i fully intended to like this more than i did. because my four here should be interpreted as three-and-a-half with four-star potential. 
 the things i liked: 
 structure. i love books like this, with a dual narrative approaching each other like tiny trains. the present-day storyline running along and getting interrupted by the four-years future courtroom transcripts and you are like "wooooah - how did we ever get to this point??" 
 religion/mythology. loved this. so few YA novels these days deal with the ancient mystery cults and how they relate to christianity. the parallels were fascinating, and i never found susanne's didactic segments boring at all. i loved the idea of a completely isolated person heading out into the big wide world only to find herself trapped in a situation just as narrow and limited as when she lived alone with her mother in the middle of nowhere. 
 botany/herbalism. more information i will never use, but i loved all the details, and it gave such a wonderful depth and richness to the story. i appreciate research, and i appreciate details. 
 ritual. everything about the death of her mother, and the misunderstandings that came out of aslaug's treatment of the body. (her mother's death is not a spoiler - is on the back cover - no yelling, please). god, i loved every detail of that. it is scary how convincing the misinterpretations appear, you know, to the uninformed. lawyers are scary. 
 the things i liked less about this book: the big law and order courtroom ending and the lacuna between the end of the court transcripts and the final chapter. specifically: 
 a) (view spoiler)[ seriously, rune - you and rebekka didn't have a conversation about what your individual purposes were in going to the courthouse? that seems like something you should have discussed maybe in the car over so you were all on the same page. what on earth did you talk about on that drive? because this is what i expect from my books - that even the unwritten moments be considered. and it makes no sense that they would both be caught off guard by the others' intentions. in a real-life situation, this conversation would have taken place, and neither of you should be shocked at this difference of opinion (hide spoiler)] 
 b) (view spoiler)[ so where are rebekkah and rune now? did he go to jail?? did i read the ending to quickly because i wanted to finish it before the end of my lunch break? i admit, i read the laast chapter very quickly, because i hate having just a few pages to go before i have to go back to work, but i don't think i missed anything. i will reread it tomorrow just to make sure, but for now, i am pretty sure it was just omitted. (hide spoiler)] 
 c) rune. what an irritatingly inconsistent character. i mean, obviously we are seeing him through aslaug's eyes, and she is fairly unreliable, as sheltered and (view spoiler)[drugged (hide spoiler)] as she was, but he runs so hot and cold, from standoffish to affectionate with no rhyme or reason. 
 d) i'm not sure how surprising the reveals were meant to be, but i thought they were all fairly obvious from the beginning. (view spoiler)[ was it ever even a question who aslaug's father was? am i just too cynical to even consider a virgin birth or mikkel? same for phalia's father and rebekka's baby's daddy. am i just an amaaaazing close reader? (disregarding that last chapter) i still am not sure if the revelations were for the readers' sake or the characters. (hide spoiler)] 
 e) (view spoiler)[ drugged or not drugged - i hate hate hate when characters cannot tell a dream from reality. if you lose your virginity in "a dream", there are still physical signs. pain, fluids, blood, etc. even if you are a sheltered child, you've gotta know what happened to your sheets. (hide spoiler)] 
 okay - i will probably add more to this tomorrow - i just wanted to get my thoughts on "paper" before they faded, but now i gotta AIFAF...