Book Review: The Last Jötunn by Alp Mortal

This is the third book I read by Alp Mortal, it is the third book and the more I read by Alp the more I’m starting to love his style. He doesn’t just have one. I’ve read Brave, listened to New World (and damn it Stuart Campbell who narrates that book the voice, SPOT ON!) and now the Last Jötunn.

I’ve been looking for words or ways to describe Alp’s way of writing and it the best thing I can describe it, that it feels as if you are being spoken too. The words flow, the characters reactions, thoughts and actions are so clear and clean, for the lack of a better word that it’s like they’ve grabbed you by the hand and is saying: “Come let me tell you a story.

Alp mortal writes fairly complicated stories with what I so far say is a lot of different twists and turns which from my knowledge and experience demands quite a lot of research and common knowledge about a lot of different things. The thing about it though when you read his books you will be stunned by the accuracy and lack of inconsistency his books has.

In this particular case, being a Scandinavian myself, and pretty familiar with Norse Mythology (even though I unlike Alp hasn’t read the poetic Edda) am after reading this fairly short but well written book stunned by his fantastic imagination. It takes skills and true interest to be able to put that magical it/myth into a story that merely or fully exist in the world as we know it and it fitting like a glove, and without having parts that doesn’t make sense. Everything about the Last Jötunn makes sense nothing of the magic and “it” factor that appears seems the slightest bit odd.

The Last Jötunn, is about a man named Jack, a single gay man in his 50’s, who is currently visiting his friends who lives up in the mountains. They have gone away to Hawaii to get married and Jack is there to take care of their place and their dog while they marry and honeymoon.

Jack is at crossroads in his life, he’s just sold his company and is currently pondering, what to do with the rest of his life, to find someone to share it with and if that is worth it and how one goes about finding that special someone. Jack isn’t grumpy but he’s fairly humorous in moments of high frustration, like when he’s out in the deep snow in slippers and with a torch looking for the dog whose refusing to come back inside for some reason.

In the middle of being acquainted with Jack, both Jack and the dog he is taking care of are confronted or at least partly confronted with what Jack thinks is a huge boar and for the longest time we are kept at suspense on what or who it is Jack have seen and what takes place when Jack finds out wasn’t at all what I had expected to happened, it was way better!

I hope that Alp continues to be inspired by the Poetic Edda and Jack and his friends fate and that there will be a continuance to this story, because I for one would love to find out what happens next.

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