Science Fiction & Fantasy Award Winning Book Group discussion

This month's pick is Not Before Sundown by johanna-sinisalo. It won the Tiptree Award in 2004, along with Camouflage by Joe Haldeman.

I picked it because it is about a troll, and with Halloween right around the corner, I thought it ight be fun. I have never read a book by a Finnish author, either.

So please join us, and, as always, beware of the spoilers.

Haha, I saw that it was about a troll but didn't make the Halloween connection. Nice!

Waiting for my copy to get here.

I've just started now, and so far it's a slow-going sweet little story about a nice guy trying to tame a wild animal that he's rescued. All his research into the correct foods is dragging a bit, but I'm interested enough to be patient...

(I don't know if I was reading badly but it took me ages to figure out if the narrator was male or female!)

I'm nearly half-way through now and not much is happening. I hope it's not this dull all the way.

I'm about half-way through as well, and it is just starting to get to the story - maybe?

Well, I've finished. There was definitely a bit more action in the 2nd half but I did not like it. I'll wait and see what you think before I elaborate and ruin it for everyone!

I got about halfway through last weekend and hit a wall. Haven't picked it back up in 7 days. I guess I'll try to finish it in the next couple of days but I haven't much liked what I've read so far.

I've finished. I liked the way the POV shifted and there were bits of articles and stories about trolls between. But why is there a cutsie troll doll on the cover?

It's not exactly sci fi (to me) - and not horror. I'm not sure what it is.

I started off enjoying the little excerpts about trolls, but they got a little tiresome after a while.

I think, once again, this is a book which was let down by the characters. All somewhat selfish and manipulative people, and rather flatly drawn.

As Nick said I didn't like any of the characters which in a short novel like this just made it harder to like.

It did pick up a little bit at the end but not enough to save it for me.

So, was this just derivative of (view spoiler)[Planet of the Apes, but in a completely non-sci-fi way (hide spoiler)] ? I wouldn't recommend it.

Haha! I hadn't even thought of (view spoiler)[Planet of the Apes (hide spoiler)]. But you're absolutely right, it totally fits.

I thought the ending was really dumb (view spoiler)[there's nothing in Pessi's behaviour to suggest that the trolls are smarter than the average chimp, and there's no indication that he's more human than that, so the trolls at the end suddenly understanding complex mechanical things like guns or having human gestures was just silly. Did they have a little forge and a machine shop out in the woods as well? How would that work? (hide spoiler)]