory / graphic death it felt unnaturally tossed in the middle of the story for shock value then rest of the book wasn’t giving thriller. I also feel that Erikas mother was mentioned a lot for obvious reasons but I feel we never found out anything about her which made her death feel like just a reason for Erika to return home for the story to really start. We get a couple comments about her she would say or do something but the memories were never elaborated on in a personal way

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it if you like magical realism, a bit of wartime fiction, Norse mythology, hockey, and self discovery. If you are looking for a fast paced, thrilling read this might not be the one for you.
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