Josefine Ottesen
  prize-winning Danish author
Presentation > Readers' Comments

Readers' Comments

The Warrior is totally on the same level as Harry Potter, His Dark Materials and many other great serials I’ve read!”  Morten, 16.

”Couldn’t get enough – had to read them again." Mille, 15.

”Hi there Jose. I finished part 2 yesterday and have got my father to bring part 3 home today, BECAUSE YOUR BOOKS ARE JUST TOTALLY FANTASTIC.  Write more about Jachim, he’s so cool!! Greetings from the greatest truwa!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Just want to tell you I think you’re a genius and your writing is terrific……  I’ve read the whole of The Mira Chronicles and they are some of the best books I’ve ever read! :)  It’s a totally fantastic world – you can’t help but enjoy it!!!  //Anne-Sofie

Josefine, you are a terrific author.  I’m just wild about your books myself and the universe you create.  As a teacher, I also want to let you know that your books give children a desire to read.  Thanks for that!

You write just beautifully :)  i’m totally in love with the warrior and the mira serial.  your style of writing has me totally drawn in to the story’s universe.  many thanks for all your books and may there come many more.  love cecelie – a loyal fan.

Hi Josefine Ottesen...
I got your first book as a Christmas present and was a little disappointed to get a book.  3 days later I dashed down to the bookshop because I just had to have the others.  I hope they continue for ever :)
A big hug, Your Biggest Fan

HI I’M A COMPUTER NERD CALLED MAGNUS
I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT YOU WRITE FANTASTIC BOOKS

Dear Josefine
I’ve read the feather and the rose and was totally absorbed in it.  It’s really good and I look forward to reading The Whisper of Demons.
great website :)
best wishes Sarah, 11

 

Unbelievably good portrayal of a person with many facets, who finds himself in the end.  Totally on a level with ”Lord of the Rings” and ”Harry Potter” – better in fact!  “The Warrior” is world class.
Best wishes Anne Lind Andersen, 13

Every time I finish one of your books, I have such a strange clump in my stomach and it’s not pleasant.  I feel completely empty.  I wish the whole world was one of your books.  Preferably like THE WARRIOR or KISS OF THE DRAGON.
I feel really sick after reading almost all your books.  Not like with nausea or headache etc but like there’s nothing left in my stomach anymore.
It’s kind of a nice pain, because I know where it comes from.  So I’m sad because I know it’ll soon wear off.  So I feel happy about the time now.  I want to be just as big a writer as you are – you’re the one I look up to most in the whole world.

Hi Josefine Ottesen!
I work at a day school in the Århus district.  A school for children (boys) with socio-emotional problems and many of them additionally have great academic problems – with reading amongst other things.  But all the boys who we’ve introduced to the serial ”Lord of the Dragon” have been so totally enthusiastic about the adventure, the excitement, the narrative form and of course the wonderful illustrations.  And I understand why: it’s exciting reading in an easily read and down-to-earth language and really well divided up into many short books.  Many of the boys have told us proudly when they’ve finished reading yet another in the series.
Wonderful that books are written and produced for this type of reader.
With very best wishes and thanks for your good work.
Søren Hansen, Kaløvigskolen

”hi i’m a lad of 12 years, soon 13, who’s just read your books for the second time. they’re some of the best i’ve ever read but all good things must end unfortunately :(:(. you’ve probably heard this before but my goodness you’re a good writer, the warrior hasn’t only been a good book for me, it’s also meant a lot for me to read it and given me more desire to live life to the full, i’ve thought about ending it all several times but your books have helped me :) …..”

Dear Josefine Ottesen
I have just gulped down the three Warrior books.  I am 39 years old – so probably outside the primary target-group :-)  But the eldest son of some friends who I was discussing good books with drew my attention to them.
Jan Guillou’s books about Arn have made a deep impression on me and The Warrior trilogy has captured me in the same way.
In my opinion, your books - and Jan’s - are woven from the same cloth as the classic ”boys’ books”: Robinson Crusoe,Treasure Island, Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, Last of the Mohicans etc., but with a modern and more captivating narrative voice. Adventure and history at the same time. 
Many thanks – I was WELL entertained and I look forward to passing them on to my children, as my father did with the earlier ones!
Very best wishes, Per

I want to give you some praise.
At the moment my soon 11 year-old son is in the process of reading Lord of the Dragon out loud to his mother and his 8 year-old younger brother.  He has great difficulties with reading, but is battling (with a little help) through a good, exciting story.
You have no idea how important it is to find the right story.  Even though it’s too difficult for him to read on his own, he battles with it. Children of his age with reading difficulties have so few possibilities.  Their friends read everything.  I’m so happy that we can hear the whole story about Dian together.
If only there were more who would write for those children who simultaneously are in the learning process but also have a need for relevant material.

Dear josefine,
Now I’m finished with all three warrior books.  I’ve gulped them down in less than a week. If I’m totally honest, I thought (while I was reading them) that they were no good, but in that I made a big mistake! When I was finished, I was close to tears, why should they finish now? For more than two weeks, I could hardly think about anything else. I thought it was a bit embarrassing and didn’t say anything out loud, but I just couldn’t pack that little pain away - that the book was already finished. Especially Ragni the Bard. I still haven’t forgotten him. Maybe you described him as old, but in my own mind, he was still young and handsome.  I thought that Odd treated him SO unfairly on occasion. Ragni was always helpful and generous and friendly towards Odd. I often felt like surly Odd.  He was always so negative and sour towards everyone who crossed him. Perhaps I’m like that sometimes?  I think my mother and Minna would think so.
I cried when Bruna died - why?  She was my next favourite after the bard of course.  I’m glad he got a new dog in the end otherwise I expect I would have taken my own life :0)

Hi Josefine Ottesen
 
Our daughter, Emma, who’s just 6 years old, has got great enjoyment from the books on Roselil and Silke.  Especially the first 3.  She swallowed them in one go!
I had tried in vain to get her interested in stories which were a little longer, without any luck.  Even when I tried the good classics by such as Ole Lund Kirkegård, Astrid Lindgren and Thorbjørn Egner.  But one day at the library, I read about Roselil and Silke’s adventures.  Have to give them a try, I thought.  And what joy!  And it wasn’t just as goodnight stories she heard about their adventures.  Several afternoons were also needed.
I think you’ve really got to the essence of every little girl’s dream-universe.  All the beautiful descriptions of the characters, their friendships and their desire to help when problems arise.  There is excitement and adventure in a package which reaches the core of Emma’s fantasy world at the moment.  And it wasn’t only Emma who looked forward to the next chapter.

Hi, I’m a 17 year-old girl who really enjoys your work.
I started by reading The Feather and the Rose when I was 12, then went on to The Rainbow Stone and Kiss of the Dragon, followed of course by The Warrior serial.  And I’m waiting excitedly for the next one you’re in the process of writing. You have a fantastic way of capturing young people in your books, so even if it all takes place in another universe, I can as a 17 year-old girl relate to, for example, some of the thoughts and feelings that Iljana has in Kiss of the Dragon.  When I got going on The Warrior, I went into hibernation, lying under a duvet for three days, just reading.  I know you certainly get many mails from many happy fans, with requests for possible books to come.  But even so, I just want to say that I’ve just read Kiss of the Dragon again and it would just be so cool with a part 2.
As soon as I closed the book, I couldn’t stop thinking about what might happen with the three of them on the journey to the other country.
But maybe that’s exactly what the intention is – that one should imagine oneself what happens.  In any case, several pictures of their journey came quite naturally into my head
Oh well, now we’ll just have to see if these pictures lie written in book form in a few years when I go into the children’s bookshop, or whether they’ll just remain pictures in my mind.
Finally, I’d just like to say, Keep up the good work! I really think you set the standard within Danish children’s and young people’s literature and I always feel that I’m guaranteed a perfect reading experience when I lie under my duvet with one of your books.
Best wishes, Isabella Bentzon, a happy fan



….The books are also totally fantastic. It may sound strange, but they’ve actually given me a few words of wisdom to keep in reserve and helped me understand.  To understand why I myself sometimes find it difficult to believe that people can love me.  I think that if you don’t take good care of your heart and make room for both sorrow, pain and love, then your heart will by itself become more and more like crystal.  I discovered my own problem.  I shut myself off from sorrow and pain.  But I also shut myself off from love.
The stories of Mira contain a lot and there is also a truth in the telling, under the surface.
Hopefully there are many who take the stories in and listen to the message.
Best wishes, Emilie