Troll Blood (Troll Trilogy) [Paperback]

Katherine Langrish (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books (2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 000721488X
• ISBN-13: 978-0007214884
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,742,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Katherine Langrish grew up in Yorkshire, England and has been writing stories for as long as she can remember. She graduated from London University with a degree in English, and worked in an assortment of odd jobs including waitressing, teaching riding, and several years as Information Officer for Lloyd's Register of Ships in London. This last was an entertaining post dealing with an assortment of the ship-crazed public, including a man who claimed he could see shipwrecks with his 'magic eye.'

Married with two daughters, Katherine moved to France with her family and became involved in a storytelling group providing weekly stories, drama and activities for children. And the storytelling continued when the family relocated again, this time to the small town of Corning in New York State.

Returning to England in 1999, Katherine began writing 'Troll Fell', a folklore-based fantasy novel for children set in the Viking age. It was sold at auction to HarperCollins for a six-figure sum and was followed by the sequels, 'Troll Mill' and 'Troll Blood'. The books follow the fortunes of young Peer Ulfsson and his friend Hilde in a richly-imagined Scandinavian world. Katherine says, 'I don't do heroes with swords, rings and other magical gadgets, so my characters have to work out their problems by their own efforts.' The final book in the series takes the pair across the Atlantic in a Viking ship to the coasts of 'Vinland' (Nova Scotia). As part of her research she spent time learning to sail a replica Viking ship on Roskilde fjord, Denmark. Katherine approaches her fantasies as 'history with the beliefs put back in' - incorporating the beliefs of people of the past who took for granted the existence of trolls, ghosts, and other spirits.

Her fourth book for HarperCollins is a medieval fantasy called 'The Shadow Hunt' (UK title 'Dark Angels') which has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild Choice (Spring 2010), selected by Kirkus as one of the 2010 Best Books for Children, and nominated for the ALA's Best Fiction for Young Adults 2011.

The three Troll titles will be republished in one volume in March 2011 under the title 'West of the Moon'. Katherine is currently working on a new dystopian fantasy. You can visit her website at www.katherinelangrish.com - and you can catch up with her at her weekly blog 'Seven Miles of Steel Thistles' (voted 4th of the United Kingdom's YA fantasy blogs) at www.steelthistles.blogspot.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, May 22, 2007

By 

M. obrien - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Troll Blood (Troll Trilogy) (Hardcover)

This was the best of the Troll trilogy. Good plot twists, better adventure, good characters, a longer tale.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique Fantasy, August 9, 2008

By 

Sunny @ the Library "sunnyatthelibrary.com" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Troll Blood (Hardcover)

I'm still wondering what the description for this book said when I requested it for review. Neither the words "Troll" or "Blood," or a cover with a looming Viking ship, are the sorts of things that make me go, "Oooh! I wanna read that one!" Of course, if it had a really good description, that's because it deserved a really good description. Being really good, and all!

Troll Blood is actually part of a series, and I have not read the previous two novels. Yet, a major mark in the book's favor is that that didn't really seem to cripple me. Sure, I may have missed some depth, or some allusions, but this was its own self-contained story.

The story is mainly told from the point of view of a teen-aged Norse boy named Peer, who is very much in love with a girl named Hilde. A girl he's known all his life, whose family has recently taken the orphaned Peer in, and who introduces him to people as her "foster brother." Uh-oh. When the wife of a Viking captain asks Hilde to journey to Vinland to keep her company, Peer also comes along, mostly to prevent Hilde fromgetting too close to a member of the crew that is rather fond of her.

However, there are deep mysteries surrounding the trip. Why is the captain so afraid of ghosts? What's the thing that it seems everyone but the new crew members know? Why is the captain's son Harald so violent? Is it true that he goes berserker? And is it true that the captain's wife is part troll?

Other parts of the story follow a little Norse boy whose family was massacred in Vinland, and who has taken shelter with a local Native tribe. The tribe is very worried about the site where all the white men were murdered, and fear strange undercurrents and even stranger creatures are on the loose. What will happen if those who killed the little boy's family return again?

There aren't a lot of surprises here (in fact, I'm afraid as vague as I've tried to be in my description, some things are still just obvious), but it is well-written and well researched. Although there are many fantasy elements here -- local legends and creatures are treated as if they actually exist -- there's some interesting history here too. Not that, as the author warns, this is historical fiction. But she's done her legwork, and it shows.

This is very much a boy's book, although the mushy romance stuff is a little pervasive, and should appeal to ages 10-13.

5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book!, August 4, 2008

By 

Troll woman (Oxfordshire) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Troll Blood (Hardcover)

This is the third and in my opinion the best book in the Troll series. Full of adventure and dark magic, and the budding romance between Peer and Hilde is finally resolved! Great stuff.