Dagens Nyheter (Swedish equivalent of The Guardian)
Monday 5 March 2007
Jorun Modén: Samael
▪Literature
Author: Jorun Modén
Title: Samael
Publisher: Wela
Unbeknownst to us mere mortals, a cosmic struggle has raged since the
beginning of times when the gods and the human race were created – and soon it will be the final reckoning. Jorun Modén has in Samael
written an unusually ambitious fantasy novel in Swedish – and
unusually enough for a more grown-up audience instead of the more
easily convinced young teen market.
THE NOVEL’S BASIC PREMISE IS that our world is inhabited by mortals
and immortals. Both are admittedly born and die like everyone else,
but the immortals have qualities which the rest of us (muggles) lack –
not least “light,” a quality of the soul granted to the immortals
which allows them to meet in a mental (but nevertheless very real)
parallel world called the Nowhere. From there they can travel further
to their own worlds, which are known as Psychoscapes.
The book tells the story of three brothers: Samael, Gabriel and
Natanael. The latter has not (as much) light and cannot therefore
move between the worlds. Furthermore, for their own security the
immortals keep everyone else oblivious of their abilities, as do the
brothers – meaning that one brother is unaware of what the other two
are capable of. In the end the great secret is revealed and, without
his two immortal brothers being aware of it, Natanael is contacted by
beings who have realized what role he is meant to play in the final
conflict. Brother is set against brother; moreover, behind this
power-struggle there broods an even greater danger that Samael and
Natanael, despite their differences, must work together against if
they are to defeat.
“SAMAEL” IS A declaration of love for the places, books, stories and
myths Jorun Modén admires. Sometimes this is rather too obvious, but
there are sequences which are truly interesting and original. That
Neil Gaiman and Philip Pullman must be counted among these influences,
together with classical mythology from the Bible to the Icelandic
sagas, does not make matters worse. Even Tolkien was, according to
Modén, an immortal, and Middle-earth one of his Psychoscapes (read
parallel worlds) – a thought which I believe would have amused the old
master.
Steven Ekholm
“This is one of the most interesting contributions to the fantasy genre in a very long time.” — Fia Larsson, Bibliotekstjänst.
“It is a great book that deserves readers outside of the usual genre fans.”
– Solveig Arle, Ny Tid.
Links to reviews (in Swedish)
Steven Ekholm, DN
Solveig Arle, Ny Tid
