Dramatic, taboo, and elemental— First Comes Summer’s story of two unnaturally close siblings in a remote Viking settlement transfixed me. The prose of author Maria Hesselager and translator Martin Aitken was gorgeous and atmospheric, especially in its descriptions of nature and its importance to Norse life. This is a tale of obsession, but it’s also an introspective character study that touches on frailty, mortality, community, and what it means to live a good life.

I found the novel’s Norse setting extremely compelling. I loved the glimpses Hesselager gave us into Viking life: the raids, the responsibilities of a midwife, the celebrations, the mythology, and the first introduction of Christianity. In this way, First Comes Summer reminded me a lot of Nicola Griffith’s Hild (one of my favorite books).

If you can deal with the unnaturally close sibling relationship, I highly recommend this novel to all my fellow translated lit and historical fiction fans! A huge thank you to Riverhead and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy – First Comes Summer is out today!

I think I only skimmed the synopsis when requesting this one and I was drawn by the cover! This book definitely had an element I wasn't expecting, very George R.R. Martin in an uncomfortable way. It felt like a train wreck I couldn't look away from and I thought to myself, for sure there is something else going on and read on. The prose itself was unique and I actually really enjoyed how the story was set. The main character was how I imagine an unhinged woman would be in a Viking settlement. The mystical elements worked well to set an atmospheric read. I don't think this book is for everyone, but if you like weird reads and don't mind an ick factor this might be for you.

Thank you Riverhead for the ARC of this one.

This is not a book I would typically reach for but it intrigued me being a psychological and mystical novel. It took me a second to get into due to the translation, but I hit a point where I couldn’t put it down! It was so unpredictable. But it is true when some people will do absolutely anything for the ones they love. Jealous can make people do crazy things. The change of POV and timeline through out the book I really enjoyed and appreciated. I highly recommend, but this also may not be a book everyone will enjoy. Over all, I give this book a 4/5 as a bit deducted because of at time the translation was a bit hard to follow.

This is a very hard book to pin down with any certain opinion, which is I know a terribly unhelpful way to start a review. This is the translation of Jeg hedder Folkvi, a Danish novel about two siblings passionate affair and eventual estrangement and the events that stem from that. Very dreamy, in some ways good as well as bad. If you are in the mindset for it, I can see it being great, but I couldn't help but feel off-put enough for it to never really land with me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced digital copy.