I have waited for this book to be delivered a day after it came out but couldn't wait and read the digital version of it while my physical copy was on the way.
Anyway!!! Amazing, first and foremost the idea is great and completely unexpected, given the setting I was expecting something more rooted in local folklore but the actual plot was much better. And, it did use the setting, using the fact that the Appalachian mountains are old and their amazing geology. I have to say that it wasn't "scary" not like What feasts at night,but that one played at each and every fear hidden in my Balkan soul.
What Stalks the Deep was tense, some parts made my skin crawl (seriously fuck spelunking and mines) but in the end it had a really satisfying ending.
Additionally: I hope we see John Ingold, Chemist, again and
please, please tell …
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Riverkeeper reviewed What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher (Sworn Solider, #3)
None
5 stars
Anyway!!! Amazing, first and foremost the idea is great and completely unexpected, given the setting I was expecting something more rooted in local folklore but the actual plot was much better. And, it did use the setting, using the fact that the Appalachian mountains are old and their amazing geology. I have to say that it wasn't "scary" not like What feasts at night,but that one played at each and every fear hidden in my Balkan soul.
What Stalks the Deep was tense, some parts made my skin crawl (seriously fuck spelunking and mines) but in the end it had a really satisfying ending.
Additionally: I hope we see John Ingold, Chemist, again and
please, please tell me this will not be the last time we get to see Alex Easton. Here's an idea! Let kas next adventure be in Finland.
Riverkeeper rated Moonlight and the Pearler's Daughter: 4 stars
Riverkeeper reviewed Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Riverkeeper reviewed Blå by Maja Lunde
None
4 stars
It had a really strong beginning and it's nice how the two stories are connected. That being said, the main character, David is simply obnoxious. I simply couldn't get over the fact of how <spoiler>he was well aware that his wife is dead and how</spoiler>fast he wanted to fuck someone else and then simply decided to abandon her.
Riverkeeper reviewed Vi for upp med mor

Vi for upp med mor
None
4 stars
Mother is dead, and Jana and Bror follow her body up north. To a village that seemed to have completely lost touch with present day Sweden. Here, God's word is law and it is spoken through the mouth of priests. And God's word is not questioned.
Men rule, women grow up, give birth until they die. Children learn to fill the places of their parents. Nobody leaves. Except for Mother.
Mother left, married Father and had two albino children that she never protected, never cared about, never loved..so it seems.
Jana wants to leave, Bror wants to stay caught up in the alluring idea of a world where his worth would be immediately increased by the virtue of being a man.
In comparison to the first book this one is slower and at times boring. It sets up a stage but in the end of it you're left frustrated and …
Men rule, women grow up, give birth until they die. Children learn to fill the places of their parents. Nobody leaves. Except for Mother.
Mother left, married Father and had two albino children that she never protected, never cared about, never loved..so it seems.
Jana wants to leave, Bror wants to stay caught up in the alluring idea of a world where his worth would be immediately increased by the virtue of being a man.
In comparison to the first book this one is slower and at times boring. It sets up a stage but in the end of it you're left frustrated and kinda empty because even though you know Jana is probably going to make all the wrong decisions, she shows moments of clarity that keep your hope up that she might, just might do it right this time around.
Riverkeeper reviewed Jag for ner till bror by Karin Smirnoff
None
5 stars
JanaKippo or trauma personified. This book is probably best read in Swedish but it takes some time to understand the way it is written but once you do it will have you hooked .
It's told by a woman called Jana who recall growing up with her brother on a farm in a village in the north of Sweden. Her father was a worker/farmer who comes home for the weekend and her mother is a housewife who spends time writing Bible verses on embroidery and hiding bruises behind shawls and sunglasses.
Jana's life as much as her brother (who is named Brother, Bror in Swedish) are abused by their father is horrific ways until it culminated in an event that changed them forever.
In the present, Jana comes back to the village after another failed relationship, her brother is ready to drink himself to death, a woman named Maria was …
It's told by a woman called Jana who recall growing up with her brother on a farm in a village in the north of Sweden. Her father was a worker/farmer who comes home for the weekend and her mother is a housewife who spends time writing Bible verses on embroidery and hiding bruises behind shawls and sunglasses.
Jana's life as much as her brother (who is named Brother, Bror in Swedish) are abused by their father is horrific ways until it culminated in an event that changed them forever.
In the present, Jana comes back to the village after another failed relationship, her brother is ready to drink himself to death, a woman named Maria was found dead and Jana's past starts haunting her already from page 1.
Throughou the story it switches between the past and present and tells a story that will at times make you physically sick but you will think about it for a long time.
Riverkeeper reviewed By the River by Niellah Arboine
None
2 stars
This book was recommended to me by a friend as one of those "I saw this and thought of you" books.
I was very excited to read it and even ordered it after it wasn't available in the bookstore or the local library.
Unfortunately, I was so disappointed that I'm struggling with reviewing it in the first place.
Maybe because I expected something in the lines of Nan Shepherd's "The living mountain" or maybe because the book opens with an essay about Virginia Woolf (whom I don't care for in the slightest, so I'm biased).
The river here could he replaced with anything really, any form of suicide.
Quite a few essays are like this, and I have to admit I skipped those midway through.
There are a few good ones, that weave current issues about rivers, access to blue spaces and the need for conservation of our waterways with …
I was very excited to read it and even ordered it after it wasn't available in the bookstore or the local library.
Unfortunately, I was so disappointed that I'm struggling with reviewing it in the first place.
Maybe because I expected something in the lines of Nan Shepherd's "The living mountain" or maybe because the book opens with an essay about Virginia Woolf (whom I don't care for in the slightest, so I'm biased).
The river here could he replaced with anything really, any form of suicide.
Quite a few essays are like this, and I have to admit I skipped those midway through.
There are a few good ones, that weave current issues about rivers, access to blue spaces and the need for conservation of our waterways with personal stories and make for a good read.
Overall, this book should have been split into two separate books and only one of them should have had the title "By the River". But unfortunately, then it would be a rather short book.
Riverkeeper reviewed Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor
None
5 stars
Heartbreaking in the best way.
This is the best book I've read this year. Manod is a complicated protagonist, liveable but hard not to feel sorry for. The book portrays the life of Islanders and those of isolated communities with a tenderness. The writing is at brief moments confusing but it serves as a good insight into the protagonist's mind.
It has a lot of description of animal (fish) decay as well as gutting of fish and lobsters as the book is set in a fisherman's community.
This is the best book I've read this year. Manod is a complicated protagonist, liveable but hard not to feel sorry for. The book portrays the life of Islanders and those of isolated communities with a tenderness. The writing is at brief moments confusing but it serves as a good insight into the protagonist's mind.
It has a lot of description of animal (fish) decay as well as gutting of fish and lobsters as the book is set in a fisherman's community.
Riverkeeper reviewed Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh
None
4 stars
A good story absolutely despicable protagonist. Maybe I was just not in the mood for it but I expected more then a woman who's longing to have someone spit in her face.
Riverkeeper reviewed North Woods by Daniel Mason
None
5 stars
A treat!! This book is like a fever dream but in a good way. The main character is the yellow house that sees a host of characters come and go (some stay forever) while the world changes around them.
It's best to go into this book with an open mind because it mixes genres, and some stories (Lilian and her son's story) were gut wrenching.
It's best to go into this book with an open mind because it mixes genres, and some stories (Lilian and her son's story) were gut wrenching.
Riverkeeper reviewed Dead Water by C. A. Fletcher
None
3 stars
This book started so good, a bit slower and with a lot of characters you need to follow. It had an excellent premise of a remote Scottish island where strange and unsettling behavior starts happening<spoiler> that a curse causes</spoiler>. The later parts of the book pick up and there are some genuinely scary moments.
Unfortunately the ending is just so rushed and makes no sense, things seem to appear out of thin air or they have no connection to the plot before.
The ending is really unsatisfying and opens more questions than answers.
Lastly, the author used a foreign language in the book but didn't really check if his sentences were correct and it kind of made me knock down the review a bit. It felt like a really sloppy thing to do given that the rest of the book has an imaginative and decently researched plot base.
Unfortunately the ending is just so rushed and makes no sense, things seem to appear out of thin air or they have no connection to the plot before.
The ending is really unsatisfying and opens more questions than answers.
Lastly, the author used a foreign language in the book but didn't really check if his sentences were correct and it kind of made me knock down the review a bit. It felt like a really sloppy thing to do given that the rest of the book has an imaginative and decently researched plot base.
Riverkeeper reviewed The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
None
3 stars
I've finished this book but I'm struggling to rate it properly.
The premise is interesting but I genuinely didn't care about the characters.
Elsa herself could have been such a better, more complex character but for me she just fell flat. Similarly with everyone else. They all just felt too stereotypical.
The handsome but unreliable husband. The supportive and loving nonna and nonno, the golden retriever son and the snarky, unbearable, teenage daughter.
Seriously? I doubt children were free to treat their parents with such disrespect at the time. Even teenagers??
The plot is filled with bad things happening one after the other and it felt like the author remembered only later that her main character should perhaps also care for other people. She leaves her elderly mother and father in law behind and NEVER seems to grieve over them or worry if they will survive, nothing. At one point, …
The premise is interesting but I genuinely didn't care about the characters.
Elsa herself could have been such a better, more complex character but for me she just fell flat. Similarly with everyone else. They all just felt too stereotypical.
The handsome but unreliable husband. The supportive and loving nonna and nonno, the golden retriever son and the snarky, unbearable, teenage daughter.
Seriously? I doubt children were free to treat their parents with such disrespect at the time. Even teenagers??
The plot is filled with bad things happening one after the other and it felt like the author remembered only later that her main character should perhaps also care for other people. She leaves her elderly mother and father in law behind and NEVER seems to grieve over them or worry if they will survive, nothing. At one point, getting ready to cross the desert in New Mexico she sees a mother and children on the road, walking in the same direction. And doesn't even stop??? Nothing??? They simply serve as a device for Elsa to reflect how a year ago she would have NEVER dared to set out alone?
Ma'am, you could have offered them a ride? Gas runs the same with 3 or 6 people?
Anyway, the moment Elsa gets her head out of her behind, and starts caring for other people and herself, she's dramatically killed. And it was obvious that the author wanted tears.
Unfortunately, at that point I just wanted to finish the book so it didn't really evoke the dramatic effect it should have.
I'm also deducting a point from the book because of the writing style. While some descriptions of the surroundings were great, the repetition of:
Elsa said X..
Elsa got up and X
Elsa did X
really bothered me. It felt like the writing got slightly better and with less repetition in the later part of the book.
Riverkeeper reviewed Scandal by Fredrik Backman
None
4 stars
No matter how much I try, I simply cannot see the appeal of this book. It was just a lukewarm experience and I simply cannot be bothered to write a full review.
Riverkeeper reviewed The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall (duplicate)
None
4 stars
The book took me almost two years to finish. I started it but it was so painfully slow and the main character was completely insufferable.
After a while it becomes more bearable, the characters become more if not loveable then at least understandable.
All in all, an interesting read.
After a while it becomes more bearable, the characters become more if not loveable then at least understandable.
All in all, an interesting read.











