Customer Reviews

Bang Goes a Troll: An Awfully Beastly Business

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was listed as Juvenile fiction, I think that ranking is kind of high. Both my 8-year and 9-year kids enjoyed the reading of this book. I guess this book really fits for younger readers. This is the 1st time for my kids to read a book in this series, but there is enough background information given for them to get familiar with the settings.

I took a quick look of the book and I think the writing was simple. The large print and pictures are very reader friendly.

This book is just too cute. It has many of the paranormal characters that we deal with in the adult stories but this one is for children in elementry school. I would say this is good for ages 8 and up depending on how well your child is reading and what they happen to like. It is a light story of a young boy who is a werewolf but hasn't quite come of age yet to gain his full abilities. We have our nasty bad guy wanting to round up the trolls for slaves and something must be done about it. It quick, it's fun and it will make everyone want to see what is going to happen to the poor trolls. I truly wish they had stories like this when I was in school. I might have wanted to read more but alas that was back in the dinosaur ages as my eldest daughter who is closing in on thirty would say. LOL! This would be a great addition to the Easter Baskets so Mr. Easter Bunny please be advised.

If there was a 3.5 stars, I'd probably go there, but since I don't have that choice, I went with the 4 stars.

Overall, a good book, entertaining, decent cohesion. Perhaps the other books mention it, but it would have been nice if there was more background info on Ulf and how he became a werewolf and ended up with the RSPCB.

The back of the book rated this for 9 to 12 years old, but I'm thinking more 7 to 10 years old, but I may be biased, since my kids are reading harder stuff (my 8 year old just finished Charlotte's Web, which is a bit more complex than this book, and my 11 year old just finished Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). What I can say is that this book is very light on blood and gore (although there is violence), in the sense that no one dies, they all just go through mishaps that they all miraculously recover from and are either rescued and/or put into custody. The included illustrations are nifty, although there could have been a few more.

Overall, would I recommend this to my kids? Yeah, but more for my 8 year old.

This is the story of a young werewolf named Ulf, who was rescued and brought to the RSPCB (like the ASPCA in our world). There they take care of the beastly monsters of the world since it's now illegal to hunt them. Ulf, who is considered a beast himself, helps out but lived at the Farraway Hall which is the main headquarters of the RSPCB. The adventure takes them to stop the villian of this series of books, Baron Marackai who is hunting trolls. (ahem, they truly show that humans can be monsters in this by the evilness of the Baron).

The writing of this book was well done, an easy read and I'm assuming for 10-13 year olds... I could be wrong but it feels like a preteen book. The pictures are well done and they give just enough background that you don't have to read the earlier books in the series, but having not read them myself it would make more sense to read them in order to see why Ulf and the Baron hate each other.

The reason this is four stars is that this was a rather violent book. I don't think this would be a huge surprise to those thinking of buying books about monsters and such, but there were a few times I was grossed out (mostly at snot and phlegm) but the whole of this story is about hunting beasts, and I do have to give the authors credit, while the Baron is somewhat stupid, he is evil. Also, the 'heroes' in this book cared more about the lives of monsters than humans (even if the humans in this were 'monsters'), or regular animals so it was a little disappointing to me.

Not a bad story, but I would check out the maturity level of the young reader I gave this too, it could lead to nightmares.

It's is a great book. Does leave a few blanks in the story. would have loved a Descriptionary in back definning the creatures. Great for those into Cryptozology.

I read the book and as an adult found it kind of hard to read it seemed to jump about in the story, but loved the different creatures.

My 10 year old can be a really reluctant reader. He has the skills, just no desire to read. So a book has to be really interesting and compelling to capture his attention.

My son devoured this book in days. He is only required to read 15 minutes per night, but he would sit and read this book for a few hours straight. While he often fights with me when I tell him it's time to read, he eagerly picked up this book with no reminder from me. It's really wonderful to watch him enjoy a book so much.

My son says the book is "really good. Its about a kid who is actually a werewolf who helps a society called the RSPCB which stands for Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Beasts and he helps all beasts from fairies to ogres. In this story, he helps save some trolls from a beast hunter. It was fantastic!"

Unfortunately, I found this book to be a disappointment on the whole. The story seemed to me to be rather unoriginal and at times quite formulaic. The characters lacked any significant and there was nothing that hasn't been done better in other books aimed at this type of audience. On the whole, the story was entirely forgettable. I'd have to say to avoid this one.

Great little book. My fourth grade son found it funny and creative. It was just enough suspense for him with a little bit wow factor to keep his attention. The auhtor is great at making us like the main character. He keeps the laughs coming and the absurdity of a troll hunting wolf boy somehow grounded in realistic characters. With today's children's fiction there are many books out there that try and push a message, this one does it without bashing you over the head. My son and I really enjoyed it.

This is a fun book for 3 to 5 grade boys. A little scary in parts but I think that they will really enjoy it. If they aren't quite ready for Harry Potter or Twilight this book will fill the need for some monsters and werewolfs.

Kid werewolves? Deep, dark caves? All sorts of creepy-but-fun beasties?

Yep, it's an Awfully Beastly Business book all right.

Bang Goes a Troll sends Ulf, our boy werewolf hero, on an action-packed adventure into troll country, where the villain might not be who you expect. Best given to children on the younger side of 8-12, but 12-year-olds will enjoy it, too. As with all the books in this series, plenty of humor and adventure.

These books are great fun, according to my young one, who enjoys these fun romps and all their spooky-in-a-fun-way monsters enough to loan them out when he's done reading.