While I cannot say that I didn’t enjoy this book, I also probably wouldn’t go for the same author again. He is a fine writer, and I found the mythos interesting enough, but it took a very long time to kick into gear, and I found myself wondering how many days it would take me to finish this one. In my experience, this is never a fantastic sign, although for readers who are more interested in slow-burn mysteries, this isn’t a terrible choice.

I was thinking of giving this two stars because it's not poorly written and in terms of technical elements it holds well enough together. However, the degree to which this book bored me far beyond anything else I have ever read in my entire life could not bring me beyond one star.

As with all books I hate, it's difficult to write a spoiler free review, so I'm not even going to try. It's not worth it. My intention is to be done writing about it as soon as possible and then quickly forget the hours (21,5) I have wasted listening to this. The book is at least 300 pages too long.

The premise itself is promising enough and the start, although slow, also held my interest. I had realized by 15% that this wasn't for me, but fool that I was I chose not to give up.

Children are disappearing, although not many nor often. They are being kidnapped by humans to keep trolls in check. These trolls are also shape-shifters, that is how they can hide so well. There is a terrible long, boring plot line connecting a boy that disappeared in 1978 or so with a newer kidnapping.

Every time I looked at my mp3 player I wanted to cry at how much of the story was left. I'm done now and I am not going to do this to myself anymore - if mp3 books are boring, they shalt be abandoned. And YOU - take my advice and do NOT read this. You might find out that it's possible to die of boredom after all. I only barely survived.

Vilkaisin muita arvosteluja ja täytyy sanoa, ettei tässä reilussa 700 sivussa ollut minusta yhtään liikaa. Tykkäsin, ruotsalainen kirjallisuus on jo kauan ollut erinomaista.

Jag har funderat en del på varför jag inte föll så mycket som jag hade hoppats för Stefan Spjuts Stallo. Jag har egentligen inte kommit på något bra svar, förutom att det inte alltid går att förklara på ett bra sätt. Ibland blir man inte hänförd, bara. Ibland går lite berättelsen en förbi, och sidorna känns ovanligt långa, och boken lockar inte riktigt till att plockas upp ständigt och jämt utan blir liggande.

Jag älskar tanken på troll och skrymt. Flygfotografiet som Gunnar Myrén ska ha tagit i berättelsen är en fantastisk start på något som jag sedan tycker faller lite platt. Jag hade hoppats på mer mystik, och mer otäcka troll. Beskrivningarna var visserligen väldigt bra, med lite kringskrivningar och inga direkta ordalag då ingen vågar på riktigt tala om dem eller ens tänka högt hur de ser ut eller vad trollen egentligen är. Men jag har boken Björn! som en favorit sedan jag var liten, och jag måste erkänna att jag hade hoppats på något mer likt den. Där blir en flicka bortförd och våldtagen av trollen, och de känns så obehagliga men sedan också mänskliga, och på något sätt föll jag för det, morbid som jag är.

Stefan Spjut är dock extremt duktig på att beskriva det enkla, och det kanske typiskt svenska. Jag känner flera gånger igen mig i handlingsmönster som karaktärerna utför, eller i saker de lägger märke till i periferin. Beskrivningen av sommarstugan i prologen till exempel, är helt enkelt klockren. Flugorna i fönstret, lukten på dasset, myggornas ljud när man gått och lagt sig. Personporträtten överlag är väldigt precisa och känns mycket genomarbetade och karaktärernas val och tankegångar känns trovärdiga. Hela berättelsen är väldigt bra skriven, det ÄR väldigt bra, men trots allt är det, som sagt, något jag inte riktigt faller för. Tyvärr!

Despite the length, it was such a quick read. Author did a great job at making everything come full circle with no plot holes despite so much going on.

Lost a star cause of there being so many POVs without any title indicating who was talking. It would take almost a full page before I realized who it was. Definitely recommend writing down character names and just brief plot points for them cause some people tended to blend together for me.

The story has a very slow beginning. Sometimes so much that I almost gave up and put it down. However, despite its slow burn it held my interest enough that I kept picking it up. Once it set the stage and introduced the characters it really picked up. The ending also ties everything together nicely while introducing something new to keep you thinking.

I’ll agree with other reviews that the amount of characters is a bit daunting. I got confused about who’s who at some points. Especially when some characters are referred to by multiple names. I really liked Susso and Torbjörn. It took longer to get into Gudrun’s character, but I ended up liking her, too. They are very down-to-Earth protagonists.

It’s not the easiest book to read and I don’t think the story lives up to expectation you crest from the blurb. But the story itself is good and well thought out. It’s worth the time it takes to consume it.

"Monsters. How could she possibly read that word without sneering? What she was looking for were hardly monsters, but still it was here among the monster researchers that she found her sympathisers...
'Monster' did not mean 'beast', it meant 'warning', from the Latin root 'monere'. It could also be interpreted as 'reminder'. The word 'monument' had the same origins.
But what was it a reminder of?"

I picked this up despite mixed reviews and am seriously glad I did. Stefan Spjut's "Stallo", translated from its original Swedish, is curious and clever in its combination of crime and horror with the Nordic folklore of the child-snatching, man-eating 'trolls' it expands on.

Despite it's lack of flowery description and its winding nature, Stallo is charming in a very normal way, and reads with all the nuances of the Swedish language despite being translated. It practically sparkles on the page with its blunt and 'everyday' ordinary depictions.

I absolutely loved this book though it's definitely not for everyone. Charming and magical but in no way fairytale, it leaves you with the question - in a world where the human and the not-so human live in the same land - who are the real monsters?