Jonas Jonasson has a gift for political satire couched in extraordinary tales of endurance and intelligence. His characters are at once completely believable and extraordinary caricatures. You want to believe that people like this really do exist (and sometimes you shudder at the thought). The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden is a story of a girl who started at the bottom but struggled her way up through any means necessary. Hers is a story of patient determination to succeed and attain a happy, "normal" life. Much like the other book of his that I reviewed, this book is a rollicking (and at times quite raunchy) ride from beginning to end. For me, it was a solid 10/10. If you enjoy political satires with a bite then I think you'll enjoy this one.
What's next? Nobody knows.
Except for me. I always know.
Feed by M.T. Anderson
People are connecting themselves directly to the Internet via feeds to their brains. That's it. That's what drew me to this book because I am masochistic and have a real fear of technology destroying us all.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
A young woman stumbles upon letters written by her father which detail a quest to find out the truth about Vlad the Impaler (aka the guy who inspired Dracula). She must decide if she wants to follow in her father's footsteps and seek to unravel the mysteries that might just cross over into modern times...
No Place Like Oz by Danielle Paige
We finally get to find out how Dorothy returned to Oz and what caused her to change from its savior to its ultimate enemy.
The Wizard Returns by Danielle Paige
Everyone assumed that when the Wizard floated off in his hot air balloon that he had returned to The Other Place but he didn't and when he woke up he discovered that he had no memory of who he was. Hooray we finally find out (I hope) what side he's actually on and maybe if he has a plan to dethrone Dorothy.
Interesting that you found 'The Girl Who saved the King of Sweden' to be a good book. My only gripe with it, and I haven't read it yet, is the title which in my opinion not only trades on Steig Larson (Milenium Trilogy titles) but might lead the unwary to think it is part of the same series. Particularly with Sweden in the title. He is not the only one doing it either. Titles that start 'The Girl Who........ are fairly widespread.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of Steig Larson's books (should I add some to my TRL?) but I can say that I don't think Jonasson intended to rip off any trends. In fact, the title may have been difficult to translate from the original Swedish and that was the closest approximation they could come to (who knows!). Jonasson was a journalist in his former life so I'd like to think he has a certain amount of credibility. I did like the book though and if you're looking for something humorous that you can sink your teeth into you might want to give this one a shot.
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