Customer Reviews

Troll Blood (Troll Trilogy)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

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.