The setting takes place close to a hotly contested election to the governorship of California where both candidates are trying to stay on the good side of the Chinese, knowing full well that American citizens despise having a foreign military presence in their midst.
The narrative is fast and bloody, the story is fascinating and complex with many sub plots to keep track of. The characters, both real and fictional, are well written and dimensional.
I enjoyed to read the research the author woven into the book. One of the main character is a neurologist and I found the science fascinating.
The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson (translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles) is a fictional book from the successful Swedish author.
I laughed here and there, but I found the book to be more thought provoking than funny. I’m glad the philosophical discussions in the book weren’t much longer, even though they were fascinating.
It is a brave endeavor to write a sequel or a prequel to existing, classic novels and Mr. Motion does justice to Stevenson’s style and story.
Mr. Gillham writes about the misery, despair and paranoia of the German people living under a Nazi regime. A world where evil rules, social justice does not exist, and a wrong word would send you off to a concentration camp, while lacking a safe shelter and food.
Mr. King does write an excellent scene and creates a very dramatic world, but the cost was the storyline, which I thought wasn’t very substantial. The story feels more as an homage to Westerns (my favorite genre in films) and the magical world of Camelot. The novel does a great job at it, using the same technology and socioeconomic themes, but what makes a good movie does not necessarily makes a good book.
What I thought would be tedious, turned out to be a great and unexpected read.
I really liked the characters of the book, the three Kenyan orphans are engaging and likeable. I also liked how the author took the Wizard of Oz and weaved that narrative into his storyline throughout the book.