The Winners by Fredrik Backman

The third book in Backman’s Beartown trilogy had slipped my attention for some reason and therefore wasn’t featured in any of my anticipated releases type of posts.

Luckily, I did see someone mention it on Youtube eventually and marked the date down. As soon as the book was available, I started listening to the audiobook on Scibd.

Perhaps it was the audiobook, or the fact I’d read the other two books in ebook format, or just my general mood this month but The Winners hit different. As in, it didn’t quite break my heart and make bawl my eyes out the way its predecessor books did.

We follow hockey (duh!), we’re reunited with some beloved and some not-so-beloved characters, we see some of them grow and other get buried (you have to read the book to find out if I mean this literally), the rivalry between the cities of Beartown and Hed continues and yes…something terrible happens like you’d expect from the sequels of Beartown and Us Against You. It’s written in such a recognizably Backman style, the one I’ve grown used to in the series but also all his other books and yet…it felt like it was missing something.

I’ll keep reading whatever Backman decides to publish next. I’ve already read his other works and I do think this trilogy is his best work yet, but at the same time I expected a little bit more from the conclusion to this story. Ultimately, I’ve given The Winners a 3 star rating meaning the trilogy gets a 4 star rating overall.

If you haven’t read Backman, I highly recommend you check out his books. Leave a comment letting me know which one is your favorite or which one you’d like to read.