Author: Fredrik Backman
Published: June 5th 2018 by Atria Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 448 pages
Genre: Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Beartown #2
I had such high hopes for this book, but after the end of “Beartown”, I thought the story was over. A finality, of sorts, was given for each main character and you knew in vague terms where each of their lives had ended up. So when Fredrik Backman started this book on the tail end of the last, I was confused. Is he not telling a story when we already know the end? This was a strange diversion, akin to those movies where they show you the end first and then rewind to show how they got there. Not a tactic I enjoy.
There are a couple of new characters, and how they interact with the original cast, but I was not as invested in them or their oily maneuvers. Maybe he piqued my interest in how they interacted, but not enough for me to give up on those that I knew, and each time they were the center, I wanted to skim to get back to what I considered the important parts.
Beartown, an economically depressed town in the middle of nowhere, continues to struggle with both its people, and its hockey club. This gritty town finds a way to come together when every force comes at them. With most of the previous year's team pulling up and moving over to their rival, Beartown does the unthinkable and hires a woman coach. With her strange ways and three remaining players, she builds not only a team, but also a presence that is stronger than those who are trying to destroy it.
This is a slower book. If you had loved “Beartown”, you will not find the same anticipated drama in “Us Against You”, this is a slower meandering through the remaining parts of their lives kind of story. Though I am not looking forward to it, I have read there will be a final book three to this story somewhere in the distant future. I hope that Backman will bring back the passion and drama that had first brought me to this series, or at least put Beartown to rest.
There are a couple of new characters, and how they interact with the original cast, but I was not as invested in them or their oily maneuvers. Maybe he piqued my interest in how they interacted, but not enough for me to give up on those that I knew, and each time they were the center, I wanted to skim to get back to what I considered the important parts.
Beartown, an economically depressed town in the middle of nowhere, continues to struggle with both its people, and its hockey club. This gritty town finds a way to come together when every force comes at them. With most of the previous year's team pulling up and moving over to their rival, Beartown does the unthinkable and hires a woman coach. With her strange ways and three remaining players, she builds not only a team, but also a presence that is stronger than those who are trying to destroy it.
This is a slower book. If you had loved “Beartown”, you will not find the same anticipated drama in “Us Against You”, this is a slower meandering through the remaining parts of their lives kind of story. Though I am not looking forward to it, I have read there will be a final book three to this story somewhere in the distant future. I hope that Backman will bring back the passion and drama that had first brought me to this series, or at least put Beartown to rest.
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