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WORK TITLE: The Scaler of the Peaks
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WEBSITE: https://www.helsinkiagency.fi/karin-erlandsson/
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Kirkus Reviews Apr. 15, 2024, review of Erlandsson, Karin: THE BIRD MASTER. p. NA.
Kirkus Reviews Apr. 15, 2024, , “Erlandsson, Karin: THE PEARL WHISPERER.”. p. NA.
Kirkus Reviews Apr. 15, 2024, , “Erlandsson, Karin: THE SCALER OF THE PEAKS.”. p. NA.
Kirkus Reviews Apr. 15, 2024, , “Erlandsson, Karin: THE VICTOR.”. p. NA.
Karin Erlandsson
Karin Erlandson (b. 1978) is a Finnish author writing in Swedish. She has published four novels: Nordic Council Literary Prize nominee Mink Farm (2014), The Misdeed (2016), Enclosed (2018) and Home (2021). She has also written a four-part series of children’s novels called Song of the Eye Gemstone. The first novel of the four, Pearl Fisher (2017) received the Runeberg Junior Prize and was nominated for the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize, similarly to the fourth novel Victor (2019) and Erlandsson’s stand-alone middle-grade adventure Night Express (2020). In addition, she has published works of nonfiction.
Interview with Karin Erlandsson
The prolific author of both children’s and adults’ literature, Karin Erlandsson answers HLA’s questions.
You live in a quite exotic place: Åland Islands. Was this beautiful archipelago the main inspiration for the magical world of the Song of the Eye Gemstone series? Could you elaborate, how did you come up with it and the life, the works and routines of people living in that world?
No, it’s was not the archipelago that was my main inspiration. Instead, it was the deep feeling of longing for something I don’t have. But, the beautiful archipelago was the perfect setting for the story.
I never plan ahead, I get as surprised as the readers when I’m writing. It’s a fun way of writing, but risky. The people and the routines … well, I’ve been often pleasantly surprised while writing.
The sea at our summer cottage is clear, I often dive and find white shells, it’s almost like diving for pearls. Almost. My instinctive way of writing means I am taking all my experiences with me all the time.
There are a lot of main female characters in the series: a sort of a sisterhood (even though it is not that easy at the beginning) between Miranda and Syrsa; the wisewoman and healer Lydia; even the “bad guy” of this story is a witch-like woman called Iberis. Was it a conscious decision? Many writers have noticed, that strong girls still rarely star fantasy books, and even more rarely they form friendships among themselves. Do you feel that way, too?
When I studied literature, there was a study about girls’ reading vs. boys’ reading. I learned that girls identify themselves with both female and male characters, but boys only identify themselves with male characters. This is a shortcoming, but I don’t think it has biological reasons. I think you can change it, and give boy-readers the opportunity to identify themselves with any character they want.
Therefore, I wanted all my main characters to be female, the good ones as well as the bad ones. I’ve been visiting about 100 schools presenting my books, and I know that my strategy works. Not a single boy has asked for more men in the story (teachers have more problems with it, because they think that boy readers are limited. I know that they are not.)
You brilliantly and poetically portray the most sensitive, complex and abstract inner feelings and qualities of human beings: longing, sometimes unreasonable stubbornness, the sense of having someone and something truly important in your life and being responsible for it… Is it your way of trying to show the reader what’s important in life, or your way of exploring humans – especially the young ones?
It’s my way of showing myself what’s important in life.
The series has been very popular in Finland, selling over 13,000 copies so far. Where do you personally think lies the secret of its success?
I believe in children, and their capacity. I believe children know about evil, loneliness and longing for something. Adult readers (at least some of them, the simple-minded ones) think that children haven’t experienced big feelings, but I know they have. Longing, for example, is probably something every human wordlessly know. Maybe we all live with a lack of something? I think children readers recognize my respect for their knowledge.
You have previously written adult literature as well. How different, if at all, is writing and creating characters for teenagers? Have you gotten any chance to hear feedbacks from them?
I’ve been thinking about this question a lot, it’s a very common question: what’s the difference in writing for adults/teenagers. Truly: I don’t know. I don’t compromise with anything, and the language is always the language that the story demands.
I’ve been visiting a lot of schools talking about The Song of the Eye Gemstone, and I get a lot of feedback from children. They have many questions, for example: who is Iberis, the evil one? Is Miranda ever gonna meet her father again?
To give answers to such questions in the books has been important for me, since I’ve learned that it is what children want to know.
What are your plans for the near future? What can the readers expect?
I have an idea for another series for teenagers, but it’s such a secret that I almost haven’t told it to myself yet. I’m also writing a novel for adults about seafaring, or more correctly, about the women who needed to stay home with children and farming while their husbands traveled around the world.
Finally, a version of the famous Proust Questionnaire, used by the legendary French journalist Bernard Pivot at the end of every broadcast of his literary television talk show Apostrophes.
What is your favorite word?
Varselkläder. The Swedish word for the yellow clothes road builders were. It’s a very effective word that describes exactly what we are dealing with.
What is your least favorite word?
Moist (the English word).
What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Feelings, nothing more than feelings.
What turns you off?
When something is not as promised or planned. I’m not a very flexible person.
What is your favorite curse word?
Gudars skymning (please, google it!) and satanshelvetesjävlaskitfan (please don’t google it!)
What sound or noise do you love?
Music from outdoor concerts when I’m going to sleep with the balcony door open.
What sound or noise do you hate?
Mosquitos, when I’m going to bed listening to an outdoor concert with the balcony door open.
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
I’ve been working as a journalist for thirteen years, and I truly love it.
What profession would you not like to do?
I’m not a nursing person. When my husband has a flu I just want him to get a grip and get well. I think I would be a really terrible nurse.
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
“I and all your loved ones have been waiting for you. Welcome.”
Erlandsson, Karin THE BIRD MASTER Young Dedalus (Children's None) $12.99 6, 6 ISBN: 9781912868742
The scarily unstable possessor of a stone that grants wishes threatens an entire realm in this second volume in the Song of the Eye Stone quartet from Finland, which is translated from Swedish.
In an entry whose events at times feel too convenient, flocks of suddenly savage birds menace former pearl fisher Miranda (who lost an arm to a shark) and her young charge, Syrsa, as well as the inhabitants of the northern coastal town they now call home. The normally timid dagpies turn out to be commanded by Iberis, a cruel foe who's using the wish-granting eye stone that the girls have sought to direct both the birds and a cohort of brutal minions. Iberis' forces are terrorizing the inhabitants of the Queendom; the only hope is that the Queen and her army in the capital will continue to hold strong and save the day. Miranda, who now works as a woodcutter, is tough-minded enough to only be delayed in pulling off a rescue after being paralyzed from the neck down in a bird attack. With aid from Syrsa (who also lost an arm to a shark when she was a toddler), Miranda recovers sufficiently to use Iberis' own power-hungry behavior against her before setting off in pursuit of the eye stone once Iberis retreats. Get set for a race in volume three, The Scaler of the Peaks. The characters are pale-skinned.
A sequel marked by escalating stakes and terror. (Fantasy. 9-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Erlandsson, Karin: THE BIRD MASTER." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A789814793/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=05aea26e. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.
Erlandsson, Karin THE PEARL WHISPERER Young Dedalus (Children's None) $12.99 6, 6 ISBN: 9781912868735
A child with a special gift comes between two rivals searching for a cursed stone that grants wishes in this award-winning series opener from Finland that's been translated from the original Swedish.
Pearl diver Miranda, who lost an arm to a rose-shark when she was 11, becomes utterly obsessed with finding the elusive eye stone, much like her long-gone parents and many others. Syrsa, a similarly abandoned child who's also missing an arm thanks to a shark attack, tags along willy-nilly. At first, Syrsa only seems like an annoying obligation, but when the laughing, cheery urchin turns out to have a rare ability to hear the pearls (and perhaps the eye stone itself), their seagoing quest takes on the character of a frantic flight as Miranda tries to keep her young charge out of the clutches of Iberis, a scary, ruthless, relentless stranger who's even more bent on securing the prize. The pearls in this world do not come from oysters but are precious items of various colors, formed from mud, guarded by sharks, and scattered along riverbeds and seabeds. Syrsa's sometimes comical stream of chatter gradually breaks down Miranda's stiff-necked reserve, such that by episode's end, their relationship has become closer and warmer. The quest is also transformed, but only after a separation and a mutual rescue that comes at a devastating cost. Characters read white.
A sturdy start, with adventure, heartbreak, and touches of magic. (Fantasy. 9-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Erlandsson, Karin: THE PEARL WHISPERER." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A789814794/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=48b3f987. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.
Erlandsson, Karin THE SCALER OF THE PEAKS Young Dedalus (Children's None) $12.99 6, 6 ISBN: 9781915568144
The search for a wishing stone takes three searchers deep into a mountain's mines and caves.
The eye stone, "the mother of all pearls," will satisfy one's desires, but it also bears a curse: It's said that those who seek it will be consumed by this goal, just like the parents of traveling companions and former pearl fishers Miranda and Syrsa. As the only one who can hear the fabled pearl call out from where it's been hidden by Iberis, its evil possessor, Syrsa leads the way through a dark tangle of tunnels and caverns as Miranda and medicine woman Lydia struggle to keep up. They must barter for supplies from the mountain's residents. Meanwhile, deeper struggles are brewing: Lydia and Syrsa seek the stone to destroy it, but though she denies it to herself, Miranda is consumed with a burning desire to own and use it that sometimes seems stronger than her love for Syrsa. Erlandsson's worldbuilding and the characterization of the supporting cast are just sketched out; the plot has slow stretches, too. Still, as a narrator Miranda continues to be refreshingly prickly, and despite heartbreaking events, the climax sets up terrible conflicts to be resolved in the next and final volume of this quartet from Finland that's been translated from the original Swedish. Both Miranda and Syrsa lost an arm to sharks when they were younger; the cast is cued white.
Moves the quest along, notwithstanding a mild case of middle-volume-itis. (Fantasy. 9-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Erlandsson, Karin: THE SCALER OF THE PEAKS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A789814795/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8f0776c1. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.
Erlandsson, Karin THE VICTOR Young Dedalus (Children's None) $12.99 6, 6 ISBN: 9781915568359
The elusive magical stone at last comes into the hands of those who have most desired it.
Taking on a vaguely metaphorical cast, the four-volume quest, translated from the Swedish-language original from Finland, at last brings tough, grieving Miranda and beloved young charge Syrsa to the pearl-paved Queen's City. There Miranda and Syrsa--both pale-skinned former pearl divers who have lost an arm each to sharks--witness how intense longing for the fabled stone has warped their Queen, their raving nemesis Iberis, and all those who have abandoned homes and families over the years to join obsessively in the great hunt. When they finally see the pearlescent prize (which supposedly grants all desires), the interested parties must confront their consuming desire to possess it, an obsession cast in a new light by the pearl whisperer Syrsa's cleareyed perception and conviction about the harm it does. Her steadfastness causes most adults to rally around her in support of the eye stone's disposal, although some are too far gone to shake off its grip. Readers who seek robust, detailed worldbuilding may be disappointed by some loose ends and the ultimate lack of explanation of just what the eye stone and smaller pearls are made of. Those of a more philosophical bent will appreciate the exploration of Miranda's observation that "desire can be a good thing, but not when it becomes so great that you lose sight of everything else."
A quest to save the world from unbridled greed comes to a close. (Fantasy. 9-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
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MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Erlandsson, Karin: THE VICTOR." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A789814796/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5212eaf8. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.