The Shapeshifters, Stefan Spjut
The Shapeshifters, Stefan Spjut
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
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The Shapeshifters

Author: Stefan Spjut, Susan Beard

Narrator: Ray Chase

Unabridged: 14 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/07/2015

Synopsis

Summer 1978. A young boy disappears without a trace from a summer cabin. His mother claims he was carried away by a giant. He is never found.Twenty-five years later, another child goes missing. This time there’s a lead: a single photograph taken by Susso Myrén. Myrén has devoted her life to the search for trolls, legendary giants known as stallo, who can control human thoughts and assume animal form. Convinced that trolls are real, she follows the trail of missing children to northern Sweden. But humans, some part stallo themselves, have been watching over the creatures for generations, and this hidden society of protectors won’t hesitate to close its deadly ranks.Mixing folklore and history, suspense and the supernatural, The Shapeshifters is an extraordinary journey into a frozen land where myth bleeds into reality.

About Stefan Spjut

Stefan Spjut has worked as a literary critic for the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet and the culture editor for Norrbottens-Kuriren. The Shapeshifters is his second novel, the first to be available in English.

About Ray Chase

Ray Chase graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA in theater and a minor in cinema and television. He has since worked extensively as a voice-over artist. Among his dozens of audiobook narrations are Ian Douglas’ Heritage trilogy and Robert Olen Butler’s Christopher Marlowe Cobb thrillers.

About Susan Beard

Susan Beard is based in the UK and has over twenty years of experience translating a wide variety of projects including novels and autobiographies.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Magdalena aka A Bookaholic Swede on June 24, 2019

Stallo is a large human-like creature in the Sami folklore and since the book is about giants that kidnap children is the title quite logical. I listen to this book while working and since it's 600 page long was the book around 25 hours long to listen to. However, by accelerating the speed to max di......more

Goodreads review by Blair on April 26, 2019

A 'haunting supernatural thriller' translated from Swedish, Stallo traces the connections between two events: the disappearance of a boy from a woodland cabin in 1978, and the possible sighting of a troll in a small town, 25 years later. The latter is investigated by Susso, the creator of a website......more

Goodreads review by Jack on July 15, 2017

There's a great, haunting 300-page story buried somewhere within--unfortunately there's another 300 pages of padding to wade through. I have nothing against epic-length works if the story demands it, and I love descriptive writing, but Spjut gets a bit excessive here, describing every mundane detail......more

Goodreads review by Maja on February 09, 2015

I read the Norwegian translation of this but could still "taste" the Swedish turns of the language (beautiful). "Stallo" is a Sami term for unnatural creatures and it fits very well with what this book is about. It's part crime story, part thriller, part socio-realism, and part supernatural horror.......more

Goodreads review by Susanne on July 21, 2014

Börjar fantastiskt bra, kanske en av de bästa inledningar jag läst, men sen kommer ordbajsandet. Det finns många ljusglimtar i den här boken men de dränks tyvärr ofta bland alla oviktiga detaljer, och storyn (som i sig är riktigt spännande)försvinner bland de alldeles för många sidorna. 592?! Hälfte......more

Quotes

“Spjut turns Scandinavian mythology upside down in a shades-of-gray world built for lovers of fantastical suspense.” Publishers Weekly

“This spooky novel is great for open-minded mystery/thriller readers who enjoy a bit of genre blending as well as fantasy fans.” Library Journal

“In his first novel to be available in English, Spjut offers readers a substantial, menacing thriller that combines familiar elements of Scandinavian crime fiction with Swedish mythology…A disturbingly dark and strangely realistic novel of suspense and myth that will appeal to enthusiasts of both mysteries and more fantastical fiction.” Kirkus Reviews

“Lapland, in the far north of Sweden, is a strange and mysterious place, and this epic novel by Swedish author Stefan Spjut reflects every bit of its otherworldly mystery. It’s not a quick read…Much of the book’s pleasure comes from the slow and shocking revelations of the story’s architecture as it progresses…The natural landscape is vivid and specific and crucial to the story…Details build a completely realistic world around equally realistic characters, which makes the strangeness at the story’s core all the more effective.” BookPage

“A fantastic novel in every sense of the word…not only because Spjut has accomplished the masterstroke of writing convincingly about the existence of trolls and other mythical creatures in the Nordic forests but also because all this unfolds in a language that captures the everyday reality we know so well, with such precision and exquisite style that the words seem to sparkle on the page.” Karl Ove Knausgård, author of the My Struggle series

Awards

  • BookPage Top Pick
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