The Brothers Lionheart
Astrid Lindgren
Genre:
Fantasy and science fiction
When Karl meets his older brother in Nangijala (a place you go after you die), everything seems perfect – but things are not always as they seem. An extraordinary tale of love and death, kindness and treachery.
Una Reed, 6RG (2016)
3.3
This makes me feel sad happy and mesmerised every time I read it
The Brothers Lionheart is an exciting and sad book. When one of the brothers dies the other is heart broken. Soon after, the other dies and goes to Nangijala. At the end of the book we discover that Jonatan [the older brother] was caught by Katla’s [the dragon] flame. Then, they jump off a ledge and end up in Nangilima [the place were those who die in Nangijala go when they die].
My copy is in Icelandic, so some of the names might be different.
There are many very dark themes in this book – death, betrayal, tyranny and more. Far more than you find in many books written for children. But these dark forces are overcome by courage, friendship, loyalty and an extraordinary love and connection between two brothers. This is a strange and beautiful book and a great fantasy adventure story.
I found this book alright. I did find it a bit weird in some places but it was great though. It’s all about two brothers who die and go into a land after death and live an OK ‘death’ in this world.
I liked the concept of this book and I thought that it was very touching, but the way it was told was a bit lingering and slow.