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Kruh (2011)

by Mats Strandberg(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

Paranormal Fantasy

publisher

Fortuna Libri

series

Engelsfors

review 1: This book was a hard slog for me. It took me forever to read it and not because I hated it or didn't want to finish. I just wasn't that motivated to want to know what happened. I liked the story as a whole just fine by the time I finished it and I'm sure at some point I will finish the series because let's face it, I can't abandon characters until their story is finished, but it felt dry and too long most of the time. I found myself checking the percentage and how much longer I had left in the book way too often.My main issue with this book is that it just moved too slowly. No matter which of the girls perspectives you were reading from you never really felt any sense of urgency. Now, this might be due to the translation from Swedish to English but honestly I don't th... moreink so. These people are in a life or death situation and yet they don't seem to spend that much time on it. When there was an actual attack happening sure, then we get to see some quick responsive action but otherwise the girls just kind of milled about. The actual magic system in this book was well thought out and I wish we had spent more time on explaining or exploring it but either way it was a great framework. I'm guessing it will get more play in the later novels. The little symbols and the pages from the magical tome were a nice touch in what sometimes felt like a rather dry read.My last little qualm was that not all the girls felt like complete characters to me. Now since you don't read from the perspective of Ida or Linnea I accept that you will know much less about them than the others. That said Ida has almost no depth. She is a caricature of a "mean girl". I feel that snotty girls with a reason to be that way are much more compelling. Linnea at least got some back story. Minoo, Vanessa, and Rebecka on the other hand feel rich and full. Even if I didn't find all of them likeable (which is fine I don't have to love every character I read) they all had full stories that made them seem like actual teenage girls. My big issue really was with Anna-Karin. She is defined solely by her unpopular station and her hateful mother. Those are big things to be sure but they gave her nothing to do or think about other than that. As much as she used her power she didn't actually seem to think about much of anything. It isn't that she was a flighty character and was just blissfully unaware. It was more like the author didn't know what to do with her if she wasn't this "wronged chubby girl from the sticks". After her big realization moment there should have been some kind of growth or change and nothing ever came of it. She should have been the character I would have understood being that my high school experience wasn't dissimilar (without the magic), instead I waited for her sections to be over for most of the second half of the novel.So to sum up for those who didn't want to read all that:: Not a bad novel but not something I would recommend to others.
review 2: Really I'd give this 3.5 stars. I liked the Scandinavian setting to the story and the way the authors took their time to introduce the characters in a casual and fluid manner. The struggles the girls all had to deal with appearance, friends, family as well as the struggles of learning a new part of yourself such as magical abilities (and coming to terms with all of these things individually) felt very real and I look forward to reading the second. less

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