Plejedatteren ('The Foster Daughter') starts of about 5 years after the events of Heksejagten and it is Sol Angelika's story. I've always loved her, for all her flaws and deepseated problems, she's very difficult not to love. Maybe because she loves so much herself, especially her family. But the curse of the Ice People hangs over her head and no matter how she tries, she can't find peace or calm in the normal world. She's driven by her own instinct to use magic, for better or worse - often the latter. But she's still a good person, the story very clearly illustrates how she loves her adopted family, her brothers and sister, and strangers like the helpless little Swedish girl Meta, whom she saves from an awful fate.
Sol Angelika is probably my favourite heroine ever, when I think about it. Which is why this is one of my favourite books of the series. In reality, I ought to give all the other 5-starred books 4 stars, so this could get 5, but that's a detail.
Like the first two books, the narrative's strength is the setting. Like me, Sol seems to have an affinity for forests and trees and as such, she spends an awful large part of the book in a forest in Sweden. And Sandemo's descriptions are so beautiful in their sort of creepy serenity. Which is very telling for this book, it's a little less of a lovestory and more of an adventure, or a desperate, restless search for adventure. The fantasic elements are brought more into it, quite naturally given Sol's abilities and inability to not use her gifts. But it is also more of a family's story, or saga, now that we've moved on to the next generation. The pace is high, but the events are enthralling and there's quite a few turns and surprises.
The family has yet to decide to actively try to end the curse, right now they're still trying to live with it, without getting hunted down and accused of witchcraft. While this book mainly follows Sol's adventures now that she's grown up, it also follows her little sister, Liv, as her life changes from a happy childhood at Lindealléen to that of a married woman. The two stories of course intertwine.
This book always leaves me breathless, because of the ending. I will give no spoilers, but I'll admit that it is a bit of a cliffhanger - one that always makes me want to open up book 4, Arvingen ('The Heir') right away to get the answer to the last question.
Will it do the same to you?