Review of “Höstsol” by Lars Wilderäng

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Title: Höstsol (~ “Autumn Sun”)
Author: Lars Wilderäng
Series: Höstsol
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 478
Published: 2017, Massolit
My Grade: 4,5 out of 5 suns

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION (translated to English by me)

It is early September and in the archipelago of Stockholm, another submarine hunt is underway, but this time a civilian manages to capture something on camera, something that puts high pressure on the already shaky world situation.

At the staff in Moscow, a colonel takes a crucial decision and a Diplomat at the Russian embassy is everything but what he seems to be. At the same time, an American task force in Iraq makes a discovery that will get dire consequences.

Back home in Sweden, Johanna tries to put all her energy on her practicing squadron instead of on her wrecked relationship. Her ex Jonas starts his new job as crisis preparedness officer in Uppsala while his brother Christian is positioned as a body guard by the eccentric and hard-to-deal-with Minister of Foreign Affairs’ side. Soon it will dawn on them all that the safe reality they for so long had taken for granted, slowly but steady is going to change.

 

MY REVIEW

Before you start reading this review. I want to ask you if you are Russian. If you are, then I can promise you that this book will be very boring and dull and you can stop reading this review now.

Okay, good, now we have lost all the Russians. I wouldn’t want to have it on my conscious to recommend a book that potentially could lay waste to Sweden as we know it. The Russians in this book had a really impressive, and really scary and realistic strategy of taking over our beautiful country. Maybe this book should stay untranslated?

If you are a regular reader of my blog, or just read the blog description here on the right side, you know that I am fairly picky when it comes to choosing the next book. I love to dream myself away in a fantasy or sci-fi world. Why would I want to read something that could happen in the real and kind of “boring” world we live in? I rarely get out of my comfort zone and it takes a lot of time for me to actually pick up a book recomendation from a friend. But every now and then I surprise even myself. But still not entirely out of my comfort zone though. I knew what I was getting myself into this time. Why step out of the comfort zone by three large steps when you can take a single step and read something from one of your favorite authors? I know that Lars Wilderäng is a really good author after reading Stjärnklart. Even if the subject of this one might not interest me as much as sci-fi does, I at least knew that the writing would be good. And I am glad to say that I was correct. I am not disappointed.

The writing style is exactly the same as in Stjärnklart. We get to follow lots of different characters which gives the reader a completely different view on the world he is painting. You get to see everything at once instead of just following one character’s developement and interpretation on situations. In this case that type of writing really works (as it also did in Stjärnklart). Although, it leaves the reader with not just one cliffhanger, but several at the end.

There is one downside of writing like this, and that is that it is really hard to keep track of all the characters. Maybe not after getting to know them later on, but at least in the beginning. It is also hard to remember who did what after a while. And it is especially hard to keep track on characters that don’t recur as much, or maybe just one time.

One thing that I, as an aspiring author, struggle with is the balance between journey and action. Siri Pettersen’s book Odinsbarn (“Children of Odin”) was one of the best books I have ever read and it was full of journey sections. And long ones. But it still made the book amazing. Höstsol is the complete opposite. It is full of action and barely any journey sections at all. And is as amazing. From chapter one you realize that something huge is about to happen and you just continue to read on to find out what and how it will happen. It is impressive that Wilderäng can keep up the quality of the story along with so many things happening all the time. It never gets boring.

The reason why it “only” gets a 4,5 out of 5 is because I have basically no knowledge of any military things or strategies or weapons or anything at all. It was super cool that my grandpa was an army tank driver before he retired, but it stopped there, at the profession being cool. Since I knew nothing about the technicalities of it all, it was hard to understand sometimes. I understood the story, but why the characters did as they did, what everything was and how they reached conclusions and so on, was completely out of reach and understanding for me. What that means though, is that Wilderäng has truly done his in-depth research and made the story so incredibly realistic and scary. The details are definitely needed in this kind of story and he places them exactly where they are needed to make the full picture perfect.

I am impressed, Wilderäng! You were able to make me love a book that I wouldn’t have even looked at, much less bought and gotten signed. Kudos to you!

Skiing in Luossavaara

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Late last night, I came home to a cold Gothenburg. It was -9C and warm compared to what I had left behind. Today it was -10C when I left for work, I barely felt it. The sky was clear and the air crisp and dry. Really nice. Much different when I left work today though. It was only -5C, damp and windy, so I was chilled to my bones, it was horrible!!

On Saturday we woke up to a clear blue sky again and it was below -20C. The ski slope usually is closed if it is colder than -20 or when it is too windy. No wind, but really cold. Their Facebook page had not updated anything about it though so we walked the 800m to the slope from Malin’s apartment. The mountain Luossavaara lies on an old abandoned mine and only had basically two slopes going down. One lift. But it was really good skiing. I haven’t been on skiis in at least 8 years, but it went surprisingly well, at least Malin said it looked good for being 8 years since last time. The snow was perfect, one side of the lift was recently groomed (do you say that?) and no one had been on it. So nice!

My calves didn’t hurt, they were about to after the first try. But for some reason it stopped and never started. What hurt was my nose and cheeks from the extreme cold. But my calves didn’t. Well, they did afterward after being squished so tightly for quite a while. But I didn’t lose my sense of feeling in my feet at all, which I remember doing during each go last time. So that was a success.

We had waffle lunch, went some more and then the lift died so we decided it was time to go back home. Our faces hurt from the cold. But oh my, what a beautiful day!

The end of the day was spent in front of Melodifestivalen (the Swedish Eurovision) with homemade pizza. Haven’t seen it in forever and I feel like that was the right choice. Not impressed. But still a nice evening!

 

On my last day in Kiruna, we went on a walk in another super awesome day. Clear sky again, -26 when we woke up, -24 when we were out. We took a closer look at the church and then walked back. An hour outside was more than enough and our faces hurt again. We watched Hidden Figures before I had to go to the bus and leave for Sweden… I mean Gothenburg.

I am glad that I now know that Malin is having a great time up there and is doing really well. I can only imagine how scary it must be to move out of your parents comfort already as a 16-year old. Brave girl!

 

UPDATE 2018-10-06!

Icehotel in Kiruna

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I am so upset that I can’t post pictures right now. I have so many amazing ones from today, and even from yesterday. I will just have to speed up my project of moving all my pictures from this blog to my archive blog.

It was a while ago now that I traveled. It must have been Rome in April last year. I have been wanting to go to northern Sweden for a long time now and since my cousin Malin moved here to go to the space high school in Kiruna (Rymdgymnasiet), I finally grabbed the opportunity, booked a flight and flew as north as I have ever been.

I took two days “off” work, flew in yesterday and will leave on Sunday.

The snow was there. Tons of snow were everywhere! -14C I think the pilot said. I thought it would be fine, because it is dry cold, but it was cold.

Airport was tiny, bus ride into the city center was cozy and I saw on the way in that the sun was on its way down. I thought that that meant that it would be dark very soon. But I was wrong. The sun was setting from 2pm and all the way until it actually went down at like 5pm perhaps? And it wasn’t even that dark afterward either. The white snow is making everything so light! It is nothing comapred to the grey darkness back home in Sweden…. sorry, back home in Gothenburg. It is hard to see this place as part of Sweden. It is so completely different. It is magical, it is white, it is cold and the air is full of shiny crystals when the sun is shining. I have definitely found some details to the environment in the area of Isidra in my book!

Yesterday we just walked around town, had dinner at Spis, a restaurant where Malin works (she works at the fika part of it, but same owner). Arctic Char was on my plate and it was delicous (Filet of arctic char wrapped in cabbage served with almond potato puré, shellfish sauce, root vegetable chips and roasted wheat).

 

The morning of today was spent at her school. The general director of the Swedish National Space Board was there to talk to the students. Super interesting to hear what they are doing. Then he participated in the class afterward which was astronaut knowledge. We looked at the Terrella they have (basically aurora borealis in a can). Malin was interviewed by SVT and it is now up on SVTplay here. 8:55 into the video, the news did a sequence on her high school. She is the cute astronaut and I am the muppet sitting next to her. Hahah! The video will only be available for another 7 days, but I have it downloaded. The article for it is here.

In the afternoon we took the bus to Jukkasjärvi and the Icehotel. I didn’t really know what to expect. I guess I thought it was a “boring” place, a building made out of ice and snow with basic beds and reindeer pelts to sleep on. I was once again surprised. Most of the rooms are individually designed by anyone who sends in their idea. The bst ones are picked out and later that same person creates the room during two weeks. Even the “basic” rooms were very beautiful with ice crystals on each side of the bed.

So, let me explain how this hotel works. In April each year, 2 ton blocks are removed from Torneälven, the big river up there from a farm they have right next to the place of the hotel. The remove snow from the ice during the whole winter to make the ice perfect. It is then stored in a big warehouse behind the hotel and can be stored for several years so the ice in the current hotel might not necccesarily be from last year, but it is definitely from Torneälv. They ship ice to ice bars in Stockholm for instance that goes under the same name. A few years ago they built a whole hotel down in South Africa for a car commercial that then gave the idea of building Icehotel 365, an icehotel that is open year round, right next to the one they build every year.

The Icehotel this year is called Icehotel 28 because it is the 28th hotel they have built. All of them are different and built up in October. The rooms are carved in November and it opens up for business in the end of November. It is then open until, was it March or April, or maybe even later?

Like I said in the beginning. The pictures are incredible, but only on my phone for now. They will be posted eventually!

 

UPDATE 2018-10-06!

Review of “The Ghost Next Door” by R. L. Stine

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Title: The Ghost Next Door
Author: R. L. Stine
Series: Goosebumps #10
Genre: Horror
Pages: 124
Published: 1993, Scholastic
My Grade: 2 out of 5 ghosts

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

Hannah Fairchild is startled to wake up from a horrific nightmare to find that the empty house next door has suddenly been sold, as if overnight, and the son of the family somehow has the ability to survive a series of near-fatal accidents. The more she investigates, Hannah discovers to her shock that the new neighbours might be ghosts.

MY REVIEW

After reading the title of this book and the first couple of pages, I knew what the twist at the end would be. Super obvious! How the ending exactly would play out was still a mystery and I have to admit, that even if I was dissapointed that it wasn’t a typical Goosebump ending, it was kind of refresshing o having a happy ending as well. The twist didn’t come at the very last pages, but about 20 pages earlier.

Since it was so obvious and I basically just waited for it to be revealed, it will only get a 2, even if it was an enjoyable story.

 

Review of “Welcome to Camp Nightmare” by R. L. Stine

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Title: Welcome to Camp Nightmare
Author: R. L. Stine
Series: Goosebumps #9
Genre: Horror
Pages: 136
Published: 1993, Scholastic
My Grade: 3.5 out of 5 rifles

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

Welcome to Camp Nightmare It’s the little camp of horrors! Next summer you’ll stay home … if you survive! Billy thinks that life at camp is a bit creepy, but when other campers start to disappear and his parents do not answer his letters, Camp Nightmoon becomes Camp Nightmare.

MY REVIEW

Like with the previous Goosebumps, The Girl Who Cried Monster, this book had a very twisted ending too. But perhapsa not as good one.

In every other way it was a new type of story. It was “scary” from the very first start, the mysterious things that happened didn’t have a logical explanation in the next chapter. Refreshing with a new type of story. And a little spaced out, haha!

It gets a 3.5 out of 5.

Review of “Out of the Ashes” by Pittacus Lore

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Title: Out of the Ashes
Author: Pittacus Lore
Series: The Legacy Chronicles #1
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 115
Published: 2017, HarperCollins
My Grade: 4 out of 5 puppeteer

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

In the aftermath of a thwarted alien invasion, teenagers across the globe have begun to develop incredible powers known as Legacies.

Most are sent to the Human Garde Academy, where they can learn to harness their powers for the good of humanity. But there are still countless others who slip through the cracks, who prefer do things their own way, or who are being kept from attending the Academy by people with very different plans for these gifted teens.

That is where Six and Sam come in. They’ve just joined a convert group tasked with investigating suspicious incidents around the world which might be Legacy-related. Their first mission has them looking into the connection between a string of disappearances—but as they dig deeper into the mystery, they stumble upon an unexpected and dangerous Human Garde underworld.

 

MY REVIEW

 

It’s amazing how Pittacus Lore can spit out book after book and fill out his science fiction world with so many details. Since the first book, I am Number Four, I have loved this world and that it is always expanding with new main stories but also small side stories like this, Out of the Ashes.

It revolves around Six and Sam trying to fit in this new world of humans with Legacies. Six is against forcing kids to go to the Human Garde Academy but get another opportunity to help the kids.

I really liked that it mostly took place in New Orleans. It was easy to visualize the places since I was there a few years ago.

Lots of action like usually. Nothing that deviates from the previous books and short novellas. It gets a 4.

Review of “Once Upon a Time in the North” by Philip Pullman

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Title: Once Upon a Time in the North
Author: Philip Pullman
Series: His Dark Materials #0.5
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 104
Published: 2008, Alfred A. Knopf
My Grade: 4 out of 5 arctic rabbits

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

In this prequel episode from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials universe, Lee Scoresby — Texan aeronaut and future friend to Lyra Belacqua — is 24 years old. The story reveals the origins of Scoresby’s friendship with Iorek Byrnison as well as Scoresby’s aeronautical career.

After winning his hot-air balloon in a poker game, Scoresby finds himself floating north. On the Arctic island of Novy Odense, Scoresby and his dæmon Hester become involved in a deadly plot involving an oil magnate, a corrupt mayoral candidate, and a hired killer who is Lee’s longtime nemesis from the Dakota Country. Forming an alliance with one of the island’s reviled armored bears, Scoresby fights to break up the conspiracy.

MY REVIEW

When I read His Dark Materials, Once Upon a Time in the North had just gotten out and I hadn’t gotten my hands on it. Then I continued to not have it and therefore not read it. Until now. And I feel more than ever that I really have to reread the original series. I can’t even remember who Lee Scoresby is and what his role is. The bear, Iorek, I do remember bits and pieces of, but no big details.

It was a short story, very enjoyable. But it might have been more enjoyable if I didn’t read it “before” the original series. Hard to remember after 10 years. But it gets a 4. Maybe I will give it a higher grade after I finish rereading His Dark Materials.

 

Review of “The Girl Who Cried Monster” by R. L. Stine

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Title: The Girl Who Cried Monster
Author: R. L. Stine
Series: Goosebumps #8
Genre: Horror
Pages: 144
Published: 1993, Scholastic
My Grade: 4 out of 5 monsters

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

Lucy likes to tell monster stories. She’s told so many that her friends and her family are sick of it.

Then one day, Lucy discovers a real, live monster: the librarian in charge of the summer reading program.

Too bad Lucy’s told so many monster tall tales.
Too bad no one believes a word she says.
Too bad the monster knows who she is…
…and is coming after her next.

MY REVIEW

This was a refreshing Goosebump story. Well, up until the last chapter it was similar to the previous ones, “scary” cliffhangers after every chapter that then turned out to be nothing. What was different was the ending and that was what gave the whole story a 4 instead of a 3. It is very similar to “The Fever Code” by James Dashner (a prelogue to the Maze Runner trilogy) in the sense that it made me see the story completely differently. That was a whole series, this was just a 100-page book. But still. It is a fun an interesting feeling!

The Girl Who Cried Monster is slightly better than the ones I have previously read and gets a 4.

Review of “Night of the Living Dummy” by R. L. Stine

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Title: Night of the Living Dummy
Author: R. L. Stine
Series: Goosebumps #7
Genre: Horror
Pages: 134
Published: 1993, Scholastic
My Grade: 3 out of 5 ventriloquists

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

When twins Lindy and Kris find a ventriloquist’s dummy in a Dumpster, Lindy decides to “rescue” it, and she names it Slappy. But Kris is green with envy. It’s not fair. Why does Lindy get to have all the fun and all the attention? Kris decides to get a dummy of her own. She’ll show Lindy. Then weird things begin to happen. Nasty things. Evil things. It can’t be the dummy causing all the trouble, Can it?

MY REVIEW

When reading a hard cover book that I don’t have as an epub book, Goosebumps are the perfect side read when commuting. An easy read and the characters felt realistic and not “too much” as some of the previous main characters did.

And what was best about it was that I couldn’t forsee the ending at all. Maybe that was the same with the other ones? Can’t really remember. But it was unexpected and I didn’t know how it would end until the very last page which supposedly left me with goosebumps. Fun reads! 3 out of 5.

Review of “La Belle Sauvage” by Philip Pullman

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Title: La Belle Sauvage
Author: Philip Pullman
Series: The Book of Dust #1
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 464
Published: 2017, Alfred A. Knopf
My Grade: 4 out of 5 souls

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

Malcolm Polstead is the kind of boy who notices everything but is not much noticed himself. And so perhaps it was inevitable that he would become a spy…
Malcolm’s father runs an inn called the Trout, on the banks of the river Thames, and all of Oxford passes through its doors. Malcolm and his dæmon, Asta, routinely overhear news and gossip, and the occasional scandal, but during a winter of unceasing rain, Malcolm catches wind of something new: intrigue.
He finds a secret message inquiring about a dangerous substance called Dust–and the spy it was intended for finds him.
When she asks Malcolm to keep his eyes open, Malcolm sees suspicious characters everywhere; Lord Asriel, clearly on the run; enforcement agents from the Magisterium; a gyptian named Coram with warnings just for Malcolm; and a beautiful woman with an evil monkey for a dæmon. All are asking about the same thing: a girl–just a baby–named Lyra.
Lyra is the kind of person who draws people in like magnets. And Malcolm will brave any danger, and make chocking sacrifices, to bring her safely through the storm.

 

MY REVIEW

I guess that most people have read His Dark Materials, or have had a parent read it to them when they were kids? Or at least heard of it? The Golden Compass? I read the series in 2008 (as a 17 year old) for the first time and I absolutely loved them! The Book of Dust have been planned for a long time and I have patiently waited, until I honestly forgot about it.

I’ve been meaning to reread the original series but frankly been afraid that if I reread them, my idea of them being incredibly amazing would shatter. But after finishing La Belle Sauvage, I feel ready to reread them, and I feel confident that I won’t be disappointed and have an even clearer view of why they are amazing. Because ten years later, I can’t remember a single detail about them, just that they were good.

But anyway, La Belle Sauvage lived up to my expectations. It followed the same style as His Dark Materials and it was easy to see Pullmans version of England while reading.

The story is perhaps a little bit slow until the end when a lot of spaced out stuff happens. But even if not many things happen, it was hard to put it down. He has a very smooth way of writing if that explains anything? I find his writing very appealing and easy to read. And yes, smooth.

I give La Belle Sauvage a four and I hope that I will enjoy His Dark Materials once again!