The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.2008, Qupperneq 45

Vol. 61 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
183
Book Reviews
Brewing Evil (Trilogy)
A Witch is Born, Deadly Spells and
Dark Forces
by Carol Gardarsson
Reviewed by Susan Claire Johnson
Hignell Book Printing, Winnipeg 2007
Murder, revenge, intrigue, romance,
true love, history, are all components of the
Brewing Evil trilogy cleverly woven
together by author Carol Gardarsson. Like
a tapestry created by intricate colors the
characters created by Gardarsson compel
the reader to move deeper and deeper into
her stories.
Gardarsson’s use of language is simple
and straightforward, and the reader can
become complacent thinking that they can
predict every turn of events in her narra-
tive, but this is not so. Gardarsson is unpre-
dictable with her story so the reader is
steadily drawn into the drama of the char-
acters. What is most surprising about her
Brewing Evil trilogy; A Witch is Born,
Dark Forces and Deadly Spells is its appeal
to a broad population. Many readers, from
a teenager to the older adult would find
something in Gardarsson’s stories. The
author’s choice of wording is descriptive
and easily understandable thus assessable
to a wide audience, yet her well thought
out plots keep the reader truly in suspense
and thus reading into the wee hours of the
night.
In the first book of Gardarsson’s trilo-
gy, A Witch is Born the reader is intro-
duced to the main character, Inga, also
known as Eliza, and her Icelandic family
who immigrates to Canada, with Gimli as
the final destination. Not only will readers
of Icelandic descent find the story interest-
ing but many Canadians will be swept up
by the family’s story as people from all
backgrounds have heard stories about their
ancestors overcoming hardships in order to
make the wilderness of Canada their new
home. What is unique about Gardarsson’s
story is her ability to put the reader back in
time to actually get an inside glimpse of
what life must have been like for these early
settlers. In 1895 the journey from
Winnipeg to New Iceland (Gimli) took
several days versus the 45 minute car ride