The Winners

The Beartown series is one of the best written series of books of this current times. In this final installment of the series, Frederik Backman beautifully closes the story of this small, snowy town.

As expected from the experience of the first two books in the series, this story is full of conflict between towns and groups of people. Mia and Benji both return to Beartown to attend the funeral of a Beartown icon. A terrible storm results in rising tensions between Beartown and Hedd, and these tensions fuel the plot of this book. Things do not end well for all our favorite characters, a fact which is foreshadowed in the first pages of the book.

This book is just as well-constructed as the first two in the series. Backman carries motifs established in book one through to the end of the series, making the entire reading experience cohesive and satisfying. The story could have been a bit shorter and still achieved it's goals, but the writing is so good that the reader can overlook some of the superfluous content.

Overall, this book concludes the series in a satisfying manner. I would have preferred a happier ending for some characters, but I accept that the choices made by the author fulfill his design. I highly recommend this book and the entire Beartown series to anyone who loves an engaging plot with beautiful prose.