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volumnia_cytheris's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
raven88's review
3.0
With a nod to Halloween, felt it right to include The Ice Lands in this wee round-up. I would probably describe this as an existential version of The Blair Witch Project, mixed up with Lost with shades of On The Road. I must confess, that for large portions of the book, including the not the most easily comprehensible ending, I was rather confused at quite what the jiggins was going on. Suffused with the dark, bleak and completely terrifying landscape of rural Iceland, and the creepy inhabitants of a house that I’m fairly sure was not constructed of gingerbread, four unwitting, and not entirely likeable egotistic individuals find themselves privy to a nightmare experience. With enough schlock horror moments to keep you on the edge of the seat, and some not always welcome diversions into the world of scientific academia which were initially quite interesting and then waned, Bragi has constructed a unique blend of traditional shocker, and highbrow horror, that chills and perplexes in equal measure. I was dying throughout for these frankly annoying characters to reach grisly ends, but did they? That would be telling. As much as I was confused by some aspects of this tale, I did make it to the end, having had a sense of enjoyment, and frustration, in equal measure. I think overall I liked it, but at times it was just a little…how can I put this… too much up itself for a totally enjoyable reading experience. Sort of recommended.
amalia1985's review
2.0
Always in the hunt for anything that belongs to the Nordic Fiction genre, I was led to The Ice Lands, a thriller set in Iceland. I hadn't read the reviews and I was immediately sold when I read the blurb.Plus,the Icelandic setting is more than enough to attract my attention.Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to make me like this book.
The story isn't something we've never seen before.Two young couples start a road trip to observe the glaciers and the Icelandic nature in general.They lose their way and find themselves in a house, in the middle of nowhere, an old couple being the only residents in the area.So far, this is not innovative at all, but it sure sounds intriguing.What promised to make it special was the setting.And it did, initially.There was a foreboding feeling during the first stages of the narration, a claustrophobic aura emanating from the house and the owners as opposed to the vastness of the landscape which his its own secrets.However, the writer seemed uncertain of the direction the story was about to take and the construction collapsed soon.
Bragi tries to touch on a lot of subjects, all of them relevant to our world as we know it.There are references to the political upheaval and the financial collapse of Iceland, the moral decay of the upper classes, the frequent use of drugs and alcohol as a way to overcome the distress caused by bankruptcy.There are also references to the Icelandic traditions about elves, trolls, fairies, etc. The Icelanders retain a deep belief in the supernatural. They respect its presence and, as a result, they manage to preserve their natural environment as much as possible, which is more than can be said for the majority of the countries of our planet.
Sadly, Bragi doesn't succeed in bringing all these issues to focus in a satisfying way.The writing is repetitive, devoid of soul, the dialogue is wooden, awkward, unrealistic.It seemed hard for me to believe that friends and couples would interact with each other in such a manner, no matter the cultural differences between cultures and codes of behaviour.These people were so rude to each other, I couldn't take them seriously after a while.Perhaps, it was a matter of translation, it often happens with Icelandic novels.In my opinion, it wasn't that. The writer tries too hard to create a kind of a mysterious, atmospheric language, but the result made me bored and disinterested in the story.As for the end? Well, having an open-ended story is one thing, having a conclusion that makes no sense at all is completely different.
My main problem was what I considered to be the wrong focus of the story.There was a kind of obsession with sex and the sexual lives of the characters. It was unnecessary, overdone and performed in a vulgar way.I am not interested whether these characters have special talents in the bedroom. I thought I was reading a thriller, not a cheap, trashy novel.I am not interested in a couple's troubled erotic life, I'm here for the mystery.Nor do I care about the different kinds of websites with sexual content.If your aim is to shock the reader, do so with your story, not with references to sick, twisted perversions involving minors.It was at this point when I seriously thought to abandon the book altogether.More than once.
The characters are all problematic, a typical feature in Nordic Fiction, but even this turns redundant in the hands of the writer.They consume drugs, they smoke and drink alcohol non-stop.This would be the perfect premise for the "unreliable narrator" trope but no, another failure.Vigdís is the only character that is decently written and developed.The male characters are hedious creatures and Anne is an irritating fool who tries to appear smart, when the only thing that she succeeds in is being manipulated by her disgusting boyfriend.
There was much potential to the story, in the hands of any capable writer it would have been a blast.Here, the execution is choppy, the characters try too hard to come across as troubled and torchured, and the focus on sex made the book a trashy read, something that I just couldn't take seriously.It lacked any basic element of a good book,the haunting,distinctive aura that makes the Nordic Mystery such a fascinating genre. I am sorry to say that this is one of its poorest examples.
The story isn't something we've never seen before.Two young couples start a road trip to observe the glaciers and the Icelandic nature in general.They lose their way and find themselves in a house, in the middle of nowhere, an old couple being the only residents in the area.So far, this is not innovative at all, but it sure sounds intriguing.What promised to make it special was the setting.And it did, initially.There was a foreboding feeling during the first stages of the narration, a claustrophobic aura emanating from the house and the owners as opposed to the vastness of the landscape which his its own secrets.However, the writer seemed uncertain of the direction the story was about to take and the construction collapsed soon.
Bragi tries to touch on a lot of subjects, all of them relevant to our world as we know it.There are references to the political upheaval and the financial collapse of Iceland, the moral decay of the upper classes, the frequent use of drugs and alcohol as a way to overcome the distress caused by bankruptcy.There are also references to the Icelandic traditions about elves, trolls, fairies, etc. The Icelanders retain a deep belief in the supernatural. They respect its presence and, as a result, they manage to preserve their natural environment as much as possible, which is more than can be said for the majority of the countries of our planet.
Sadly, Bragi doesn't succeed in bringing all these issues to focus in a satisfying way.The writing is repetitive, devoid of soul, the dialogue is wooden, awkward, unrealistic.It seemed hard for me to believe that friends and couples would interact with each other in such a manner, no matter the cultural differences between cultures and codes of behaviour.These people were so rude to each other, I couldn't take them seriously after a while.Perhaps, it was a matter of translation, it often happens with Icelandic novels.In my opinion, it wasn't that. The writer tries too hard to create a kind of a mysterious, atmospheric language, but the result made me bored and disinterested in the story.As for the end? Well, having an open-ended story is one thing, having a conclusion that makes no sense at all is completely different.
My main problem was what I considered to be the wrong focus of the story.There was a kind of obsession with sex and the sexual lives of the characters. It was unnecessary, overdone and performed in a vulgar way.I am not interested whether these characters have special talents in the bedroom. I thought I was reading a thriller, not a cheap, trashy novel.I am not interested in a couple's troubled erotic life, I'm here for the mystery.Nor do I care about the different kinds of websites with sexual content.If your aim is to shock the reader, do so with your story, not with references to sick, twisted perversions involving minors.It was at this point when I seriously thought to abandon the book altogether.More than once.
The characters are all problematic, a typical feature in Nordic Fiction, but even this turns redundant in the hands of the writer.They consume drugs, they smoke and drink alcohol non-stop.This would be the perfect premise for the "unreliable narrator" trope but no, another failure.Vigdís is the only character that is decently written and developed.The male characters are hedious creatures and Anne is an irritating fool who tries to appear smart, when the only thing that she succeeds in is being manipulated by her disgusting boyfriend.
There was much potential to the story, in the hands of any capable writer it would have been a blast.Here, the execution is choppy, the characters try too hard to come across as troubled and torchured, and the focus on sex made the book a trashy read, something that I just couldn't take seriously.It lacked any basic element of a good book,the haunting,distinctive aura that makes the Nordic Mystery such a fascinating genre. I am sorry to say that this is one of its poorest examples.
callum_mclaughlin's review
2.0
Considering that this has all the vibes of a slasher film (cheesy dialogue, shamefully blatant foreshadowing, doomed pets and all), it is actually surprisingly slow and brooding for the first 80% or so, making good attempts to build intrigue, tension and character backstory. The final 20% however descends into a chaotic jumble of frankly nonsensical shock-value moments that answer none of the questions already posed and add a whole myriad of new ones that also aren’t answered. Open endings are one thing, but this just felt entirely underwhelming to me.
Whilst the attempt to flesh out each of the four main characters was respectable, especially since it’s not often the norm in the horror genre, the moments that delved into their pasts were in reality mostly just info-dumps that served as a major interruption to the main story and the tension it was trying to build, full of largely extraneous details that weren’t relevant to the arc of the story in any way. I also think that again, whilst it’s true we all have our demons and struggles to cope with, the author went into overdrive with how messed up everyone’s life was. Pretty much every character, main or barely mentioned, was involved with something sordid or troubling, be it alcoholism, drug addiction, bestiality, incest, crime, mental health struggles, financial difficulties or otherwise. It just felt way overdone and unnecessary.
I did find some of the early sections genuinely creepy, the setting was atmospheric, and I was definitely intrigued to know what was going on, meaning it was very readable at first. It’s just a shame the last fifth descended into utter madness for the sake of it and bizarre philosophical babblings so strange that I’m still not sure if they were lost in translation or just pompous.
Whilst the attempt to flesh out each of the four main characters was respectable, especially since it’s not often the norm in the horror genre, the moments that delved into their pasts were in reality mostly just info-dumps that served as a major interruption to the main story and the tension it was trying to build, full of largely extraneous details that weren’t relevant to the arc of the story in any way. I also think that again, whilst it’s true we all have our demons and struggles to cope with, the author went into overdrive with how messed up everyone’s life was. Pretty much every character, main or barely mentioned, was involved with something sordid or troubling, be it alcoholism, drug addiction, bestiality, incest, crime, mental health struggles, financial difficulties or otherwise. It just felt way overdone and unnecessary.
I did find some of the early sections genuinely creepy, the setting was atmospheric, and I was definitely intrigued to know what was going on, meaning it was very readable at first. It’s just a shame the last fifth descended into utter madness for the sake of it and bizarre philosophical babblings so strange that I’m still not sure if they were lost in translation or just pompous.
balancinghistorybooks's review
2.0
The Ice Lands is the second novel by Icelandic author Steinar Bragi, a critically acclaimed poet and author in his native land. Translated by Lorenza Garcia, the novel takes as its focus two couples, all in their thirties, who have been affected by Iceland’s financial crisis. We meet reckless Egill, recovering alcoholic Hrafn, and their partners, Anna and Vigdis. The quartet decide to embark upon a camping trip; the weather and the poor visibility which it brings mean that the Jeep in which they are travelling crashes into a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. When they meet the couple who live inside said farmhouse, the premise heightens somewhat: ‘… the isolated dwelling is inhabited by a mysterious elderly couple who inexplicably barricade themselves inside every night. As past tensions within the group rise to the surface, the merciless weather blocks every attempt at escape, forcing them to ask difficult questions: who has been butchering animals near the house? What happened to the abandoned village nearby where bones lie strewn across the ground? And most importantly, will they return home?’ A Swedish publication, Corren, deemed the novel ‘Iceland’s Twin Peaks’.
The novel’s overall review score is quite poor, I felt, standing at 2.84 out of 5 on Goodreads. This made me a little sceptical, I must say, but I love Icelandic literature, and was determined to give it a fair chance. I felt a definite comradeship with all of the reviewers who have marked this a two- or one-star read quite early on, however; the dialogue is rather dull, and whilst the story is what really drives the whole onwards, it has not been overly well executed.
Bragi’s opening paragraph captures Iceland’s darkness effectively, yet rather simply: ‘Over the highlands all was still. The shadows on the horizon darkened, growing sharper against the sky, before dissolving into the night’. Sadly, the writing never really regains this quiet power, and an inconsistency is visible throughout. The prose is very much of the telling rather than the showing variety, which gives the whole an element of dullness, and which renders the reader (or rendered me, at least) rather impatient for something to happen. Bragi is very matter-of-fact, and a lot of the details discussed or included feel superfluous. It’s just quite a boring book, and excerpts of prose such as the following would encourage me to avoid the work in question: ‘Through the open door of the barn they glimpsed bales of hay wrapped in green and white plastic. In the yard in front of the barn stood a sand-blown Willys jeep. The old woman was crouching beside one of the wheels in a pair of grubby overalls, poking a tool under the body of the vehicle. Clearly she was in charge of more than the housework’.
The Ice Lands had a lot of potential, due not only to its setting, but to the intrigue of its plot. Not a great deal else occurs that is not described in the book’s blurb, and it caused this particular reader to give up around a third of the way through. Had an author such as Halldor Laxness used a similar plot in his fiction, I imagine that it would be incredibly compelling, and quite difficult to put down.
The novel’s overall review score is quite poor, I felt, standing at 2.84 out of 5 on Goodreads. This made me a little sceptical, I must say, but I love Icelandic literature, and was determined to give it a fair chance. I felt a definite comradeship with all of the reviewers who have marked this a two- or one-star read quite early on, however; the dialogue is rather dull, and whilst the story is what really drives the whole onwards, it has not been overly well executed.
Bragi’s opening paragraph captures Iceland’s darkness effectively, yet rather simply: ‘Over the highlands all was still. The shadows on the horizon darkened, growing sharper against the sky, before dissolving into the night’. Sadly, the writing never really regains this quiet power, and an inconsistency is visible throughout. The prose is very much of the telling rather than the showing variety, which gives the whole an element of dullness, and which renders the reader (or rendered me, at least) rather impatient for something to happen. Bragi is very matter-of-fact, and a lot of the details discussed or included feel superfluous. It’s just quite a boring book, and excerpts of prose such as the following would encourage me to avoid the work in question: ‘Through the open door of the barn they glimpsed bales of hay wrapped in green and white plastic. In the yard in front of the barn stood a sand-blown Willys jeep. The old woman was crouching beside one of the wheels in a pair of grubby overalls, poking a tool under the body of the vehicle. Clearly she was in charge of more than the housework’.
The Ice Lands had a lot of potential, due not only to its setting, but to the intrigue of its plot. Not a great deal else occurs that is not described in the book’s blurb, and it caused this particular reader to give up around a third of the way through. Had an author such as Halldor Laxness used a similar plot in his fiction, I imagine that it would be incredibly compelling, and quite difficult to put down.
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