The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer is an intense, interesting, suspenseful fantasy book based around an 11-year-old boy named Jack, and his little sister Lucy. The book takes place in 793 A.D. of a fantasy world. This world is separated into 3 regions, each containing different occupants. One is an icy region containing the Ice trolls called Jotunheim, one containing the berserkers, and one containing humans. Jack and Lucy are kids in a family of four, living on a seaside town. Jack spends a lot of his time with the Bard, who is the only one on the island who knows how to read, and tells wonderful stories. The villagers of the island are all somewhat scared of the Bard because they think that he is magical because he can read, and is a very strange man. tThe Beginning of the book centers on Jack and the Bard building a relationship, and eventually the Bard becoming Jacks mentor. The Bard tells Jack myths and stories, like Beowulf, Mimir’s Well, and the Bard’s argument with Frothi a troll queen. The Bard eventually reveals to Jack that he is indeed magic, and can bend some of the laws of the world. After one day the Bard warns jack that berserkers are coming to raid the village, and to warn the other villagers. The next day Jack visits the Bard, but the Bard is crazy and cannot seem to communicate, he just squawks whenever he opens his mouth. Later that day the berserkers raid the village, and kidnap Jack and Lucy. tJack wakes up on a boat with a berserker crew, the captain is named Olaf. On the boat a tom girl girl berserker named Thorgil bullies Jack, but find entices the crew with his poems and singing. While spending one of his days on the boat a crow flies down and sits next to Jack, this crow spends the rest of the journey with Jack. Olaf and his crew attempt to sell Jack and Lucy at a slave market, but no one purchases Jack and Lucy at a slave market, but no one purchases either of them, so Olaf takes them back to his house. Jack and Lucy stay at Olaf’s house until there is a large feast with the Troll royalty. During the feast Jack tries to sing a song about Friths (a troll princess) hair, because it is immaculate. During the song Jack accidentally uses magic, and Friths hair falls out completely. As a result of this, Frith decides to take Lucy, and go back to Jotunheim until Jack can make her hair grow back. tJack asks Olaf to take him to Jotunheim in order to save Lucy, and Olaf agrees but demands that he and Thorgil are travelling with him. The three (and the crow) arrive in Jotenheim. During their first night in Jotenheim Olaf fights a gigantic boar, and gets mortally wounded, but in a gallant finishing breath he kills the boar. Jack and Thorgil bury Olaf, and then continue on their adventure after mourning Olafs death. On their adventure Jack and Thorgil defeat a dragon, the dragons blood gets on Thorgil and gives her the power to converse with animals. Jack and Thorgil arrive at the Ice troll palace, and talk to the troll queen, they get along very well and she invites them to watch her play a chess game with The Fates. Before watching the queen and The Fates play chess Jack tries to use his to restore Friths hair, but he cannot perform the magic necessary to give her hair back. Jack and Thorgil then go to the chess game, and during the game The Fates teleport them to Mimir’s Well. Mimir’s well has the ability to grant any wish, as long as something is given up in return. Jack gives up a special necklace that the Bard gave him, and Thorgil gives up her tom girl attitude, by doing this she is able to get rid of the effect of the dragon’s blood, and Jack is able to perform the magic that is necessary. On returning Jack restores Frith’s hair, and is returned to the berserkers, who then bring Jack and Lucy back to their hometown. Upon coming home their parents are overjoyed, and bring them to see the crazy Bard. The bard continues to speak gibberish, and has to be taken care of by the citizens. After being home for a day the Bard is back to normal, and reveals that he was the crow travelling with Jack all along, and that he told Thorgil but she decided to not tell Jack that the crow was the Bard all along.tThis was a truly amazing book, and I don’t think that a book report is able to do it justice. The suspense of what is going to happen is very dramatic throughout the story, and a lot of things can happen in this fantasy world. When reading this I had no idea that the crow was the Bard all along, and it was a very big surprise to me at the end of the book. There are a lot more amazing, smaller part of the plot that I am not able to talk about in this book report because it will be too long, but they were all very interesting and nicely wrapped up at the end of the book.
Friends, you have to hand it to Nancy Farmer. Some authors might be all, “Holy shit, I have enough plot here in this one novel to fill a couple dozen books. So I’ll write a couple dozen books, reap the financial rewards, retire early and live like a king in Patagonia!!”Not our Nancy. She takes that dozen-novels-worth-of-plot and is like, “Screw it,” and publishes it as one huge epic fantasy adventure, which still manages to be part one of three.So what we have here is your typical boy meets Bard, Bard teaches boy, Bard loses mind, boy defends village, boy and boy’s sister are kidnapped by Vikings, Vikings trade off all the other prisoners in exchange for jewels and swords but keep boy and his sister, Vikings burn the shit out of various villages and decapitate lots of people, boy meets crow, crow meets sister, boy attacked by pig, Viking witch woman makes mystical prophecies, sister given to shape-shifting half-troll queen, boy accidentally makes queen bald, queen plans to drown sister as vengeance for hair, boy sets off on quest to save sister, boy and Vikings and crow journey to the land of the trolls, one Viking eaten by bear, boy and girl-Viking and crow attacked by dragons, everyone meets the trolls, trolls throw a feast, pseudo-deities who control the tree of destiny arrive to play chess and allow boy and girl-Viking and crow to sample the magical waters of Mimir’s Well (side note friends, apparently the rhyme "Jack and Jill" came from a Norse legend about a boy and girl trying to get water from the Well, no lie), girl-Viking can talk to birds, boy uses magic water knowledge to cure queen’s baldness but she turns herself into Bigfoot accidentally, boy sails with sister to home, Vikings promise to raid again because that’s what they do, crow is actually Bard, sister is reunited with parents, boy and Bard chillax on a rock and await book two.That’s a brief synopsis, guys. I want you to imagine that every bit of that was described in lavish, page-after-page detail. That’s what The Sea of Trolls was like.Sometimes that can be a bad thing—there were points during this book where I felt like events were playing out in freaking real time. “SAIL FASTER!” I would wail as the Vikings set off on yet another extremely lengthy trip across the sea. “FOR GOD’S SAKE THINK OF THE READERS!”But for the most part, I loved the descriptions and the characters and the ever-piling-more-on-top-of-an-already-convoluted plot. And conversations like the one below:“This [knife] is for your protection. You’re not to join the fight,” Olaf said.“Don’t worry,” said Jack.“I know how exciting pillaging is,” the giant said fondly, ruffling Jack’s hair. It felt like a blow. “No matter how much you’re tempted, just say no.”“Just say no to pillaging. You got it.”Aw, Vikings. You silly bastards.Sign me up for book two!
What do You think about The Sea Of Trolls (2006)?
I read the Sea of Trolls for the first time in grade six, soo probably 2005/2006. I came across it by way of my school librarian to whom I had been complaining that I had been having trouble finding YA novels that appealed to me after falling in love with adult writers (my teachers very much disapproved of my choice of novels for silent reading, what they had against people like Brenda joyce and Dean Kootnz is beyond me, I guess they never read good horror or historical romance.) My librarian gave this to me because he knew that I was interested in history but hadn't really read anything at the time about the Viking era. I loved this book because I learned a lot reading it, which I always think is the best way to learn, by way of a good story. I haven't read it in a few years but I will always remember that it got me interested in different religions. At the time my family was slowly changing from Christian to Wicca. I loved the fact that Wicca was very earthy and ancient and I really developed an interest in religion, at the time mostly other sort of forgotten/not very popular nowadays religions such as roman/greek/egyptian, but had never really known much about Viking beliefs. Anyways religion isn't the main focus of the book, though it does play a good sized role. I thought that Nancy Farmer did an excellent job making the story come to life, I felt like the characters were captivating and I definitely recall staying up all night because I couldn't find a place to stop for want to finish out the story. I thought that this book was a good length, it was long enough to finish what needed to be finished but still leave you looking forward to another book in the series. It was chunky enough in size for me( I had a thing for big books back then, like reading small books was a bad thing) and ever since reading it I have referred it to friends. However I have to point out that I LOVED this book as a 12 yr old. I wouldn't say that I love it quite so much now, though it still sits on my favourites bookshelf at home mostly for sentimentality, but also because I genuinely think it's a very good book. If ever I have children I think this will be something that I will be happy to pluck off the shelf and let them read/read with them when they are around the age I first read it, depending on what sorts of things they enjoy reading. (I was reading V.C Andrews with my mother around that time, not to mention I was obsessed with horror, so I can't say that I thought it was especially violent, I thought it was true to the time set of the story but for someone not used to reading about violence it could be a bit frightening.) All in all I would give it a read, the whole series in fact though I don't remember reading the other books, I am sure that they are good just like this one.
—Dori
I love Nancy Farmer's guts. She tackles new genres like she has nothing to loose and always comes up with excellent work. The Sea of Trolls has a great young protagonist in Jack who is loaned to the local Bard by his poor farmer father. From the Bard he begins to learn magic but just barely and not enough to save his village from being pillaged by the Vikings. He and his sister are taken captive. Beginning an exciting and perilous journey back to the land of the Vikings. Lots of Nordic mythology weaves its way throughout the tale but it is never gratuitous as there is also the very real juxtaposition of the medieval Christian sensibility of compassion which conflicts with the Norseman's deep sense of honor. The story is never lost in this debate however and it is a quick paced adventure with lots of magic and thrills
—Karen A.
After Jack becomes apprenticed to a Druid bard, he and his little sister Lucy are captured by Viking Berserkers and taken to the home of King Ivar the Boneless and his half-troll queen, leading Jack to undertake a vital quest to Jotunheim, home of the trolls.This book has everything I enjoy in a story. Charm, wit, cool scary creatures, and likeable characters you can connect with. It's a children's book. A children's book that is also for adults. It has a background and history that ties itself into the world of Nordic Scandinavian Eddas and Sagas, from Beowulf to The Ring of the Nibelung, and more. Unlike most sagas, it's a fun, mostly lighthearted, upbeat adventure, feeling more like The Hobbit than anything else. A further description from Nancy Farmer's website:Jack, a Saxon boy, and his sister, Lucy, are kidnapped by Vikings. When Lucy offends the Viking Queen, who is a half-Troll, the Queen's hair falls out. She threatens to sacrifice Lucy unless Jack can restore the hair. With Thorgil, a Viking maiden, Jack goes on a quest to fetch water from Mimir's well that will re-grow the Queen's hair. Jack and Thorgil have to face their own deepest fears and battle with a troll bear and a dragon, escape giant spiders, and stay on the right side of the fearsome Trolls who live near the well. The Sea of Trolls weaves a cohesive storyline through a strong beginning, middle, and end. Nancy Farmer is a gifted, award-winning author - The Sea of Trolls having won and been nominated for several awards itself. This makes for a great introduction to Nordic and Scandinavian myths and the Vikings of old for both young and old readers. If you have already gotten your feet wet in other Norse sagas, I think you would find many things to like in this book. As mentioned before, if you enjoyed The Hobbit and are looking for a fun adventure similar in world mythology and tone, even so much so as having a similar Monster Manual line-up, this book is for you.I think it's a wonderful achievement and look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy, The Land of the Silver Apples, and The Islands of the Blessed. * As you can see from my full review, all the book covers to The Sea of Trolls are striking and very fitting to the story. Maybe, someday, I'll be able to own them all and add them to my collection. Recommended!
—♍ichael Ƒierce
