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Sassy Brit (97 KP) rated The Island (Hidden Iceland #2) in Books
Jun 5, 2019
After reading the previous Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir story (The Darkness) of which I really enjoyed, I was pleased to be offered this book to review by Penguin UK (Michael Joseph) via NetGalley. Here’s my review:
In The Island Ragnar brings back CID member Hulda of the Reykjavik police with another case to solve. One surrounding four young adults who have decided to take a weekend away in a remote and deserted part of of Elliðaey island off the Icelandic coast. Strange because they’d not seen each other for ten years, and even stranger still, one is married with kids and it’s odd that she’d just go on a mini-break with old school friends she’d not seen for years when they hadn’t really kept in contact all that time. Stranger still, once they meet up again, there’s a fatal accident and when they wake up one morning a girl’s missing. She’s only gone and fallen off a cliff and killed herself.
Or was she pushed? *Strokes chin in a very Sherlock way*
What is the connection between these four people? And why did they decide to meet up after ten years? I don’t know about you, but I was dying to find out! Okay, maybe not dying, I don’t want the author to put me in one of his stories only to kill me off – but I was keen!
My thoughts? Ragnar has written an intriguing and clever plot where two stories (past and present) fold into one. Running along beside Hulda’s crime solving antics, there’s a chance to discover more about her private life, her dark past, and her wish to find her own father of whom she’s never known.
I thoroughly enjoyed solving this crime with Hulda. I found the bittersweet ending (of which more than one character received) was brilliantly crafted. How an author writes a book with so much detail, I’ll never know but Jónasson is very good at it!
Nordic fiction can be as bleak as the setting, but that’s the beauty of these unforgiving scenes! I love how the isolated island, along with the terrain and the weather, helps to weave suspense and atmosphere into the story, just as much as the characters involved. What an entertaining, and cleverly crafted Nordic Noir! Looking forward to reading The Mist the third of Jónasson’s Hidden Iceland series. It can’t come fast enough!
In The Island Ragnar brings back CID member Hulda of the Reykjavik police with another case to solve. One surrounding four young adults who have decided to take a weekend away in a remote and deserted part of of Elliðaey island off the Icelandic coast. Strange because they’d not seen each other for ten years, and even stranger still, one is married with kids and it’s odd that she’d just go on a mini-break with old school friends she’d not seen for years when they hadn’t really kept in contact all that time. Stranger still, once they meet up again, there’s a fatal accident and when they wake up one morning a girl’s missing. She’s only gone and fallen off a cliff and killed herself.
Or was she pushed? *Strokes chin in a very Sherlock way*
What is the connection between these four people? And why did they decide to meet up after ten years? I don’t know about you, but I was dying to find out! Okay, maybe not dying, I don’t want the author to put me in one of his stories only to kill me off – but I was keen!
My thoughts? Ragnar has written an intriguing and clever plot where two stories (past and present) fold into one. Running along beside Hulda’s crime solving antics, there’s a chance to discover more about her private life, her dark past, and her wish to find her own father of whom she’s never known.
I thoroughly enjoyed solving this crime with Hulda. I found the bittersweet ending (of which more than one character received) was brilliantly crafted. How an author writes a book with so much detail, I’ll never know but Jónasson is very good at it!
Nordic fiction can be as bleak as the setting, but that’s the beauty of these unforgiving scenes! I love how the isolated island, along with the terrain and the weather, helps to weave suspense and atmosphere into the story, just as much as the characters involved. What an entertaining, and cleverly crafted Nordic Noir! Looking forward to reading The Mist the third of Jónasson’s Hidden Iceland series. It can’t come fast enough!
A story for all of you - lovers of the magical. Book that gonna feed you starvation for magic. With every page you will go deep into the Caraval's magic and secrets. But don't forget:
"Before you fully enter into our world, you must remember it’s all a game. What happens beyond this gate may frighten or excite you, but don’t let any of it trick you. We will try to convince you it’s real, but all of it is a performance."
Meet Scarlett and Tella Dragna - two sisters living in an island, governed by their father, who shows up to be such a cunt. He punishes them without any mercy. Beat and torture them and even kill a man to teach them a lesson. But Scarlett found their only way out from this bloody island- she gonna marry to a governor. Although it is an arranged marriage she can see clearly the situation and to understand that this is the only salvation for her and her sister. But life has other plans for them. When they received three tickets for the annual Caraval show, Tella kidnapped her, with the help of mysterious sails man, to the mysterious show’s island. And then the game began.
The Caraval is ruled by a man called Legend. Nobody saw his face, nobody knows his name. He is only known for his passion for games. Although his games can draw people to madness, everybody wants to play. And this year award is so tempting that nobody can resist. Who doesn’t want to get a wish come true?
It’s a magical book that took me away from reality for couple hours. But it’s not fully developed. There is not a built world, just some islands in the middle of somewhere. No world named, or government, nothing. This came as drawback for me, I missed the illusion that actually this world does exists. Another shortage for me is that the characters are not fully developed as well. I liked the way that Scar describes her feelings in colours, but there is almost nothing personal to learn about her. The major thing in the book is the Game. In some points I believed that everything that happened is true. All decisions are life treating. I’ve got lost between the pages, absorbed by the magic. I probably forgot that “it’s only a game”.
"Before you fully enter into our world, you must remember it’s all a game. What happens beyond this gate may frighten or excite you, but don’t let any of it trick you. We will try to convince you it’s real, but all of it is a performance."
Meet Scarlett and Tella Dragna - two sisters living in an island, governed by their father, who shows up to be such a cunt. He punishes them without any mercy. Beat and torture them and even kill a man to teach them a lesson. But Scarlett found their only way out from this bloody island- she gonna marry to a governor. Although it is an arranged marriage she can see clearly the situation and to understand that this is the only salvation for her and her sister. But life has other plans for them. When they received three tickets for the annual Caraval show, Tella kidnapped her, with the help of mysterious sails man, to the mysterious show’s island. And then the game began.
The Caraval is ruled by a man called Legend. Nobody saw his face, nobody knows his name. He is only known for his passion for games. Although his games can draw people to madness, everybody wants to play. And this year award is so tempting that nobody can resist. Who doesn’t want to get a wish come true?
It’s a magical book that took me away from reality for couple hours. But it’s not fully developed. There is not a built world, just some islands in the middle of somewhere. No world named, or government, nothing. This came as drawback for me, I missed the illusion that actually this world does exists. Another shortage for me is that the characters are not fully developed as well. I liked the way that Scar describes her feelings in colours, but there is almost nothing personal to learn about her. The major thing in the book is the Game. In some points I believed that everything that happened is true. All decisions are life treating. I’ve got lost between the pages, absorbed by the magic. I probably forgot that “it’s only a game”.
Hazel (1853 KP) rated Hearts of Stone in Books
Dec 17, 2018
<i>I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.</i>
Simon Scarrow brings to life the horrors of World War II in his latest novel <i>Hearts of Stone</i>. In 2013, Anna Thesskoudiss, a history teacher is contacted by a German research student, Dieter Muller who is interested in talking to her grandmother Eleni. He explains that he is the grandson of Peter Muller who was friends with her grandmother whilst staying on the Greek island of Lefkas until the war made them enemies.
Dieter Muller’s introduction implies that the story is going to be about the relationship between Eleni and Peter, which gets destroyed when Peter returns to the island as an enemy intelligence officer. The blurb for <i>Hearts of Stone</i> also implies this. However, the majority of the book focuses on their friend Andreas’ experience of the Navy and his role in the resistance. Scarrow goes into detail of every dangerous situation Andreas finds himself in, but this is not what the reader was expecting to learn about. Eventually the final chapters turn to Peter’s role in the war and the reason Eleni and he could no longer consider themselves friends.
Despite being full of action and war horrors, it gets a little boring reading about Andreas’ life. Although this narrative leads to what happens with Peter, it occasionally felt unnecessary, as it was the final stages that appeared to be the most important.
From an historical point of view it is refreshing to read a war story that is not focused on either Britain or Germany. <i>Hearts of Stone</i> reveals how Greece was affected even though they were not one of the main fighting bodies. It is shocking how many innocent people were killed purely for the Nazi’s to invoke fear in the hopes the natives would submit to their rule.
Hopefully the vast amount of mistakes and grammatical errors would have been corrected before the final – I read an uncorrected proof – publication. Admittedly <i>Hearts of Stone</i> was a bit of a disappointment as it was not exactly what it appeared to be. However it has educational value as well as entertainment for readers who enjoy war stories. Scarrow has also included maps of the Greek island of Lefkas and the Mediterranean during WWII as well as a character list to benefit readers as they take in the story.
Simon Scarrow brings to life the horrors of World War II in his latest novel <i>Hearts of Stone</i>. In 2013, Anna Thesskoudiss, a history teacher is contacted by a German research student, Dieter Muller who is interested in talking to her grandmother Eleni. He explains that he is the grandson of Peter Muller who was friends with her grandmother whilst staying on the Greek island of Lefkas until the war made them enemies.
Dieter Muller’s introduction implies that the story is going to be about the relationship between Eleni and Peter, which gets destroyed when Peter returns to the island as an enemy intelligence officer. The blurb for <i>Hearts of Stone</i> also implies this. However, the majority of the book focuses on their friend Andreas’ experience of the Navy and his role in the resistance. Scarrow goes into detail of every dangerous situation Andreas finds himself in, but this is not what the reader was expecting to learn about. Eventually the final chapters turn to Peter’s role in the war and the reason Eleni and he could no longer consider themselves friends.
Despite being full of action and war horrors, it gets a little boring reading about Andreas’ life. Although this narrative leads to what happens with Peter, it occasionally felt unnecessary, as it was the final stages that appeared to be the most important.
From an historical point of view it is refreshing to read a war story that is not focused on either Britain or Germany. <i>Hearts of Stone</i> reveals how Greece was affected even though they were not one of the main fighting bodies. It is shocking how many innocent people were killed purely for the Nazi’s to invoke fear in the hopes the natives would submit to their rule.
Hopefully the vast amount of mistakes and grammatical errors would have been corrected before the final – I read an uncorrected proof – publication. Admittedly <i>Hearts of Stone</i> was a bit of a disappointment as it was not exactly what it appeared to be. However it has educational value as well as entertainment for readers who enjoy war stories. Scarrow has also included maps of the Greek island of Lefkas and the Mediterranean during WWII as well as a character list to benefit readers as they take in the story.
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Natalie (23 KP) rated We Were Liars in Books
Nov 13, 2017
Page-turning suspense (2 more)
Some original narrative techniques
A decent twist
The slowest pacing/build-up I've ever experienced (1 more)
Passive/incomplete characters
A family mystery with a twist
Cadence Sinclair (Cady) comes from a rich, well-to-do family. So well-to-do, in fact, that they have the luxury of vacationing on their own private island every summer. It is this island, Beechwood, that is the heart of Cady’s narrative; the summers she spent there with her childhood companions. The inseparable foursome; Cady, Johnny, Mirren and Gat – affectionately termed ‘the Liars’ – treasure their Beechwood idyll, but when Cady has a mysterious accident during ‘summer fifteen’, the four become divided as Cady searches for the truth.
Though I enjoyed Lockart's technique and style overall and really enjoyed the twist, there were a few hang-ups that I couldn't get over. The suspense is there, but accounts for about 80% of the book, before we get to the substance. I have no problem with a book that is slow-paced in general, but this felt like much of the first two thirds of the book was inconsequential, then we quickly dealt with the nitty-gritty. Furthermore, Cady is so passive that it's frustrating and makes it no wonder that the narrative crawls along - we might get somewhere faster if Cady had any spark about her and could face a confrontation or two. By making Cady herself a writer, Lockhart has opened up a few other interesting techniques to get to know our protagonist better, though they unfortunately fall just short.
Though I enjoyed Lockart's technique and style overall and really enjoyed the twist, there were a few hang-ups that I couldn't get over. The suspense is there, but accounts for about 80% of the book, before we get to the substance. I have no problem with a book that is slow-paced in general, but this felt like much of the first two thirds of the book was inconsequential, then we quickly dealt with the nitty-gritty. Furthermore, Cady is so passive that it's frustrating and makes it no wonder that the narrative crawls along - we might get somewhere faster if Cady had any spark about her and could face a confrontation or two. By making Cady herself a writer, Lockhart has opened up a few other interesting techniques to get to know our protagonist better, though they unfortunately fall just short.
Jason (7 KP) rated The Light Between Oceans in Books
Jul 9, 2017
Better Than The Film
Yes, yes, I know this has been made into a film. I'm always a little disappointed when a good book becomes a film. With the book, the characters look how you think they should and the locations look how you think they should and so on . . .
With the film, you have the directors vision not yours and I always seem to think the director has it wrong. I even felt this with the Harry Potters. In my head, everything was how I imagined it and the films were not.
Anyways, nothing exists to serve my point as much as this book. I read it a long time before the film came out and it made me feel things more than the subsequent film did.
If you didn't know, this is the story of a man who comes back from the First World War and seeks solitude manning a lighthouse on a lonely island.
He meets the love of his life and they marry and co-exist on the island very happily. They try to have a family but sadly it is not to be as his wife suffers miscarriages.
One day, a boat washes up with a dead man and a live baby inside. What follows is nothing short of heart rending. I won't go into too much detail as you need to read this yourself and please, I implore you to avoid the film until you have read the book.
It's an emotional read, but worth it.
With the film, you have the directors vision not yours and I always seem to think the director has it wrong. I even felt this with the Harry Potters. In my head, everything was how I imagined it and the films were not.
Anyways, nothing exists to serve my point as much as this book. I read it a long time before the film came out and it made me feel things more than the subsequent film did.
If you didn't know, this is the story of a man who comes back from the First World War and seeks solitude manning a lighthouse on a lonely island.
He meets the love of his life and they marry and co-exist on the island very happily. They try to have a family but sadly it is not to be as his wife suffers miscarriages.
One day, a boat washes up with a dead man and a live baby inside. What follows is nothing short of heart rending. I won't go into too much detail as you need to read this yourself and please, I implore you to avoid the film until you have read the book.
It's an emotional read, but worth it.
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