Book #9: The Fifth Season by Mons Kallentoft
The Fifth Season by Mons Kallentoft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The fifth book in the Malin Fors series feels like the end of a quintet, including this and the four seasons books.
The subject matter is one of the more harrowing ones; rape victims being found in the woods, one of whom is dead. This book also promises an explanation of what happened to the character Maria Murvall, who appeared briefly in all of the first four novels, and who is allegedly "living in a season of her own", giving rise to the book's title.
This book is one of the grittier ones so far in the series, but it has a lot of plot twists and turning points, enough to keep the reader guessing. The commentary on rape and toxic masculinity are all very well done, and the magical realism from the previous books is still there, with the narratives from victims' ghosts appearing frequently. In this one, it seems that the ghosts are able to communicate with characters other than Malin, and it is even implied that she glimpses one of them near the end.
The book continues the complicated story of Malin's personal life; now she is in a relationship with a man called Peter (although she seems to cheat on him at one point), and things become complicated that he says that he wants to start a family with her.
I really enjoyed this novel; despite the unpleasant subject matter, it felt like it was handled well, and this is one of my favourites in the Malin Fors series so far.
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