FLYKTEN – THE ESCAPE

By Mats Söderlund

There’s chaos in Skelleftehamn after the big flood. Thousands of people have died and even though David and Wilma managed to save the lives off almost the entire school the government deploys the military to fight, capture and annihilate the olus. They don’t know what they are fighting against, all they know is that it’s something unknown, something dangerous. Without hearings of detention or a trials the youths are locked up, no one cares about the Convention on the Rights of the Child or if their human rights are respected. They are not humans, but something completely different.

At the same time Gaupa is arrested in Stockholm and removed from the position as the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The discovery of olus gets political consequences of big proportions and an international conflict is menacing. Gaupa is accused of being a terrorist and vigilance committees are founded, the trolls are lynched by upset and afraid humans. Those who used to be neighbors or good friends are now on opposite sides of a life-and-death struggle.

When everything is carried to extremes the decision needs to be made: Is it time to fight back and annihilate mankind once and for all? Or is it already too late?

The Escape is the grandios final part in The Descendants Trilogy. All the loose ends are tied together and Mats Söderlund makes no one disappointed, the thrill is staying until the very last page.  

First published by Rabén & Sjögren, 20th of March 2020.

If one were to be moved by one single novel, let it be this. […] It’s a beautifully narrated, deep, highly ambitious, dedicated and disturbing dystopia he has succeeded to portray. Or what is a dystopia that became reality really called? Prophecy?
Dagens Nyheter

It took me three weeks to finish this one. Not because it was bad but because I needed to pause due to all the feelings. It is not often a trilogy gets a perfect ending but this one really succeeded. It run over me like an emotional train with sorrow, happiness, anger and anxiety. I have fallen for all the multilayered characters and it is difficult to say goodbye now. [..] Thank you for one of the best trilogies I have read and for books that twist and turn the questions about climate, racism, folklore and unfathomable grief.
Setsunaceras (Instagram)

The Escape is the ending of a thrilling Swedish sci-fi series very worth reading, and that should get a great and appreciating audience of teenagers and young adults.
BTJ

BOOKS

Children’s & YA