This was an enjoyable book. It is set in Norway in March 1943, when the Germans control the country, but there are resistance movements. Kari, a Norwegian farm girl with an idyllic view of America and Americans based on Hollywood movies, sees an American plane go down in the hills not far from her farm. At night she sneaks to the crash site and finds the pilot alive, caught in the trees in his parachute. Wanting to spend time with him and wanting adventure, she claims to be a member of the resistance and says she will get him safely across the border to Sweden, which involves a somewhat treacherous journey through forests and mountains in winter. The book focuses on their journey via horse cart (and later by horse) to the Swedish border as they try to avoid German troops and Quislings. Unbeknownst to them, Kari's father has figured out what she has done and where she is going and is following after them, trying to find them before harm befalls them. The Germans are also aware that an American plane has crashed and the pilot is missing, and with the aid of a local who has grand dreams of being heavily rewarded for helping capture the pilot and those aiding him, are also on the tracks of Kari and Lance (the American pilot). It is a story of resilience and survival. The book has interesting characters, an engaging plot, vivid descriptions of scenery, intrigue, and the ultimate question of whether Kari and Lance will make it safely to Sweden.

Land of Hidden Fires is the second novel from author Kirk Kjeldsen. This is a short and punchy read in which Kjeldsen showcases his talent for creating tension and atmosphere. I rapidly found myself tensing in anticipation of a climax to the great chase. Kjeldsen quickly builds a picture of occupied Norway with clean prose and translates rich historical research into a compelling narrative (indeed he was inspired by a personal family connection to the story - see more on this over at Booklover Book Reviews).

I’m on a Norwegian fiction kick at the moment in preparation for a trip later this year, and Land of Hidden Fires ticks two of the key things I look for in pre-travel reading by nailing the sense of place and neatly framing the narrative in historical context. The rapid switching of viewpoints kept the pace ripping along and allowed Kjeldsen to quickly build a good picture of each character, although I must admit I felt we didn’t get enough depth in Kari to really justify her spontaneous life-risking behaviour. This flaw was quite distracting for me until the point that the adrenaline took over in the chase.

Land of Hidden Fires would translate to cinema easily, with Kjeldsen’s ability to ‘show-not-tell’ a real strength in painting a rich picture of occupied Norway. It’s a thrilling ride, and a great quick weekend read.

I waffled back and forth on this one. 4 stars if you are a middle schooler to early highschool. But not quite so high if you are an older adult. Opted for the 3 stars since I fall in the older adult category. Much older.

The writing is very straight forward. I didnt find much depth in the characters but what there is works well. Kirk Kjeldsen has brought to life some aspects of the war in occupied Norway. I felt that Kari, the protagonist, was far to comfortable for a sheltered teen.in traversing this landscape.

For the the early teen reader, whom I feel is more the audience for this book, the story is not necessarily about Kari helping Lance get to Sweden. It was more about infatuated love, teen angst, rebellion, undefined dreams, and growth. All hallmarks of the teen years in general. The author does write these feelings and emotions into the story quite well. Kari sneaking out of the house to look for the downed flyer. Stealing clothes and money from her father to help Lance without thinking of the future consequences. No defined plan of how to get to Sweden. I remember my rash, impulsive, undefined path as a teen. Her impulsiveness brought back some of the stupid things I did that, at the time, seemed so reasonable.

So I give a wholehearted recommendation for "Land of Hidden Fires" but for the right audience.

I received this book for an honest review.

While I enjoyed this book, I felt the premise of a young girl, Kari, putting her life and her father's on the line to help a soldier struck down behind enemy lines was challenging to completely believe in.
On one hand she was so accomplished in survival techniques and following her own plan and on the other hand she was so emotionally insecure and child-like. I found it difficult to buy into this discrepancy. I did like the subtle way the relationship between Kari and her father unfolded and ties I enjoyed learning about the occupation of Norway by German solders.

Review published at http://bookloverbookreviews.com - see link below.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy!
Overall a quick, enjoyable and fast paced book, the author does a pretty good job describing the scenery which gets the reader very much immersed in the story.
Although I liked the somber mood and tone of the book, I thought it felt a bit flat at times. I also finished the book and never got a sense of who the characters really were, a bit too one dimensional for my taste.
Definitely worth a read though.

I was very disappointed in this book. The characters are uninteresting and the story unbelievable. I appreciated the opportunity to review it and am sorry to have to give it a negative review.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is a short read, and interesting in parts. I'm not sure if author was going for historical fiction or coming of age or maybe both. It has bits of everything in it. What I didn't find was a character I could truly warm up to. Kari is a head strong fifteen year old that sets out to explore a plane wreckage. This is 1943 and she is not liking her father much. Her father begans to look for her and we slowly learn little about him. I just wasn't completely sold on this book, but it will probably have more of an audience with readers that love this kind of genre.

Lately, I've been reading quite a few books on the war in Norway and its resistance movement. To say it stands with Doer's All the Light We Cannot See, is hyperbole.
I found the chapters all followed the same pattern; the protagonist was courageous, yes; the plot was predictable for me; and the ending was likewise.
Well written but not different enough from other similar books for me to give it four stars.

I received this book from NetGalley after the author asked me to review his book. I found it to be a short, easy read, finishing it in two days. It takes place in the winter of 1943,in occupied Norway. A US air force plane crashes near a Norwegian farm run by a widower and his 15 year old daughter. She finds the pilot, stuck in a tree, and gets him down. She tells him that she is with the resistance and will take him to Sweden. The Nazis are searching for him and the plot proceeds at a good pace. There is quite a bit of descriptive information about the geography, plants and people of Norway.
I enjoyed reading it and give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Kari is a 15 year old girl who works on the family farm in Norway with her father Erling. Life on the farm is hard and she has never travelled far from the area. Her dreams of the outside world are fuelled by knowledge gathered from books, films and postcards. It has been a struggle to make ends meet since the German invasion and their supplies are dwindling.
One day Kari sees an Allied plane crash and goes to the aid of the American pilot. She pretends to be part of the resistance movement and offers to lead him to safety at the Swedish border. Unbeknown to her father they set off on a journey where Germans are not the only danger they have to worry about.
Erling has struggled emotionally since the death of his wife and does not know how to relate to his daughter. When he discovers her absence and the reason for it he sets off to save the daughter he has been unable to show his love for.
This story had a realistic feel to it and I could imagine the events actually taking place. There was also some fantastic imagery created by the author. One of my favorite scenes involved a river crossing and my heart was in my mouth the whole way. I also enjoyed getting to know the main characters and understanding the motivations for their behaviour. Although this was fiction it renewed my appreciation for those involved in the resistance movement and the risks they took.
This book can easily be finished in one sitting and is recommended to those who enjoy a tense part historical thriller.

I would like to give this book a 3.5/5 Rating.

I want to thank NetGalley, the Publisher and the Author for my ARC copy for a fair and honest review.

This YA novel has a personal link to me. My Grandmother's family lived in Trondheim before and after the war, so getting a glimpse at the beautifully described scenery was almost magical to me. The Authors descriptions make it very easy to visualize the scenery and feel and see what that the characters face throughout the novel.

The story takes place during WWII in Norway, which had been overrun by the German Occupation. Kari, the heroine of the novel, lives on a farm with her father. After the loss of her mother, Kari and her father Erling drift apart. While Kari was outside she spots an Allied plane smoking and out plummeting to the ground. Now Kari has always had a love for all things American, so when she sees the plane coming down, she feels compelled to find the pilot and help him, even at the risk of her own life. If she were to be caught she could be sent to a work camp, or at the worst be killed as a traitor. Kari finds the pilot Lucas and helps rescue him from the trees and so their adventures begin.

What happens next is that they set off trying to get to Sweden, which is about the only safe place for Lucas. They set off and have many near misses and face multiple challenges as they race towards Sweden. Erling realizes his daughter is missing and sets off after her, therefore you have multiple storylines throughout the novel, but they flow well with each other.

You also have Moltke, the German Oberleutnant that wants to have an active role in the War and not be sitting on the sidelines in Norway. Moltke's goal is to capture Lucas and claim the glory so that he may finally get to leave Norway and start to earn himself some military glory like his ancestors.

Unfortunately, I found the characters were missing some depth. They could of had some more personality and maybe filled us in a bit more on the back story, such as why Kari and her father were at such odds.

I wish that we found out what happened to the main characters after the conclusion of this novel. The historic accounts in the novel are quite accurate and well done. I am looking forward to reading more from this author.

I received this ARC from Grenzland Press and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

1943. Norway is occupied by the German forces and governed by a puppet ruler. If there is one thing I learned from this book it is the definition of the word Quisling, son named after the leader of Norway at the time. Quisling, a traitor who collaborates with an occupying enemy force.

Kari is the 15 year old daughter of Erling, a widower farmer. Life is hard, both economically and personally. Kari spots a downed allied plane and against the wishes of her father takes action. In this moment she declares herself part of the resistance. As she and Lance, the pilot, make their way to the Swedish border we are treated to her perspective a swell as that of her father and a German officer determined to capture them for the sake of his career.

"...but beauty isn't the point of war."

There were some beautifully descriptive sentences that made the landscape really come alive but that's about as much as I can compliment here. I found this novel quite one-demensional, redeemed mostly by the historical details gleaned and its brevity.

"To the south, thick storm clouds gathered over the mountains, pooling like spilled mercury. It felt ominous and still, like the world was coming to an end."

2 stars.

Publication Date: January 24, 2017

I had high hopes for the book, but I didn't love it. I thought the overall story was good, but because it was so short, I felt that we didn't get as much character development as I would have liked. I also typically read historical fiction books so I can learn something new while reading, and I was hoping to learn more about Norway since it is a different setting than is normally used in WW2 books. Ultimately, I didn't feel like the setting really played a role, beyond where the story was taking place. I prefer when the setting is a character in the story. I also found the ending a little confusing, and slightly unsatisfying.

A solid read that was interesting, but somewhat stilted in its pace.

I couldn't feel much for the characters and never got a clear idea about Norway's involvement during WWII. I think what bothered me the most was loose ends: the father knocked on his cousin's door and goes inside. The next time he's back on the trail looking for his daughter. What happened with his cousin? I actually gave up on this book halfway through.

The best bit about this book was the last 20%. The writer does have a sense for creating tension and drama. There were some twists and turns which really worked and the descriptions were typically cold and dark....However, overall, perhaps it was a 'lost in translation' effect, the book seemed naive and the characters weren't well developed. There seemed to be a lot telling rather than showing going on and as I read the descriptions of mountains and forests, I often found myself re-writtitng them in my head to make them better. "behind the mountains..." What mountains? What do they look like? sorry I'm not from there. I also thought the character of Kari was a little unrealistic. She has ninja like reactions, but still decides to describe the appearance of the pilot in the Mills and Boon type terminology of a disappointed 50 year old willing to try one last time...., "he was not movie star but still handsome..." kind of thing. Come on! 15 year olds either fancy someone madly or they hate them. Maybe this would have made a better YA book.

As I often say, historical novels are very important to complete the alleged academic knowledge should have about our history, more or less recent. Kjeldsen takes us in Norway, near the end of World War II, and puts us in contact with two opposing realities: the resistance and collaboration, the latter described by its demonstration truest and sinister, which is born of envy. While remaining attached to the realism of the facts, Kjeldsen also takes great care in deepening the psychological character, since his protagonist, the young Kari, struggles with all her might, without fear of paying in person, for the things she believes in, and that does not even bow to the first real love disappointment of her life.
Thank Grenzland Press and Netgalley for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting experience, but not one I'd wish to repeat or recommend, particularly. The story comes across as the plot of one of those taut adventure films, where the characters slowly diminish in number until a crux confrontation, leaving the survivors to pick over the bones. It certainly has many an instance of Hollywood clunkiness, and as far as literary power goes stays mainly in evoking the weather, which it sets out to do at every opportunity, for want of something else. So all we're left with is the freshness and novelty of the situation, location and character mix, and a strange feeling of wondering if any of this is based on family legend or purely made up. Certainly the multiple cultural references and local landmark names attest to much research, but nothing here is to much great effect. Not bad, but by no means great.

Thanks Net Galley for Land of Hidden Fires by Kirk Kjeldsen. The book is about a young girl leading a downed American pilot to Sweden after crashing his plane in occupied Norway. Being chased by the Germans they must do everything possible to survive not only them but must also the Nordic winter along the way. A good easy read with simple plot, I finished in a couple of days. Although not a very intense book I enjoyed the read and will read other books by this author.