A different take on WWII. it's a well written story of a young woman who finds a downed pilot in Norway and takes him to Sweden, all the while pursued by the Nazis and, sadly, her own father. It's a good read for fans of the genre.

A great read set during WWII that was gripping till the end! A great book to curl up with on bad weather days!

I wouldn't necessarily call this a thriller, but it's a very good historical fiction piece. Kari is a Norwegian teenager who sets out to help a downed American airman reach safety in Sweden. These two set out in the cold winter woods of Norway to reach their destination while being pursued by a neighbor and Nazis. Kari's dad also joins in the search, but for different reasons. A great story of survival and feeling the tension of their flight to safety. Not a super long book, but a nice and satisfying ending.

This book was average in every way. Not compelling and I was just glad to be done with it. My thanks to the Publishers and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this mediocre story.

a short easy read with an interesting story set during WW2 in norway.
Its not the best historical fiction i have read but also way of the worst i read.
If you want a bit of a different spin on the typical WW2 story, give this a try!

i really enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to fans of this genre. It was engaging and interesting, with memorable characters and intriguing settings. Very good

An allied plane goes down over a remote region in Norway. Kari Dahlstrom is out working on her family's farm when she sees it drop. Though her recently-widowed father forbids her to get involved, Kari investigates the crash anyway, and when she finds the pilot alive, she decides to help him cross the border into Sweden. Land of Hidden Fires is about their journey through the cold and unforgiving countryside as they try to avoid being captured by SS officers.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did, but I was hooked from the start. It's a short little nugget of a story but still completely captivating in a quietly suspenseful sort of way. The characters are very reserved, but their inner lives are revealed just enough so that it is easy to empathize with them. Kari's father, Erling, surprised me by becoming one of my favorites.

I also really appreciated how fully author Kjeldsen was able to describe the harsh Norwegian climate. I felt like I was frozen on a mountain right next to these people.

My only minor complaint is that the story's ending felt rushed. I liked where the book ended up, but Kjeldsen seemed too eager to get there. As an example, it took a whole novel for Kari to get from her farm to Sweden, but it only took a few pages for her to go from Sweden back to her farm. I wish there had been a little more detail at the end. I wasn't ready to let go that quickly.

Still, I loved getting lost in this story. The characters are endearing, the setting harsh but gorgeous, and the plot is unique and creative. Not a bad little book.

I received a review copy but have been a bit delayed getting my review up - and when I glanced at the other reviews I was surprised indeed that it had a lower overall score than I expected.
I loved this book! Yes, it's not a gritty Scandinavia thriller, so those who wanted that would have been disappointed. It is a historical drama, but it doesn't bang on about the scenery for pages and pages - it gets on with the story. Which was great! I didn't need more background, I didn't need a different ending, and although it was a fairly bleak and sad portrayal of Norway under German occupation, there was enough plot at a good pace to keep my interest.
I was fascinated to read a little about the author's family afterwards, which did explain a few things. I will look out for more books by this author, and hope they are as interesting as this one.

A run of the mill resistance story and not terribly compelling.

Land of Hidden Fires is a World War II novel, set in Nazi-occupied Norway, and told from three perspectives. The first is Kari, a young woman who wants more out of life than her father's rundown farm can offer her. The second is Kari's father, a man who was left broken by his wife's death and finds himself unable to connect with his daughter. The third is a Nazi officer who feels he's being forced to keep order in Norway as some sort of punishment. Fortunately, this isn't one of those stories that tries to do the whole "look at the story from the Nazi's point of view until you feel sorry for him" thing. Kjeldsen is pretty upfront about the fact that the Nazi is a horrible human being. All three characters are somewhat stereotypical as none of them really bring new insight into the tropes they embody. But their interactions with each other are well-developed, especially the gradual progression of Kari's relationship with her father. My biggest complaint with this story is the length. I don't think the reader is given enough time to really get to know the characters past what we're shown at the surface level. If the book had been longer, we could have more backstory into what has made these characters into the people we now see.

I am just bowled over to how such an amazing story can fit into so few pages. In this book a young girl with every step she takes leaves behind everything that was the innocence of being a child through war time in Norway on a remarkable journey that will change some lives and end others. Not everyone can have a fairy tale ending.
Fifteen year old Kari  lives with her father that can not see past his own grief after losing his wife years before to be able to form any sort of relationship with her, except as provider of a roof over her head and food.  When she sees a small plane go down in the mountains she is determined to be first on the scene where she finds an American pilot stuck in a tree.   Lance realising that this girl could be his only chance of survival soon sweet talks her into helping him down and she in all innocence of day dreams, fairy tales and happy ever afters says she is part of the resistance and can get him over ruggered mountains in the heart of winter to the safety of Sweden.
OMG what a tremendous and perilous journey that not only has its battles with nature in the wintery mountains of Norway but also a determined German Officer and Nazi Oberleutnant Conrad Moltke hot on the pairs tails and gaining ground all the time along with his hot shot team of soldiers that are intent on capture of the American pilot and the traitor that is helping him.  Erling, Kari's father has finally woken up to the fact that he has a daughter and he must find before the Nazis get to her. A race against time and the elements.
Wow, Wow, Wow,  what an outstanding story Kirk Kjeldsen tells with such vivid and crisp descriptions of this beautiful country that I could close my eyes and I was there. The contrasts then between such beauty and the ugliness of invasion was so very dramatic. If the beauty of this country wasn't taking my breath then fear was. I can't find the right words for how I felt because helpless and frightened just don't do it.
I would say to anyone read this book because it is more of an experience than just reading words. Outstanding! I wish to thank Kirk Kjeldsen for a NetGalley link to this book which I have chosen to review.

I desperately wanted to like this book. After all, it was recommended for readers who liked "The Nightingale" (which I loved) and "All the Light We Cannot See." But the plot was simplistic, and the characters did not seem fully developed. I don't think we heard the American pilot speak more than 10 words during the entire book--and we learned nothing of his backstory. The insights Kari gleaned from her adventure weren't all that deep, either. I was disappointed by this book. I feel it could have been so much more than it was.

The land of Hidden Fires is an interesting tale. I think it is well written and the characters develop well.

This was a short story set in Finland during the German Occupati0on in World War 2. A compelling storyline with str0ng characters. The descriptive writing makes the story come alive and walk off the page. Happy ending against the odds.

Good old fashioned adventure - peril, self-discovery and realisation

Grenzland Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Land of Hidden Fires. This is my honest opinion of the book.

When fifteen year old Kari Dahlstrom sees an allied plane crash in the mountains near her home, she takes it upon herself to locate the wreckage and extend an offer to ferry the American pilot to safe haven. Hunted by her father and the Nazis, Kari has a hard time keeping her feelings for Lance at bay. Will she be able to usher the pilot to safety in Sweden before time runs out?

Land of Hidden Fires features a fast moving plot and a strong premise. Highlighting a region affected by World War II that is not often touched upon in the fictional world, this book shows one girl's strength and determination to help an American pilot trapped in Occupied Norway in 1943. Land of Hidden Fires would have been a four star book had the author resisted the urge to include a teenager's crush into the plot line. It simply was not necessary and took the focus away from Kari's selfless task. The descriptions of the desolate landscape and frantic push towards freedom despite the elements are realistic and help to set the stage. Overall, the author does a good job of bringing to life his characters and I look forward to reading possible future books.

Kari's just your typical teenage girl, dreaming of boys and being like Rita Hayworth...except that her country is currently occupied by Nazi Germany. When an American pilot crash-lands near her father's farm, she sets off on a desperate adventure to smuggle him to Sweden.

I always have my eye open for some good Nordic reading, so obviously I snapped this up (even though the author is as much American as he is Norwegian). It's a quick, light read, coming in at 135 pages. Nonetheless, there's plenty of action, as we follow not only Kari's trek through the snow towards Sweden, but also her father's chase after her, and the search by the German officer assigned to find the American pilot whose plane has gone down.

Kari is an appealing character, combining girlish romanticism, adolescent rebellion, and a strong sense of right and wrong. She thinks Lance (the American pilot) is the man she's been waiting for, and rushes impulsively into a ill-thought-out rescue attempt, only to discover that the real hero of the piece is she herself. The other characters are more lightly drawn and typical, but still distinct: Erling, Kari's father, is a gruff widower who can't demonstrate his love for his daughter, and Moltke, the German officer, dreams of glory with Rommel in Africa rather than being stuck in backwoods Norway. The atmosphere is also typically Nordic: lots of snow, ice, and skis. The interwoven plot is perhaps the most successful thing about this book, with shifts between the different characters as they all race to reach each other and the Swedish border. Not a giant war epic, but still an engaging and fast-paced novella about a lesser-covered front in WWII.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I liked that Kirk had a tough young woman with the guts to do things that a normal person would not have done. Such as crossing the river and saving her horse when it was going under the ice attached to a cart. Or going alone into town that was filled with Germans. Or finally leaving the American pilot in the ending to go back to her father, growing up in the story not living in daydreams. This story is really worth your time to read it, because of it's reality to life.

This was an enjoyable book. It is set in Norway in March 1943, when the Germans control the country, but there are resistance movements. Kari, a Norwegian farm girl with an idyllic view of America and Americans based on Hollywood movies, sees an American plane go down in the hills not far from her farm. At night she sneaks to the crash site and finds the pilot alive, caught in the trees in his parachute. Wanting to spend time with him and wanting adventure, she claims to be a member of the resistance and says she will get him safely across the border to Sweden, which involves a somewhat treacherous journey through forests and mountains in winter. The book focuses on their journey via horse cart (and later by horse) to the Swedish border as they try to avoid German troops and Quislings. Unbeknownst to them, Kari's father has figured out what she has done and where she is going and is following after them, trying to find them before harm befalls them. The Germans are also aware that an American plane has crashed and the pilot is missing, and with the aid of a local who has grand dreams of being heavily rewarded for helping capture the pilot and those aiding him, are also on the tracks of Kari and Lance (the American pilot). It is a story of resilience and survival. The book has interesting characters, an engaging plot, vivid descriptions of scenery, intrigue, and the ultimate question of whether Kari and Lance will make it safely to Sweden.

Land of Hidden Fires is the second novel from author Kirk Kjeldsen. This is a short and punchy read in which Kjeldsen showcases his talent for creating tension and atmosphere. I rapidly found myself tensing in anticipation of a climax to the great chase. Kjeldsen quickly builds a picture of occupied Norway with clean prose and translates rich historical research into a compelling narrative (indeed he was inspired by a personal family connection to the story - see more on this over at Booklover Book Reviews).

I’m on a Norwegian fiction kick at the moment in preparation for a trip later this year, and Land of Hidden Fires ticks two of the key things I look for in pre-travel reading by nailing the sense of place and neatly framing the narrative in historical context. The rapid switching of viewpoints kept the pace ripping along and allowed Kjeldsen to quickly build a good picture of each character, although I must admit I felt we didn’t get enough depth in Kari to really justify her spontaneous life-risking behaviour. This flaw was quite distracting for me until the point that the adrenaline took over in the chase.

Land of Hidden Fires would translate to cinema easily, with Kjeldsen’s ability to ‘show-not-tell’ a real strength in painting a rich picture of occupied Norway. It’s a thrilling ride, and a great quick weekend read.