Ratings42
Average rating3.6
In a tiny shack in the largest township in South Africa, Nombeko Mayeki is born. Put to work at five years old and orphaned at ten, she quickly learns that the world expects nothing more from her than to die young, be it from drugs, alcohol, or just plain despair. But Nombeko has grander plans. She learns to read and write, and at just fifteen, using her cunning and fearlessness, she makes it out of Soweto with millions of smuggled diamonds in her possession. Then things take a turn for the worse ... Nombeko ends up the prisoner of an incompetent engineer in a research facility working on South Africa's secret nuclear arsenal. Yet the unstoppable Nombeko pulls off a daring escape to Sweden, where she meets twins named Holger One and Holger Two, who are carrying out a mission to bring down the Swedish monarchy ... by any means necessary. Nombeko's life ends up hopelessly intertwined with the lives of the twins, and when the twins arrange to kidnap the Swedish king and prime minister, it is up to our unlikely heroine to save the day -- and possibly the world.
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3.25 Stars
To be honest I was a little disappointed in this book. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but I had heard such great things about it. My mother and her boyfriend loved it, so I thought I would too. But to me it was just slightly above average.
It was funny here and there, but I was expecting it to be hilarious, so it fell a little short. I do think I would have found the humor enough if I hadn't been expecting so much though. Because it is funny (at times).
The setting and scenario is a little ridiculous, as are some of the characters. I was expecting that, so I didn't mind much, but you should be aware of it.
All in all I liked it, but I was expecting more (though that's not the books fault). I would recommend it, but it's not the best book I've read this year.
(I read this book in Norwegian)
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