Big Book Summer Challenge - Tychonium, The Experiment by Jan Johannesson

This challenge is hosted by Sue Jackson on Book by Book. If you are interested in joining head back to Sue's website for more goodies on this challenge. I co-read with the 20 Books of Summer challenge.

Yippee, I have finished my first thick book for the challenge. Tychonium - Experimentet by Jan Johannesson (448 pages).

Jan Johannesson: Tychonium, Experimentet (The Experiment)

Great cover, isn't it?

Jan Johannesson is a Swedish civil engineer and strategy consultant, turned author. His debut novel came in 2022, Tychonium, The Discovery (unfortunately available only in Swedish). Johannesson has spent a lot of his life on Hven, the small island situated in Öresund, between Sweden and Denmark. Maybe that is why he chose to make his historical fiction trilogy about Tycho Brahe, the famous Danish astronomer, who lived on the island at the end of the 16th century. The Experiment is the second instalment of the trilogy.

"The secret society Brahes Familia is put to new tests after the events of Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg in 1905. Now they must find new ways to secure the possibility of carrying out Tycho Brahe's experiment - the explosive discovery that Tycho and his sister Sophie made on Hven in March 1590.

At the beginning of the 20th century, society is developing at a furious pace and new ideas are pushing old truths aside. The peace negotiations in the United States to try to end the Russo-Japanese War force Kirsten Rööd-Michelsen to make a choice. No one is left untouched by the uprisings in Tsarist Russia, and when the need for change is greatest, everything is put to the test.

Henri Becquerel's scientific abilities are tested to the limit when Brahes Familia must find a way to carry out the experiment while preparing for their most difficult mission. In 1908, the future of the world is at stake, in a time eerily similar to our own.

Tychonium – The Experiment is the second part of the Tychonium series, a fantasy-inducing historical thriller about secret societies, power struggles, and great discoveries."

As a fan of historical fiction this is a thrilling tale of international politics and power struggles. Both on a governmental as well as on a personal level. Johannesson is well researched in both historical events and in scientific research. I am full of admiration for the scientific parts of the story. Johannesson manages to put his charismatic characters into real world events, and include them, in a realistic way, to real historical persons included in the story.

The second instalment of the trilogy is as exciting and thrilling as the first one. We get deeper into the main characters as well as being introduced to new ones. Behind them is the devastating experiment which finally is to take place, far out in the wilderness of Russia. A Russia in turmoil due to the Russian-Japanese war and revolutionary movements. All seen through various characters in Russia, on different levels of society.

The Experiment is not only an international thriller, it is also a lesson in history and science. Mixed with the personal lives of the main characters it is a solid novel, difficult to put down. Is it a story of man's pursuit for scientific development, or a fight for knowledge to gain power? I can't wait for the third instalment.