These books were originally written in Swedish, Sagan om Isfolket, by the writer Margit Sandemo. It was first published in 1982 and is a 47 volume story about a supernatural bloodline.
The first book takes place in Trondheim, Norway, and follows the young woman Silje as she travels across the country to avoid the plague, during 1581. Across the way, she meets two children she adopts along with a mysterious and dangerous man with the likeness of a devil. Tall, dark, handsome with golden eyes named Thengil who is rumored to be a warlock.
She is brought to the Icevalley were his people live. A people hidden from the world. The descendants of a warlock named Thengil the Evil who sold his soul and the souls of his descendants to the devil for immortality and supernatural power. The current Thengil is named after him but despises his heritage which leads to his mother’s death and a curse that hits the family once every generation. Giving that child magical powers but also the infinity for evil and often monstrous appearance.
The 47 long story starts with Silje falling in love with Thengil starting a 500-year journey to defeat the curse of Thengil the Evil and free the family once and for all.
Most of the books depict different people as it follows the descendants of Silje and Thengil. As such, the stories can also vary. The greatest problem with the books is that many of them feel unnecessary. The main story is about the cursed children or the chosen ones who are created by their magical ancestors to combat the cursed children. Those are the supernatural stories, often romances, that move the stories along.
Though they are many, here are some of them. The first three books Spellbound, The witch-hunt, The precipice. Then the sixth book, the evil legacy, followed by the seventh book, The Ghost Castle. Other paranormal stories are book 13, Footprints of Satan, Book 16, The Mandrake and book 17, the garden of death. Followed by the stories of Heike which are book 19-23. There are some others later on following the woman who becomes the bride of Lucifer and their descendants.
There are plenty of books in between but those rarely have any supernatural elements are pure historical romances. Not that they are bad but those more interested in the supernatural will have to suffer through those in order to get to the good stuff or my suggestion would be to skip them as few of them has any consequence to the main story. They feel more like fillers.
Another thing that I personally did not like is the Lucifer story. It felt unnecessary and I did wonder several times if it truly had a greater purpose. Sandemo is trying to say that they needed the strong blood of the fallen angel to defeat Thengil the Evil but considering the use the descendants had on the story, I personally would have preferred that it would not have occurred. It felt more grounded before it but this is a matter of preferable taste.
The writing in itself is well structured and easy to understand. It still has a traditional style but it timeless and can be read long after it was written without problem. The stories are often from a female perspective even if the woman in question is not from the family but falls in love with a member of the family. Most of the time it follows only one person but on rare occasions, especially the last books, it jumps between people to give different perspectives on the story.
There are two things that I feel would bother people from other countries about these Swedish books. As a swede, I’m not really bothered by things like relatives marrying each other as cousins can marry here. Marrying within the family happens a few times in the books and when other’s is against it most of the time it’s about trying to avoid the curse. Two people from the family having a child in the books often result in a cursed child which often kills the mother. It’s not an issue of incest here.
The other is the age of sexuality in the books. Here in Sweden it’s fifteen so it’s rarely an issue for us that there instances where the girls falling in love and have sex when they are fifteen or sixteen. It’s natural here but for others like those in the United States, where the age for sexual activity is higher, it might be a problem. Not to mention, that sex before marriage is common in Scandinavia. Even historically it was very common.
The other is that the magic is based on Scandinavian folklore. Those who have read the Witcher series knows the difference between the style of fantasy. There are not as many creatures here, but the style and atmosphere are definitively inspired by folklore.
Now, though many of the romances may look like traditional romances. Many of the books have some rare elements. Such as having malformed women finding love, the marriage between a questionable gay man and a woman, the tragic love story between a girl and a young man who turned out to be her uncle… and a ghost. Though luck, girl.
But also, some tropes, often dark themes such as rape, violence, domestic abuse and so on. I can off lost count how many times the story revolved around a girl who was strange in some way. Maybe deformed, ugly or just very low class such as being the daughter to a bad person who falls in love with the handsome man from the Ice People. Who sweeps her away because he can see her worth. I guess these kinds of stories are popular but I personally think they are rather lackluster compared to the once who belong to the main plot with the supernatural elements.
Overall, I really like this series which I read vigorously as I grew up. Taking away the nostalgic feelings though I would give it an 6 of 10 if I were to rate it. It is to many problems with to many of the books, and many are just plain romances. But I cannot go lower because the books focusing on the Main plot is excellent and will leave a mark on your mind. Unfortunately, just like other long book series, such as The Wheel of Time, it often harms the series as a whole.
True, that it might have left me with a strong nostalgic feeling but Margit Sandemo is one, if not the one, most famous fantasy writer here in Sweden so if you are ready for a very long reading section then this one is something I warmly would recommend.
Read with Senefer 