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A review by ojtheviking
Skjebnesteinen by Sven Petter Næss
4.0
3.8 rounded up; I'm genuinely sold this time!
Sven Petter Næss's sophomore novel not only cranks up the suspense severely, but the writing feels much more polished overall. It feels more confident and ambitious, there's more balance between plot and character development, and he's less afraid of adding more emotional and personal moments.
Literally personal, this time, for Harinder Singh, as people close to him are involved with the events taking place in this story. An effective way to raise the stakes, and it's also a great way to weave in some more backstory to help us get more acquainted with him.
One element I like is how Singh partially goes "rogue" and does his own investigation on something in Scotland, while his colleague and friend, Rachel, helps him investigate something else back in Norway. Not only does this allow for Rachel to be back as a recurring character, but for a large portion of the book, we are sort of dealing with an A-story and a B-story, keeping you guessing as to how they will eventually merge together and prove to be related.
I mentioned in my review of the first book that parts of it felt a bit neutral in tone, as if it was some sort of report rather than storytelling. But here in this second book, he has allowed himself to go more in-depth, which balances things out better. This is also on top of the fact that his second book is slightly shorter, making the story more compact and focused, with a very effective pace that allows for the storytelling to be much smoother.
The general descriptions of scenarios and moments feel less "report-like" overall as well; he paints a more vivid picture while mixing historical and geographical facts with fiction, making the story feel more real. Also, I appreciate his subtle attention to detail, such as a more realistic depiction of how someone dies, compared to how a lot of fiction (especially movies) will make someone's death scene very melodramatic and have them stumble around before they finally fall down.
I will obviously not spoil anything, but one of the main things that really sold me, was a specific out-of-the-blue moment that will have you truly invested in this series going forward. I'm already looking forward to getting started on the third installment!
Basically, I enjoyed this enough to finish it in one day, so definitely kudos to Næss this time around!
Sven Petter Næss's sophomore novel not only cranks up the suspense severely, but the writing feels much more polished overall. It feels more confident and ambitious, there's more balance between plot and character development, and he's less afraid of adding more emotional and personal moments.
Literally personal, this time, for Harinder Singh, as people close to him are involved with the events taking place in this story. An effective way to raise the stakes, and it's also a great way to weave in some more backstory to help us get more acquainted with him.
One element I like is how Singh partially goes "rogue" and does his own investigation on something in Scotland, while his colleague and friend, Rachel, helps him investigate something else back in Norway. Not only does this allow for Rachel to be back as a recurring character, but for a large portion of the book, we are sort of dealing with an A-story and a B-story, keeping you guessing as to how they will eventually merge together and prove to be related.
I mentioned in my review of the first book that parts of it felt a bit neutral in tone, as if it was some sort of report rather than storytelling. But here in this second book, he has allowed himself to go more in-depth, which balances things out better. This is also on top of the fact that his second book is slightly shorter, making the story more compact and focused, with a very effective pace that allows for the storytelling to be much smoother.
The general descriptions of scenarios and moments feel less "report-like" overall as well; he paints a more vivid picture while mixing historical and geographical facts with fiction, making the story feel more real. Also, I appreciate his subtle attention to detail, such as a more realistic depiction of how someone dies, compared to how a lot of fiction (especially movies) will make someone's death scene very melodramatic and have them stumble around before they finally fall down.
I will obviously not spoil anything, but one of the main things that really sold me, was a specific out-of-the-blue moment that will have you truly invested in this series going forward. I'm already looking forward to getting started on the third installment!
Basically, I enjoyed this enough to finish it in one day, so definitely kudos to Næss this time around!