(Other Book Appreciation Posts can be found on The Reading Corner)
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I stumbled across this exciting children’s/young adult mystery novel a couple of months ago because of Amazon’s Prime Reads benefit.
At the beginning of every month, Amazon Prime sends members an email with 6 (give or take a few) new book titles of varying genres from which they can choose one to add to their digital library.
As you might imagine, I very much look forward to the first day of each month!
The Night Raven is the award-winning first of four books in the Moonwind Mysteries series by Johan Rundberg, but only three of them are currently available (as far as I know) in English because the books were originally written and published in Swedish. A. A. Prime worked as the translator for the first two books, and I think she did a fantastic job.
As for the story itself…
Whether on TV or in the pages of a book, I’ve always enjoyed mysteries. Trying to figure out the murder from the clues left by the storyteller before the characters do… well , I’m not usually a competitive person, but I do enjoy the challenge.
All good mysteries know to leave certain things unfinished. The reader needs to be left wanting more, or else they likely won’t ever feel the need to read the next book. (Other genres do this too, but mysteries set the standard for such things.)
Mr. Rundberg does a marvelous job of creating characters and giving just enough background that you feel like you know them—but also know that such folk are keeping secrets and have hidden backstories with deeper meaning than what is initially seen upon the page.
As this is the first of four books, subtle hints are dropped that there’s a larger mystery going on as well—one which goes beyond the pages of this first Moonwind mystery…
In a story about a clever orphan and a grizzled detective determined to discover the truth about a shadowy serial killer, corrupt officials, and cover-ups, readers are along for an enjoyable, fast-paced mystery filled with twists and turns that they might not see coming—even if they know to watch for them.
Well done, Mr. Rundberg.
What’s next on my reading list? I might jump back into finishing off the last two books in Karen Traviss’ Republic Commando series, but who knows? Perhaps I’ll read another mystery instead…
Until next time,
Al
