dmn5678's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
hooliaquoolia's review against another edition
2.0
The writing was stilted and the characters were incredibly unintelligent. The mystery itself was interesting (I'm always a sucker for anything slightly supernatural) but comes to an extremely disappointing, poorly-written conclusion. Still, it was charming to read about Iceland itself, and take a look at what counts as a struggling single mother in a Scandinavia. Imagine a lawyer in America not coming to work until 9 am and leaving before 5 pm! Imagine a lawyer taking entire weekends off! I might continue to read the series to see if it gets more successfully spooky and to inundate myself with the Scandinavian standard of living.
pigeonindustrialcomplex's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
did not believe I would enjoy this at the beginning, due to all of the characters being awful, but the mystery itself was compelling enough to have me staying up nearly two hours past my bedtime, and I enjoyed it immensely
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, Gore, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Drug use, Child death, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Vomit, Animal death, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Body shaming
Minor: Infidelity, Car accident, and Child death
mayor_of_taco_town's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
riinankirjapinot's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
kendrastrand's review
Serious issues with internalized misogyny, fat phobia, and abilism from the start.
mbest75's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
siria's review against another edition
2.0
Mediocre at best. The murder mystery is fairly by the numbers, with the identity of the murderer apparent from fairly early on and little suspense present to enliven the rest of the book. The main character, Thora Gudmundsdottir, is supposed to be a mostly cheerful single mother who works as a lawyer, but her character is inconsistently drawn, her competence as a lawyer varies wildly according to plot demands, and her witty banter is nowhere near so amusing as the author seems to think—especially when said banter comes in the form of nasty remarks about fat people.
The worst element of the book for me, however, was supposedly its main selling point (the book's subtitle is A Tale of Secret Symbols, Medieval Witchcraft and Modern Murder). I wouldn't be surprised if Yrsa Sigurðardóttir had done her research on medieval history and on modern academia by skimming Wikipedia articles—that part of the novel was sometimes inaccurate and frequently fanciful, and showed absolutely no knowledge of how academia works or what medieval historians work on. I blinked in surprise at how many academics professed to be creeped out at the thoughts of one of their number studying witchcraft—the author is clearly unfamiliar with a whole field in gender studies. I'm not inclined to seek out the rest of the series.
The worst element of the book for me, however, was supposedly its main selling point (the book's subtitle is A Tale of Secret Symbols, Medieval Witchcraft and Modern Murder). I wouldn't be surprised if Yrsa Sigurðardóttir had done her research on medieval history and on modern academia by skimming Wikipedia articles—that part of the novel was sometimes inaccurate and frequently fanciful, and showed absolutely no knowledge of how academia works or what medieval historians work on. I blinked in surprise at how many academics professed to be creeped out at the thoughts of one of their number studying witchcraft—the author is clearly unfamiliar with a whole field in gender studies. I'm not inclined to seek out the rest of the series.