Book Review: Shadows of the Short Days by Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson

Title: Shadows of the Short Days
Author:  Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson 
Publisher: Gollancz
Release Date: 11th July 2019

Synopsis: Sæmundur the Mad, addict and sorcerer, has been expelled from the magical university, Svartiskóli, and can no longer study galdur, an esoteric source of magic. Obsessed with proving his peers wrong, he will stop at nothing to gain absolute power and knowledge, especially of that which is long forbidden.

Garún is an outcast: half-human, half-huldufólk, her very existence is a violation of dimensional boundaries, the ultimate taboo. A militant revolutionary and graffiti artist, recklessly dismissive of the status quo, she will do anything to achieve a just society, including spark a revolution. Even if she has to do it alone.

This is a tale of revolution set in a twisted version of Reykjavik fuelled by industrialised magic and populated by humans, interdimensional exiles, otherworldly creatures, psychoactive graffiti and demonic familiars.
Review: This book ticked a LOT of boxes. Imagine you’re in Reykjavik, in the pages of a political thriller BUT WITH MAGIC and you have Shadow of the Short Days. Dark and complex, gritty and intense this book gave fresh magical life to its surroundings and mythology.

Set in alternative version of Reykjavik (and with alternative dimensions within that), I don’t know if I’ve just read to many crime novels, but I really felt the setting, beautifully realised and bringing out striking elements of its architecture. I also really liked that in the finished copies of the book there are these really cool black pen sketches that created such a vibe for you reading the book. Then add onto that its own rules, it’s on magic, new twisted creatures and what you have is a fantastically rich story.

Magic is woven into the fabric of the land and into this story in a seamless way. It’s just there and I really enjoyed the way that t was incorporated into the actions of our characters from the clothes Golem Sæmundur made from the power of music (that was such a great moment and something rooted throughout the book) to Garun graffitiing with magically infused spray and the demonic headphones containing a noisefiend. It all just made sense. But as we all know with great magic comes great responsibility and control…and corruption and Sæmundur is seen as a maverick, butting heads against the system in his quest to understand the fabric of the magic he’s weaving. He had this need to delve deeper and would push him to reckless limits to achieve his goals. This made him a dangerous character, unpredictable in what he was going to do. I understood this desire but was constantly on edge with him.  Whereas Garun you got behind. As an outcast, a ‘half-breed’ called a blendingur she doesn’t fit into the conceptions that society has built and this results in a lot of uncomfortable moments from police bullying and brutality to the way that people treat her, even within her own friendship circles. Prejudices always have a way of rearing its ugly head when a call to action is made. It’s not that far from the times we sit in sit. Garun is trying to create a better world, to change the status quo against the control and power of the commonwealth, and her feel her passion and push for this with her. 

She is also a gifted painter and whether it’s juts my vivid imagination, but the way this brought in the mythological and religious elements to the narrative but I could really picture her artwork and the representation of the gods. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you give me a good mythology I'm sold and here we have a twisted interdimensional history of the greed of the gods of the Huldufolk, mixed in with more traditional elements of Norse mythology that I loved exploring. 

This was definitely a book you had to concentrate in, not least because of the use of language and the complicated naming of both people and magics. The novel is translated from Icelandic by the author himself (which in my opinion is bloody brilliant) and there is a helpful guide on pronunciation, but this is something I’m forever struggling with in books, so I’ve just taken to saying them how I read there so I can still enjoy the book, just don’t ask me to say any of the names! But this level of detail to the world and the setting of the book added more than took away, it needed to be this way to really embody the spirit of the book!

This book intrigued me from the beginning and took me on quite the journey. I will now sit and patiently wait for book two after THAT ENDING.

 As part of this blog tour there is a great Q&A with the author which you can check out HERE.