Review: Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was the longest book I think I have ever read. It was agony. I’m glad I listened to it on Audible.

I’m sorry. I know a lot of people absolutely loved this book. Okay, it is three books in one. But it just seemed to go on and on. It was like living in that miserable time when misogynic religion ruled everyone’s life.

Still, I did like the main character and watching her make up her mind about life. I must have liked it as I couldn’t stop reading it even though I wanted to quit. The whole time I was reading, was it a month? All I could think about was trying to write a decent review. So let me lead you to a review that says what I felt better than I can. Read Rachel’s Review.

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Review: [Edited] So Still the Dawn by Cidney Swanson

So Still the Dawn by Cidney Swanson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cidney Swanson has me under her spell. I love all her books. I feel so fortunate to be able to be an early reader for her. I am especially giddy when she writes about Mars. This latest series is called Shadow of Mars. This was book three. This one is so new it wasn’t even listed on Amazon or GoodReads when I read it.

Just a quick blurb. Book one was So Dark the Sky, in which our main character Penny Wanjiru, a school teacher, finally gets the chance to go to Mars. But leaving her elderly grandmother makes the decision difficult. Book two was So Bright the Stars, in which Penny is on her way to Mars. This third book is So Still the Dawn, in which Penny is on Mars and wondering if she is going to get to stay.

Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love and have always loved science fiction, especially space travel. Cidney writes to my inner kid. Especially in her Saving Mars series. But this series is aimed toward adults. Even though I would have read it as a youngster. I read too many stories of men getting to go to space. They weren’t kids. They were adults. I wish there had been women in space novels who weren’t eye candy. Ms. Swanson makes you feel more, that the adult in the book isn’t so much a wimpy woman crying for romance but an adult who happens to be a woman who is brilliant in her own way.

Another wonderful thing Cidney does in her books is dive deep into the character’s psychology. All those creeping thoughts we record early in life, that make us feel unworthy or wrong for what good could happen, Cidney brings that forward and helps us to grow with the character. Go Cidney!

Okay, I don’t want to spell it out for you or give you spoilers. I highly recommend reading anything by Ms. Swanson but especially the Shadow of Mars series!

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