This thriller was freaking fantastic! The combination of technical as well as medical facts in the eternal ice of the Arctic, holy smokes! Valhalla is a great mixture of technical facts, history knowledge, and a wonderful love story – without ever being boring. 


Valhalla*
by Thomas Thiemeyer
Hannah Peters #3
Publisher Knaur on March 1, 2016
Genre Thriller
Pages 512
Format Softcover
Source Purchased
✶✶✶✶½

The curse that came from the cold. 2015. Spitzbergen – the northernmost settlement point of humanity. A world of ice and snow overshadowed by four months of polar night. There, archaeologist Hannah Peters investigates mysterious structures under the Arctic ice. The melting of the glaciers is said to have revealed the foundations of a mythical northern kingdom. But Hannah is not the first to explore these ruins … 1944. In annexed Norway, far away from any settlement, a project is maturing that is more gruesome than anything humans ever devised. A biological time bomb, hidden under the eternal ice. Her code name: VALHALLA. (personal translation by ©Vi at Inkvotary)
Story
Hannah Peters is sent to the Arctic. She should accompany a discovery there and assess the situation. An annoying situation for the team of scientists already working on site. When the team makes the much-anticipated breakthrough and enters a city that has not seen a human for seventy years, something completely unexpected happens and Hannah begins a time of absolute horror and supernatural beauty.

Style
The author speaks a direct language but with level and knows how to impress the reader. The story brings the archeologist Hannah Peters from hot Cambodia to the freezing cold of Svalbard. The breathtaking beauty of the perpetual ice captures the heart and passion of Hannah right away – and puts her life into danger and at stake. Thomas Thiemeyer writes short, no unnecessary words, but not too short. With a critical eye, he brings the madness of the Nazis as much into place, as the thirst for power from the Russians. In this thriller, the reader gets to learn in a very entertaining way all the great miracles of the female body, the way viruses, and cells work and how powerful a tiny piece of human cells is. The invisible storyteller does another good to the plot. The reader has time to bring his own fantasy in and the beauty of the Arctic becomes even more beautiful and dangerous at the same time.

Characters
This novel contains very strong characters. Not only in a physical manner but mentally as well. There is one of the wealthiest men in the world who is eager to find the great ancient city, the virologist who adores women as well as those incredible cells he makes his living with. Then is there the fun and life enjoying Dane, who is one hell of a climber or the grumpy old Russian who lives for over twenty years with his Huskies in Svalbard and knows the nature of the Arctic by instinct.

Hannah is a strong woman, has a great sense of humor, is funny, and does her job with a passion that goes far beyond normal. She lives ancient history in a very impressive way and shares that with the man she loves. When she gets to learn, that an innocent life is at stake, she does everything in her power to change that – and teaches someone else, by doing so – that there is more in life but power, fame, and glory. The scene, where she stands up for all she believes in and refuses to do as the Russian colonel-general Fradkov wants her to, that scene is quite haunting and satisfying at the same time.

Okay, I was sad, when the first good character died, and I didn´t want the other to sacrifice himself, but it had to be and was more than logical for the story. And both died for the greater good and by their own choice and in a way, that it seemed to be very dignified.


Conclusion
A great thriller, very entertaining and so good, I´ve read the book overnight. Usually, I don´t begin a series in the middle, because I like to get the big picture, to see how characters change and develop. But the cover hooked me right away and when I bought it, I just couldn´t wait to read it (and I didn´t know at that time, that this was a series with two earlier books). So, I read it first. But for a rounder picture and to see how the main character grows and changes, it´s better to start with the first book “Medusa” and then sequential.



Happy reading







*I read the German edition published by Weltbild in March 2014. No cover of that edition. The book was, at the time this review was published, only available in the German language.

Thomas Thiemeyer
Thomas Thiemeyer ©private




Thomas Thiemeyer, born 1963, studied geology and geography before he became self-reliant and turned into a career as author and illustrator. With his science thrillers and young adult cycles, which won many prizes, sold over half a million times and being translated into thirteen languages, he is a well-established magnitude in the German light fiction. The author lives with his family in Stuttgart/Germany.

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2 comments:

  1. I love the sound of this thriller. Extreme northen landscapes like this fascinate me so I know I would love the setting. I think perhaps I would need to work harder on my German language first thought. I have forgotten a lot of words over the years :-(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope this thriller will be published in English rather sooner than later. Thank you for stopping by.

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