I had forgotten how amazing this book is.
Dødens Have (Death's Garden) is the 17th book in The Legend of the Ice People and without a doubt the most supernatural to date.
As I hinted to in the review of the previous book, the events of this book shd a little ore light on the mystery that is Tengel the Evil. And how he managed to get eternal life, power over everyone and everything ... and oh yeah, cursed his descendants for many, many generations to come.
The story revolves largely around the unknown child of Vendel, a daughter he has never met. Ingrid and Dan's son Daniel gets a chance to go to the remote world that Vendel visited in book 15, when he, after yet another war between the Russians and the Swedes, finds himself in enemy territory - and this chance he takes.
Shira, daughter of Vendel, is ever so slightly idealised for my tastes, but as she is supposed to be the very embodiment of Good in order to undertake her enermous and mythical task, I don't see how she could be anything else.
Her journey toward, what I assume the English translation would call something along the lines of the fountain of life or sometihng (in Danish, it is "livets kilder", literally "spring/fountain of life"). Anyways, her journey towards this fountain is what makes this book so all-round magical and supernatural. It is not a physical journey, but a journey through one's mind, through one's past life and it is not an easy one.
Perhaps some of the usually beautiful descriptions of Sandemo gets neglected in this book in favour of the story, which has a tendency to become tell rather than show, but honestly, I hardly notice that, because so much happens and there's just enough description to draw the reader in.
I give extra points for the theological discussions, there's some very interesting points brought forward, especially thorugh the fact that this remote tribe of people live in much closer contact with nature and have a very different look on spirits and gods. I'm not saying it is better, I'm saying it is interesting. And they bring an extra dimension to an already exciting book. Definitely one of my favourites.