The influential daily Politiken dedicated an entire page to its review, stating that “Ketil Bjørnstad has not without reason been awarded the Prix des Lecteurs for To Music”. Calling The River “a worthy follow-up, the reviewer Mette Winge writes that “Like To Music, The River is great literature – heavy and uplifting at the same time.”

In Jyllands-Posten, Henriette Bacher Lind writes: “Being a musician, Ketil Bjørnstad builds up the story in a very elegant fashion, replaying the same themes again and again in new ways”. She concludes by saying that “once again [the reader] is seduced by Ketil Bjørnstad’s musical and atmospheric language.”

Eva Pohl in Berlingske Tidende starts off her review with these words: “Dramatic waves crash in over the minds in Ketil Bjørnstad’s captivating and psychologically penetrating novel The River.

The first volume in the trilogy of Aksel Vinding, To Music , recently won the French Prix des Lecteurs. The third volume The Lady in the Valley, will be out on Aschehoug in February 2009.