Nene Ormes

Young Udda (which is not a regular Swedish name by the way, meaning “odd”) has been plagued by vivid dreams her whole life, but in the year since she moved away from home it seems to have been getting worse. More nights than not, her only close friend friend Daniel (whom she is constantly trying to convince herself she is not in love with) has to come over and help her calm down and be able to sleep. Her last dream, though, is more real than ever – she even recognizes Malmö’s trainyard as she experiences being hunted by doglike creatures in the night, trying to make it to the safety of a sewer entance. But when she tells Daniel of this dream, his reaction isn’t what she expected. He is intrigued, excited and eager to go and explore the location. All his life he has been hoping for something magical to happen, perhaps this is it? Udda and Daniel part on unfriendly terms.

The next night there’s a message on Udda’s phone. It’s from Daniel. He’s at the sewer opening and has managed to yank the lid off. “You won’t believe it”, he says. “The whole ladder down is wrapped in Christmas lights”. Then the line suddenly cuts. Daniel is not home, he is not answering his phone. He’s vanished.

You can tell that this is Ormes’ first book. The style is wobbly, full of annoying repetition and strange shifts in past and present sense. She knows her way around a plot though, creating a world that feels rich without bogging us down in explanations and interesting characters.

Urban fantasy really isn’t my thing though. The whole “discovering another world just outside the corner of your eye” trope feels like it’s always done more or less the same way, and the basic plotlines tend to be fairly similar. So, well done, but perhaps not exactly for me. Extra points for managing to stay clear of both elves and vampires.… (meer)

Detta var en bok jag gillade! Den var "lättläst" d.v.s. det gick fort att läsa, den hade en bra historia som man drogs in i. Själv gillar jag att man får lära sig om denna värld och dess regler tillsammans med Udda och jag vill gärna fortsätta med det, det finns flera lite lösa trådar som jag är nyfiken på att så småningom få veta mer om.

Men man bör nog utfärda några varningar!
Läs inte boken om du har en tid att passa risken är stor att du kommer för sent. De föredömligt korta kapitlen gör att du tycker att du borde hinna läsa ett till innan du behöver gå.
Det är kanske inte den bästa boken att läsa innan man somnar, speciellt inte om man som jag gärna drömmer om det jag läst (blir lite extra otrevligt i just detta fall)… (meer)