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A review by pushingdessy
Nordic Visions: The Best of Nordic Speculative Fiction by Karin Tidbeck, Maria Haskins, John Ajvide Lindqvist
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
“Nordic Visions” is an anthology of speculative fiction short stories edited by Margrét Helgadóttir, featuring a variety of contemporary Nordic authors. These fifteen stories are grouped by their country of origin, and span different genres: from horror to science fiction and fantasy.
I hadn’t read much Nordic fiction before, so I appreciate the opportunity to do so. I think the only author here whose work I’d read was Lindqvist, with “Let the right one in” (2004).
Here are some brief impressions:
- From Sweden: Lindqvist’s “She” was a terrifying ghost story, and easily one of my favourites from the book. “Lost and found” by Maria Haskins and “Sing” by Karin Tidbeck both dealt with space exploration and colonization, though in different ways. I wish Haskins had been clearer about her character’s motivation, because I liked what I suspected happened, but I’m not sure if I’m right?
- From Denmark: “The false fisherman” by Kaspar Colling Nielsen was an interesting portrait that ultimately dealt with thew different social perceptions of men and women. Jakob Drud’s “Heather country” was a dark and intriguing, yet often confusing, dystopia, and Lene Kaaberbøl’s “The traveller girl” was a simple story of Otherhood.
- From the Faroe Islands: Rakel Helmsdal’s “The abyss” was a little too surrealist for me, I didn’t understand what was going on and it was hard to picture it.
- From Iceland: I enjoyed “The Dreamgiver” by Johann Thorsson, an ominous story with a surprising ending. On the other hand, Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson’s “Hamraborg Babylon” was a sci-fi dystopia that felt overly long and unexplained.
- From Norway: Once again we visit a futuristic space colony in “As you wish”, by Tor Åge Bringsværd, and a grimdark dystopia in “A lion roars in Longyearbyen”, from Helgadóttir. “The cormorant” by Tone Almhjell and “The day Jones shadowed his dad” by Thore Hansen take on a more fantastic quality.
- From Finland: We have two more dystopias from Johanna Sinisalo and Hannu Rajaniemi: “A bird does not sing because it has an answer” and “Elegy for a young elk”. The first one had some interesting ideas and a simple statement ending to make you think, although it was hard to figure out where the story was set. I thought the second one was very confusing. Finally, “The wings that slice the sky” by Emmi Itäranta was a female-centered retelling of the Finnish epic “Kalevala” - sad, but I enjoyed it.
As is evident, this is quite an eclectic collection! Whether you enjoy visiting dystopias and sci-fi settings, or prefer a taste of folk stories, there might be something here for you worth checking out.
Something I wanted to point out is that I think it’s a shame that the editor talks in the introduction about the importance of including all voices, and acknowledges that the Nordic region is also home to indigenous and First Nations peoples, yet she “sadly” didn’t manage to include any of them in this anthology. Why not?
The formatting of my ARC was also not great, unfortunately, which meant I had to constantly refer back to the index to find the title and confirm I’d moved on to a different story.
“Nordic Visions” is an anthology of speculative fiction short stories edited by Margrét Helgadóttir, featuring a variety of contemporary Nordic authors. These fifteen stories are grouped by their country of origin, and span different genres: from horror to science fiction and fantasy.
I hadn’t read much Nordic fiction before, so I appreciate the opportunity to do so. I think the only author here whose work I’d read was Lindqvist, with “Let the right one in” (2004).
Here are some brief impressions:
- From Sweden: Lindqvist’s “She” was a terrifying ghost story, and easily one of my favourites from the book. “Lost and found” by Maria Haskins and “Sing” by Karin Tidbeck both dealt with space exploration and colonization, though in different ways. I wish Haskins had been clearer about her character’s motivation, because I liked what I suspected happened, but I’m not sure if I’m right?
- From Denmark: “The false fisherman” by Kaspar Colling Nielsen was an interesting portrait that ultimately dealt with thew different social perceptions of men and women. Jakob Drud’s “Heather country” was a dark and intriguing, yet often confusing, dystopia, and Lene Kaaberbøl’s “The traveller girl” was a simple story of Otherhood.
- From the Faroe Islands: Rakel Helmsdal’s “The abyss” was a little too surrealist for me, I didn’t understand what was going on and it was hard to picture it.
- From Iceland: I enjoyed “The Dreamgiver” by Johann Thorsson, an ominous story with a surprising ending. On the other hand, Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson’s “Hamraborg Babylon” was a sci-fi dystopia that felt overly long and unexplained.
- From Norway: Once again we visit a futuristic space colony in “As you wish”, by Tor Åge Bringsværd, and a grimdark dystopia in “A lion roars in Longyearbyen”, from Helgadóttir. “The cormorant” by Tone Almhjell and “The day Jones shadowed his dad” by Thore Hansen take on a more fantastic quality.
- From Finland: We have two more dystopias from Johanna Sinisalo and Hannu Rajaniemi: “A bird does not sing because it has an answer” and “Elegy for a young elk”. The first one had some interesting ideas and a simple statement ending to make you think, although it was hard to figure out where the story was set. I thought the second one was very confusing. Finally, “The wings that slice the sky” by Emmi Itäranta was a female-centered retelling of the Finnish epic “Kalevala” - sad, but I enjoyed it.
As is evident, this is quite an eclectic collection! Whether you enjoy visiting dystopias and sci-fi settings, or prefer a taste of folk stories, there might be something here for you worth checking out.
Something I wanted to point out is that I think it’s a shame that the editor talks in the introduction about the importance of including all voices, and acknowledges that the Nordic region is also home to indigenous and First Nations peoples, yet she “sadly” didn’t manage to include any of them in this anthology. Why not?
The formatting of my ARC was also not great, unfortunately, which meant I had to constantly refer back to the index to find the title and confirm I’d moved on to a different story.