Wolkenschloss | Review

[Wolkenschloss (engl.: castle in the clouds) hasn’t been released in another language than german yet, but I’m still going to write this review in english, because I bet it’s going to be translated and also because I rather write in english haha]

I always feel like Kerstin Gier’s books are just like herself: funny, lovely and cute. And so was Wolkenschloss. I fell in love with the story on page one and kept on loving it throughout the whole book. There isn’t a better book to read on a lazy weekend, in your reading chair with some tea and Christmas music playing in the background (this is btw exactly the way I read this book), than this one. For everyone who just wants to take some time out in a luxury hotel, in the middle of the Swiss mountains, full of mysterious, some nice and some quiet annoying guests, lovely personnel and in the middle of that our trainee and high school dropout Fanny Funke, who is somehow always in the middle of all the trouble, for everyone who wants to dive deep into a heartwarming, lovely and cute story, Wolkenschloss is the best place to be.

I guess some people might say Wolkenschloss is kinda boring or childish, but I think the calm, relaxing and also cute and funny feeling the book transports is just what’s making this story what it is. We always want those exciting and thrilling books we can’t put down, but isn’t it quiet nice and refreshing to sometimes just read a book, that calms you down? Something you can grab of the nightstand after a long day and can get lost in, without having to exert your mind even more? I personally love to read those kind of books from time to time. Yes, it’s for sure not easy to write a suspenseful book, but I guess it’s even harder to write a story which is just floating without that much of suspense and still make it a great book. And that is exactly what Kerstin Gier did. But before you guys think this book is actually boring: it’s not. There are, especially at the end, some really suspenseful scenes and you definitely somehow always want to know what’s going to happen next, even though there isn’t so much action.

Wolkenschloss is a book, which lives from the way the author is writing it, the love for the detail and characters and the way things are thought out and described. You can see how much effort Kerstin Gier put into coming up with all those different characters, guests and personnel, the details of the hotel itself and and and.. For me all the little things are what making this book a whole and so special. I especially loved all the different characters. Every guest, staff, even the pets are individual and special in their own way. Fanny is definitely a good-hearted and funny protagonist, who is curious, a bit clumsy and gets into trouble pretty often. I loved her.

The love story in the book was rather in the background, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. I liked the little love story, even though I actually wanted her to end up with another boy than she did haha. It for sure wasn’t a huge and dramatic love story, but it was cute and in my eyes the book lives rather from the other things I already mentioned.

Another aspect, which is making this book even more special to me, is that I actually went to a reading of Kerstin Gier some weeks ago, where she presented her new book. It’s so funny because she even read some passages out loud and when I read them on my own later I actually read it with her voice in my ear. Due to the reading I know how long it really took her to write that book and what thoughts she had and somehow that makes me loving it even more.

Wolkenschloss is going to make you laugh out loud, relax, calm down, get into the Christmas mood, also read with excitement, but most importantly: you’re going to have the best stay ever, I promise you that. I can you all just highly recommend to read that book and for everyone here who isn’t german: I hope it’s going to be translated in your language really soon! Have a great stay at ‘Wolkenschloss’ guys!

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