The Sea of Trolls

Jack was eleven when the berserkers loomed out of the fog and nabbed him. "It seems that things are stirring across the water," the Bard had warned. "Ships are being built, swords are being forged."

"Is that bad?" Jack had asked, for his Saxon village had never before seen berserkers.

"Of course. People don't make ships and swords unless they intend to use them."

The year is A.D. 793. In the next months, Jack and his little sister, Lucy, are enslaved by Olaf One-Brow and his fierce young shipmate, Thorgil. With a crow named Bold Heart for mysterious company, they are swept up into an adventure-quest that follows in the spirit of The Lord of the Rings.

Other threats include a willful mother Dragon, a giant spider, and a troll-boar with a surprising personality -- to say nothing of Ivar the Boneless and his wife, Queen Frith, a shape-shifting half-troll, and several eight foot tall, orange-haired, full-time trolls. But in stories by award-winner Nancy Farmer, appearances do deceive. She has never told a richer, funnier tale, nor offered more timeless encouragement to young seekers than "Just say no to pillaging."

Three time Newbery honor author Nancy Farmer's epic fantasy, The Sea of Trolls, is gigantic in every way. There are big Vikings and bigger trolls. There are big themes--hope, despair, life and death. At a substantial 450+ pages, the sheer size of this hefty tome is impressive. But, like all of Farmer's fine work, the large scale has room for enormous quantities of heart and humor. At the center of this massive adventure is a small Saxon boy named Jack, who's never been much good at anything until the Bard of his medieval village makes him an apprentice. Then, just as Jack is learning to tap into and control his power, he is kidnapped (along with his little sister, Lucy) and taken to the court of King Ivar the Boneless and his half troll queen Frith. When one of Jack's amateur spells causes the evil queen's beautiful hair to fall out, he is forced to undertake a dangerous quest across the Sea of Trolls to make things right, or suffer the consequences--the sacrifice of his beloved sister to Frith's patron goddess, Freya. Along the way Jack faces everything from giant golden troll-bears to man-eating spiders, yet each frightening encounter brings wisdom and understanding to the budding young Bard. No quester who enters these pages with Jack will go away unsatisfied. Farmer's skillful melding of history, mythology, and humor, is reminiscent of both Tamora Pierce and Terry Pratchett's medieval fantasies, and will no doubt be HUGELY enjoyed by fantasy readers of all ages. --Jennifer Hubert

I picked this one up at Powell's Books (Sorry, Amazon -- nothing personal!) because I liked The House of Scorpion, which I read earlier this year, and when I went to look for other books by the same author, I found one about trolls. And Vikings. How could you go wrong with that?

You can't. This is a good book, a nice little action/adventure with quite a lot of brain behind the brawn. It tells the story of a young Saxon lad, Jack, who is tapped to become an apprentice Bard, meaning he will learn to use magic, in addition to music and the recital of great epics. Farmer placed the book squarely into a specific historical era, which worked very well -- especially since she included fantastic elements such as magic and trolls, and so it felt like these things had the same historical accuracy as the Vikings. The bard that teaches Jack is actually the one who wrote the song of Beowulf, as he himself was there in Hrothgar's hall at the time of those events. That was cool.

Before Jack can finish his training, however, he and his little sister are kidnapped by Vikings, and carried off to Scandinavia to be made into thralls. Farmer did a great job with Jack and his family, because his family is largely obnoxious -- his father is constantly critical and complains about everything, and his sister is utterly and completely spoiled -- and at the beginning of the book, Jack can't stand them, and neither can the reader. But then Jack has a revelation, thanks to his training in the bardic arts, and he sees them in a new light -- and Farmer manages to make it stick. The family is much less annoying after that, even Lucy, the spoiled little girl, despite the fact that Lucy doesn't change her behavior. It was impressive.

The main thing, though, is that there's a great adventure story here. Jack and Lucy are brought to Scandinavia and Lucy is given to an evil queen, who is half-troll -- like Grendel's mother -- and beautiful but treacherous, as half-trolls are. One other thing I liked was the idea that trolls themselves are not so bad, even though they are often the enemies of humans; trolls are at least trustworthy. It's the half-trolls you have to watch out for. And this queen is a piece of work. Anyway, events ensue, and Jack has to go on a quest to save his sister. Farmer also managed to weave in a tremendous amount of Norse mythology, primarily the idea of Yggdrasil, the great ash tree that supports all of the worlds; Jack's quest is for Mimir's Well, the well of knowledge, which Odin drank from after sacrificing his eye; the knowledge Odin gained made him king of the gods. Jack has to travel through Jotunheim, the land of the trolls, and on to another world, past the Norns, in order to find the well, and then he has to sacrifice something important to him in order to be allowed to drink from the well.

The book ends extremely well, not overly happy but not sadly, and there's a great twist that explains a large question that runs through the book. It's an excellent story, by a very good writer; if there was any flaw, it was simply that it might be a tad too young for me. But only a tad. Oh, and the fact that I missed the "of" on the cover, so I thought at first this was called "The Sea Trolls" and the Vikings would actually be trolls. Which would have been even cooler, but I was extremely pleased with this one, nonetheless.

There has been a lot of fantasy as of late that just doesn't measure up to what should be going on. I'm impressed for Ms. Farmer to tackle the little-known Norse mythology and do some pretty funky things with it. Experts in that field will enjoy this the most.

The rest of us will just sit there in shock when we realize we have just read a 400+ page retelling of the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill". (Don't worry, it miraculously fits).

It's a classic plot, but it works and I don't mind. The characters are fun and cute, as well as the plot. Farmer always has great writing, and that's plenty to keep this novel pulling forward as an awesome adventure.

This is my favorite book of all time. To me it truly feels like a norse epic. You follow a boy as he matures to a man. This is a fantastic book all around and i could not recommend it any higher. If you like fantasy books then this is deffanitly for you.

Goods:

The beggining wasn't that good but then when jack gets captured it went uphill from there. And when I went camping i'm usually bored what with this around I never got bored. Seriously i couldn't put it down. Plus I love how it wss historically correct with the vikings and all.

Bads:

I would have made it first-person (I think it's called) because I think that it just sounds better.

?'s:

Why does Thorgil have to be such a brat? Why don't the Vikings just rebel against queen Frith if she if so bad?

An amazing, wonderful book. In the beginning it's hard to get caught up in it, but once you do, you are incredibly caught up in it! The story, though obviously fantasy in some parts (Trolls, dragons, and eight-legged frost horses anyone?), is very believable and well-written. You fall in love with Jack, Thorgil, and Olaf, and feel (and agree with) Jack's every opinion and emotion.