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Sea of Trolls #1
The Sea of Trolls
The year is A.D. 793; Jack and his sister have been kidnapped by Vikings and taken to the court of Ivar the Boneless and his terrifying half-troll wife; but things get even worse when Jack finds himself on a dangerous quest to find the magical Mimir's Well in a far-off land, with his sister's life forfeit if he fails.
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."
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."
459 pages, Paperback
First published January 28, 2004
464 people are currently reading
10589 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Farmer
54 books1,517 followersNancy was born in 1941 in Phoenix and grew up in a hotel on the Arizona-Mexico border where she worked the switchboard at the age of nine. She also found time to hang out in the old state prison and the hobo jungle along the banks of the Colorado River. She attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, earning her BA in 1963. Instead of taking a regular job, she joined the Peace Corps and was sent to India (1963-1965). When she returned, she moved into a commune in Berkeley, sold newspapers on the street for a while, then got a job in the Entomology department at UC Berkeley and also took courses in Chemistry there. Restless, again, she decided to visit Africa. She and a friend tried to hitchhike by boat but the ship they'd selected turned out to be stolen and was boarded by the Coast Guard just outside the Golden Gate Bridge. Nancy eventually got to Africa on a legal ship. She spent more than a year on Lake Cabora Bassa in Mozambique, monitoring water weeds. Next she was hired to help control tsetse fly in the dense bush on the banks of the Zambezi in Zimbabwe. Part of the time she spent in the capital, Harare, and was introduced to her soon-to-be husband by his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. He proposed a week later. Harold and Nancy now live in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona on a major drug route for the Sinaloa Cartel. This is the setting for The Lord of Opium. They have a son, Daniel, who is in the U.S. navy.
Nancy's honors include the National Book Award for The House of the Scorpion and Newbery Honors for The Ear, the Eye and The Arm, A Girl Named Disaster and The House of the Scorpion. She is the author of nine novels, three picture books and a number of short stories. Her books have been translated into 26 languages.
Nancy's honors include the National Book Award for The House of the Scorpion and Newbery Honors for The Ear, the Eye and The Arm, A Girl Named Disaster and The House of the Scorpion. She is the author of nine novels, three picture books and a number of short stories. Her books have been translated into 26 languages.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,201 reviews
December 9, 2015
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!
March 13, 2009
Really I would give this book 3 1/2 stars. I liked it.
In my daughter's review, she said this book was "gruesome" so I felt compelled to read it to find out what that meant to her. I would not use that same word to describe it. It is a story set in Viking times, and a historical event was used as background to this story - when Lindisfarne, AKA the Holy Isle was destroyed by Vikings in 793 AD. Although this is a story about Vikings, that is only one aspect of it. And for this story to be believable and for the reader to feel the proper amount of fear and dislike for the Vikings as the main character Jack does, the Vikings need to do "Viking" things like pillaging and plundering. These acts are not overdone, in fact, they are equal to or less than other books like Enna Burning.
One other thing about this book to be aware of is the mixing of religions. The main character, Jack, was raised Christian, but it is the fearful form of Christianity where the monks teach that everyone is sinful, etc. Jack's mentor believes in something called the "Life Force", and the Vikings, of course, believe in all the Norse gods and Yggdrasil (which is the same thing as the Life Force only in the form of a tree). Jack finds himself believing in all three. This did not bother me (as a devout Christian), nor did the negative view of Christianity as it is historically accurate. But I thought I would mention it. I think it is a great topic of discussion for children.
In my daughter's review, she said this book was "gruesome" so I felt compelled to read it to find out what that meant to her. I would not use that same word to describe it. It is a story set in Viking times, and a historical event was used as background to this story - when Lindisfarne, AKA the Holy Isle was destroyed by Vikings in 793 AD. Although this is a story about Vikings, that is only one aspect of it. And for this story to be believable and for the reader to feel the proper amount of fear and dislike for the Vikings as the main character Jack does, the Vikings need to do "Viking" things like pillaging and plundering. These acts are not overdone, in fact, they are equal to or less than other books like Enna Burning.
One other thing about this book to be aware of is the mixing of religions. The main character, Jack, was raised Christian, but it is the fearful form of Christianity where the monks teach that everyone is sinful, etc. Jack's mentor believes in something called the "Life Force", and the Vikings, of course, believe in all the Norse gods and Yggdrasil (which is the same thing as the Life Force only in the form of a tree). Jack finds himself believing in all three. This did not bother me (as a devout Christian), nor did the negative view of Christianity as it is historically accurate. But I thought I would mention it. I think it is a great topic of discussion for children.
March 23, 2011
I thought I would adore this series. I love historical fiction; I love middle grade/YA books; I love Norse mythology; I love books about the British Isles and about folklore, so I doubly love books about British folklore. And this series had it all. I thought that this one would be one of those series that I would check out from the library and love so much that I'd run to the bookstore and buy my own copies. And then I read the trilogy and it was . . . nice. It was fun. But it wasn't great.
Each book in the series has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. In this first book, the plot was a bit rambling; the actual conflict, the part that you would focus on if you were explaining to someone what the book was about, isn't even mentioned until halfway through the book. Rambling epic journeys work, but only when we always know the end goal. The writing style was a bit uneven; generally it was what you'd expect for an 8th century epic journey, but occasionally a very modern-sounding line or word would pop up and sound thoroughly anachronistic--for example, the characters all use what are supposed to sound like period curses ("By Thor's hammer!") but at one point a character's curse is edited out with a string of #!@& like in an old cartoon. It's an attempt at a joke but it feels out of place. The use of the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill," though Farmer does have a historical basis for its conclusion, is thoroughly jarring.
The characterization in Sea of Trolls is hit-and-miss as well. Jack is fairly likable; he feels realistic and you believe in his motivations, even if he spends a great deal of time waiting for things to happen to him. The Bard would be the coolest teacher ever. Many of the less-important Vikings are entertaining, and the Viking named Rune is quite sympathetic and interesting. But secondary protagonist Thorgil is so ill-tempered for so long, with absolutely no signs of humanity, that when the author wants you to start feeling bad for her, it's hard to actually dredge up any sympathy. And her turn to friendliness is quite sudden and unfounded. I found certain other characters, such as Jack's father and sister, almost unbearably irritating.
And the Vikings in general posed a problem for the author. Jack spends most of the book in their company, and he has exciting adventures and becomes a better bard for it, so you become attached to those characters and their world. The fact remains, though, that they're murderers and thieves and slave traders, and the reader, like Jack, can't really decide whether or not we're supposed to like them. And maybe that was Farmer's point--that the lines between good and evil are blurred in real life, and that in a world as harsh as the Northmen's, where pillaging is the only way to survive, someone can be kind and funny and a devoted family man but also a cold-blooded killer--but it never feels like that's what she's trying to get at. It just feels muddled, like Farmer could never make up her mind about Vikings either.
For all that, though, there are a great number of excellent aspects of this book. Most of these have to do with the huge amount of research Farmer must have done. The best historical fiction books, in my opinion, pack in period detail but do it so deftly that by the time you're done, you're well informed on the time period but you don't feel like you sat through a history lesson. Sea of Trolls excels at this. Saxon England and Viking Norway are both recreated with astonishing detail that manages to avoid bogging down the story. History classes teach you the dates and the events, but the book takes you into people's homes, into the everyday lives of farmers and sailors and Vikings and kings. No less detailed is the description of the culture and the mythology. The book falters slightly where Farmer tries to reconcile all different religions and create a world where all belief systems are equally true, because it just doesn't work that well in her narrative, but other than that the mythology is fascinating. The beliefs of early Christians and Irish bards and Vikings are all described in detail, with bits of myths and legends woven in (Beowulf, especially, plays a huge part in the story). The focus, at least in this first book, is on Norse beliefs, and it's an excellent primer on Norse gods and the deeply Viking belief in fate and in the importance of achieving fame and dying heroically. That amount of historic and folkloric detail pushes this book up to four stars for me.
Each book in the series has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. In this first book, the plot was a bit rambling; the actual conflict, the part that you would focus on if you were explaining to someone what the book was about, isn't even mentioned until halfway through the book. Rambling epic journeys work, but only when we always know the end goal. The writing style was a bit uneven; generally it was what you'd expect for an 8th century epic journey, but occasionally a very modern-sounding line or word would pop up and sound thoroughly anachronistic--for example, the characters all use what are supposed to sound like period curses ("By Thor's hammer!") but at one point a character's curse is edited out with a string of #!@& like in an old cartoon. It's an attempt at a joke but it feels out of place. The use of the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill," though Farmer does have a historical basis for its conclusion, is thoroughly jarring.
The characterization in Sea of Trolls is hit-and-miss as well. Jack is fairly likable; he feels realistic and you believe in his motivations, even if he spends a great deal of time waiting for things to happen to him. The Bard would be the coolest teacher ever. Many of the less-important Vikings are entertaining, and the Viking named Rune is quite sympathetic and interesting. But secondary protagonist Thorgil is so ill-tempered for so long, with absolutely no signs of humanity, that when the author wants you to start feeling bad for her, it's hard to actually dredge up any sympathy. And her turn to friendliness is quite sudden and unfounded. I found certain other characters, such as Jack's father and sister, almost unbearably irritating.
And the Vikings in general posed a problem for the author. Jack spends most of the book in their company, and he has exciting adventures and becomes a better bard for it, so you become attached to those characters and their world. The fact remains, though, that they're murderers and thieves and slave traders, and the reader, like Jack, can't really decide whether or not we're supposed to like them. And maybe that was Farmer's point--that the lines between good and evil are blurred in real life, and that in a world as harsh as the Northmen's, where pillaging is the only way to survive, someone can be kind and funny and a devoted family man but also a cold-blooded killer--but it never feels like that's what she's trying to get at. It just feels muddled, like Farmer could never make up her mind about Vikings either.
For all that, though, there are a great number of excellent aspects of this book. Most of these have to do with the huge amount of research Farmer must have done. The best historical fiction books, in my opinion, pack in period detail but do it so deftly that by the time you're done, you're well informed on the time period but you don't feel like you sat through a history lesson. Sea of Trolls excels at this. Saxon England and Viking Norway are both recreated with astonishing detail that manages to avoid bogging down the story. History classes teach you the dates and the events, but the book takes you into people's homes, into the everyday lives of farmers and sailors and Vikings and kings. No less detailed is the description of the culture and the mythology. The book falters slightly where Farmer tries to reconcile all different religions and create a world where all belief systems are equally true, because it just doesn't work that well in her narrative, but other than that the mythology is fascinating. The beliefs of early Christians and Irish bards and Vikings are all described in detail, with bits of myths and legends woven in (Beowulf, especially, plays a huge part in the story). The focus, at least in this first book, is on Norse beliefs, and it's an excellent primer on Norse gods and the deeply Viking belief in fate and in the importance of achieving fame and dying heroically. That amount of historic and folkloric detail pushes this book up to four stars for me.
October 30, 2009
This is a fast-moving and intelligent novel for children. Jack and his sister Lucy get kidnapped by Vikings during the historic raid on Lindisfarne in 793. Arriving in Norway, Jack finds that he has to undertake a quest to find Mimir's Well in order to save his sister from the half-troll queen, Frith.
One negative aspect of this novel is the rather spare style, which doesn't enable you to really get into the story well. Things happen blindingly fast. It isn't difficult to follow--I just like to absorb myself a little more thoroughly, that's all. And Farmer keeps dropping modernisms into her prose: "Just say no to pillaging," for example. This one's very witty, of course, but they mount up, and are a bit distracting.
But there are many more positive aspects. There's a lot of very accurate Scandinavian mythology in the book--the tales of Odin, Loki, Mimir's Well, etc., are all accurately portrayed. And that's hardly surprising, since the bibliography Farmer provides at the end is enough for a graduate course!
Also, the characters are very appealing. Jack is a likable hero. (I'm not sure that Jack is a historically-accurate name, but that's nitpicking.) Thorgil, the boy who turns out to be a girl berserker, is also strangely appealing. But towering over them both is Olaf One-Brow, the Viking leader who remains a powerful presence and extremely likable, even while he's uncompromisingly violent in nature.
And that's yet another strength of the book. There's no simple answer to the problems Farmer sets up. The characters at the end don't just agree to stop fighting one another. The Jotuns (trolls) become very appealing in the middle section of the book, but they don't agree to stop eating people when Jack leaves their kingdoms. And it's very clear at the end of the book that the Vikings are going to continue raiding England, as they did historically for another two hundred years. Olaf One-Brow retains his violent tendencies, even in his most attractive moments.
A rich and complex book, very entertaining, and well worth spending the time on.
One negative aspect of this novel is the rather spare style, which doesn't enable you to really get into the story well. Things happen blindingly fast. It isn't difficult to follow--I just like to absorb myself a little more thoroughly, that's all. And Farmer keeps dropping modernisms into her prose: "Just say no to pillaging," for example. This one's very witty, of course, but they mount up, and are a bit distracting.
But there are many more positive aspects. There's a lot of very accurate Scandinavian mythology in the book--the tales of Odin, Loki, Mimir's Well, etc., are all accurately portrayed. And that's hardly surprising, since the bibliography Farmer provides at the end is enough for a graduate course!
Also, the characters are very appealing. Jack is a likable hero. (I'm not sure that Jack is a historically-accurate name, but that's nitpicking.) Thorgil, the boy who turns out to be a girl berserker, is also strangely appealing. But towering over them both is Olaf One-Brow, the Viking leader who remains a powerful presence and extremely likable, even while he's uncompromisingly violent in nature.
And that's yet another strength of the book. There's no simple answer to the problems Farmer sets up. The characters at the end don't just agree to stop fighting one another. The Jotuns (trolls) become very appealing in the middle section of the book, but they don't agree to stop eating people when Jack leaves their kingdoms. And it's very clear at the end of the book that the Vikings are going to continue raiding England, as they did historically for another two hundred years. Olaf One-Brow retains his violent tendencies, even in his most attractive moments.
A rich and complex book, very entertaining, and well worth spending the time on.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2012
Jack is a young bard in training when he is kidnapped along with his sister and taken by a group of Beserkers and brought to their icy northern land. The book chronicles Jack's capture and adventures as he embarks upon a quest to win back his freedom and save his sister from the temperamental half troll queen Frith. The book creatively adapts Norse mythology into a engaging adventure story that demonstrates the clash of two cultures and how the children learn to work things out to accomplish their goals. The more I read this book the less I was able to put it down.
November 2, 2011
I loved reading this book - epic adventure, full of all the traditional elements of a good fantasy: trolls, dragons, warriors, bards, and magic. But the adventure is made better by the complexity of the characters. There are no clear-cut lines between good and evil in this book - only characters that are very human in their imperfection. I think this book does a good job of pushing young readers to think about cultural relativism - or at least introduce them to the concept.
I was annoyed by the fact that Lucy still remains a brat to the bitter end. The scene where Jack gives her the necklace from Thorgil made me want to reach into the pages and give that girl a good slap. You'd think that the ordeal she went through would have changed her somewhat. I wasn't quite sure what the author's purpose was in leaving her as a spoiled and selfish child. On the other hand, I suppose she is still quite young (6?).
Anyway, some Chase notes: I would recommend this book be bumped up to E710. The language is deceptively simple but there is a lot that goes on - too much for our E610 kids to keep track of. Another solution would be to reduce the amount of reading per week, but then we'd be doing this book for two months.
I was annoyed by the fact that Lucy still remains a brat to the bitter end. The scene where Jack gives her the necklace from Thorgil made me want to reach into the pages and give that girl a good slap. You'd think that the ordeal she went through would have changed her somewhat. I wasn't quite sure what the author's purpose was in leaving her as a spoiled and selfish child. On the other hand, I suppose she is still quite young (6?).
Anyway, some Chase notes: I would recommend this book be bumped up to E710. The language is deceptively simple but there is a lot that goes on - too much for our E610 kids to keep track of. Another solution would be to reduce the amount of reading per week, but then we'd be doing this book for two months.
September 21, 2022
Hmmm. This is one of those books where you should ignore the star ratings and find a reviewer with similar tastes to try and determine if you should give it a try. Which is to say that while I only gave "Sea of Trolls" 3-Stars. I can see why other people, especially younger readers, would love it. The story is interesting and there's lots of adventure. Plus the writing is decent... so what's not love, right?
Well, I found a couple of things that detracted from the reading experience. The first was that the plot could have been tighter. There were times, for example, when whole scenes could have been deleted without any harm. And certainly towards the end I began to skim because the 'adventure' was more tedious than exciting; and it felt like 'good deeds' were being done so that these points could be spent in the next book.
The second detraction was that the book seemed to flip-flop between being a book for a younger audience versus being one for Young Adults. I noticed this most in the conversations and place descriptions. Sometimes they'd seem less serious and more playful.
Overall, the best part was how the facts were woven into the story. The secondary characters were far more interesting than Jack who suffered from just having 'stuff happen to him'. He was basically the same at the beginning of the book as at the end. Plot-wise there was nothing terribly innovative. Farmer writes well though and I'm hoping book II will be better.
October 9, 2012
I purchased this book a while ago for two reasons: the cover and the setting. If that were the only reasons for buying this book, then you will be a happy camper. If you believe the story should whisk you away like the cover and setting should, then you will be kind of…meh, as I was.
Let’s break it down shall we?
WINS
Setting - The world was beautiful. It was full of life and color and smells. I truly enjoyed being in the world that was set up. I feel like the author did the Norse mythology justice in this story.
Races - I use Races for lack of a better term. There are clear separations between the Anglo-Saxons and the Northman and the Jotuns. They were rich with separate myths and world views. This was well executed and added to the success of the setting.
Unintentional Magic - I use this for lack of better term as well (I am obviously short on terms, so if anyone knows some, please let me know). What I mean by unintentional magic is, for example, a character accidently got dragon’s blood in her mouth and could then speak and understand birds. It is not something you would seek out, it is just a cause and effect situation. I think this is another addition to the setting and world building (Anyone else noticing the trend?)
Supporting Cast - The supporting characters are what add life to the book. The Northman are good Vikings. The family members were rich and I understood why everyone did what they did. The characters around the protagonist are very rich.
LOSES
Intentional Magic - The main character has some supernatural experience that awakens his ability to perform magic. The author then attempts to establish the magic system while explaining what happened to the character. This was poorly executed. The magic always made the character cry. I felt like he all of a sudden became bi-polar. He was a snotty kid one moment then crying at the beauty of the world the next. Secondly, the magic system was very vague and the consequences were not measurable. Accessing the magic was very similar to EON (in which the process was repeated every time), but with much less success.
Main Characters - I struggled with hating the main character for two reasons. First, I could not find anything to like about it. Second, he was acted bi-polar. There is also a side-kick that is annoying through 80-90% of the book. I read this book for everything other than the characters.
Length - This book was overly long. I understand that it is a series and maybe it needed those pages to set up the world; but this was a quest book, and there was a lot of stuff that did not pertain to the quest.
Writing / Style - For such a beautiful setting, the author moved through the book at a medium pace. Character development, dialogue and pace are all lacking in this book. If the author could have put some flare into those, this could have been a really good book. I think the character development and pace are what hold this book back from being better than it is.
It’s a solid 3 stars, but no more. It should be, though.
Let’s break it down shall we?
WINS
Setting - The world was beautiful. It was full of life and color and smells. I truly enjoyed being in the world that was set up. I feel like the author did the Norse mythology justice in this story.
Races - I use Races for lack of a better term. There are clear separations between the Anglo-Saxons and the Northman and the Jotuns. They were rich with separate myths and world views. This was well executed and added to the success of the setting.
Unintentional Magic - I use this for lack of better term as well (I am obviously short on terms, so if anyone knows some, please let me know). What I mean by unintentional magic is, for example, a character accidently got dragon’s blood in her mouth and could then speak and understand birds. It is not something you would seek out, it is just a cause and effect situation. I think this is another addition to the setting and world building (Anyone else noticing the trend?)
Supporting Cast - The supporting characters are what add life to the book. The Northman are good Vikings. The family members were rich and I understood why everyone did what they did. The characters around the protagonist are very rich.
LOSES
Intentional Magic - The main character has some supernatural experience that awakens his ability to perform magic. The author then attempts to establish the magic system while explaining what happened to the character. This was poorly executed. The magic always made the character cry. I felt like he all of a sudden became bi-polar. He was a snotty kid one moment then crying at the beauty of the world the next. Secondly, the magic system was very vague and the consequences were not measurable. Accessing the magic was very similar to EON (in which the process was repeated every time), but with much less success.
Main Characters - I struggled with hating the main character for two reasons. First, I could not find anything to like about it. Second, he was acted bi-polar. There is also a side-kick that is annoying through 80-90% of the book. I read this book for everything other than the characters.
Length - This book was overly long. I understand that it is a series and maybe it needed those pages to set up the world; but this was a quest book, and there was a lot of stuff that did not pertain to the quest.
Writing / Style - For such a beautiful setting, the author moved through the book at a medium pace. Character development, dialogue and pace are all lacking in this book. If the author could have put some flare into those, this could have been a really good book. I think the character development and pace are what hold this book back from being better than it is.
It’s a solid 3 stars, but no more. It should be, though.
January 6, 2016
I admit it, I gushed throughout nearly this entire book. I listened to it, and the narration was superb, and I think that played a large part in my enthusiasm for it. Nonetheless, I do think the writing is high quality. Simple, direct, concise, and spellbinding.
Jack and his sister, Lucy, are forced on an adventure with lovable, loathsome wild men from the North. They romp and role with a girl who wins belching contests and wants to die fighting as soon as possible. They cower before half-trolls who are beautiful on the outside and despicable on the inside. They talk with crows, ride troll boars, sing to bees, and learn all sorts of lessons along the way that I think are worth learning for people like me and you, too.
Nancy Farmer is a new author crush for me and it's time to move to book number two. I don't mind reading "children's" books when it feels this good. And it does.
"'Let's just sit here and watch the end of summer.' So they did."
Jack and his sister, Lucy, are forced on an adventure with lovable, loathsome wild men from the North. They romp and role with a girl who wins belching contests and wants to die fighting as soon as possible. They cower before half-trolls who are beautiful on the outside and despicable on the inside. They talk with crows, ride troll boars, sing to bees, and learn all sorts of lessons along the way that I think are worth learning for people like me and you, too.
Nancy Farmer is a new author crush for me and it's time to move to book number two. I don't mind reading "children's" books when it feels this good. And it does.
"'Let's just sit here and watch the end of summer.' So they did."
October 29, 2022
Well, that was quite the adventure. I loved the variety of people & creatures that Jack came across along the way. I did like the realism of the culture clashes between Jack & his new friends. He did learn to be tolerant of their ways even if he didn't approve of them. I found Bold Heart to be a bit obvious as to who he really was. I wasn't surprised in the least when that was revealed in the end. I guess it maybe a third of the way through the book. Overall, it was an interesting book.
January 25, 2021
Sloppy worldbuilding will always throw me out of a story. The historical context blended reasonable anthropological detail with a mishmash of religious, mythic, and philosophic anachronisms without regard for the cultures supposedly represented, and the fantasy world ultimately felt flimsy and overpainted - about as authentically represented as a Lisa Frank, but with fewer emotional touchpoints.
A good idea almost well-executed, but not quite.
A good idea almost well-executed, but not quite.
November 23, 2018
Time for even more escapist fiction. For this we're back in the early Dark Age. Middle Earth, Beowulf, Berserkers etc. Will get more into it tonight.
So far, so good, but the adventurin' hasn't really started yet. The oh-so-typical mentor/teacher/wizard - student thing is happening, of course, and reminds one of The Wizard of Earthsea, and many others.
Moving along now in this entertaining book. Jack's quest will end soon and the book with it. The book SERIES, however will go onward. Whether or not I read any more is a question. It's fun, but not nearly as addictive as Harry Potter or TLOTR. This book is not for little kids - it's pretty darned violent.
Finished a few nights ago with this generally satisfying and entertaining tale. Yet another mythic-leaning take on the early days of the Vikings. The modern-sounding dialogue seemed a bit over-done at times, but I understand why the author employed it. Easier for younger readers to get into the story, I suppose. I'd probably read another one if it happened to fall my way, but I won't go looking for any.
3.5* rounds down to 3*
So far, so good, but the adventurin' hasn't really started yet. The oh-so-typical mentor/teacher/wizard - student thing is happening, of course, and reminds one of The Wizard of Earthsea, and many others.
Moving along now in this entertaining book. Jack's quest will end soon and the book with it. The book SERIES, however will go onward. Whether or not I read any more is a question. It's fun, but not nearly as addictive as Harry Potter or TLOTR. This book is not for little kids - it's pretty darned violent.
Finished a few nights ago with this generally satisfying and entertaining tale. Yet another mythic-leaning take on the early days of the Vikings. The modern-sounding dialogue seemed a bit over-done at times, but I understand why the author employed it. Easier for younger readers to get into the story, I suppose. I'd probably read another one if it happened to fall my way, but I won't go looking for any.
3.5* rounds down to 3*
May 21, 2024
Re-Read Review (May 2024)
so I re-read it again, cos I wanted to read the sequel and I don't remember anything about the plot, all I remember was a scene involving a spider,
but I truly enjoyed it, you cant help it , the story starts with a very slow ordinary life, and tiny changes, lead into a huge unexpected adventure, and I don't think there is one character you can hate.
I really wonder how it will go with the second one
it is funny that I read it twice and both were in May though
(May 2015)
I remember finding this one in a pile of old books in the used-book market, I held in my hand thought about it, left it behind me, returned back and got it , that was nearly 2-3 years ago,,,
and only now I got the chance to read it, to be honest the cover art was not encouraging me enough, the novel looked old , but there is time for every thing, and so i started it.
In the beginning the pages and the story felt uncertain, the way the story been told was weird ,I didn't know how the rest of the pages will folded, the boy Jack met the bard who decided to make him an apprentice, and that was that, Jack was learning wizardry in some sort of way...but then what?
the answer was "Vikings",they came and the story changed 180 degrees, it turned up side down to become this trilling adventure, and everything was totally different than what i would have expected, the chr. and the magic was refreshing, and highly enjoyable.
I am glad that this novel found its way to fall into my hands, cos it would be a shame to miss such an amazing adventure.
Plot Summery
so I re-read it again, cos I wanted to read the sequel and I don't remember anything about the plot, all I remember was a scene involving a spider,
but I truly enjoyed it, you cant help it , the story starts with a very slow ordinary life, and tiny changes, lead into a huge unexpected adventure, and I don't think there is one character you can hate.
I really wonder how it will go with the second one
it is funny that I read it twice and both were in May though
(May 2015)
I remember finding this one in a pile of old books in the used-book market, I held in my hand thought about it, left it behind me, returned back and got it , that was nearly 2-3 years ago,,,
and only now I got the chance to read it, to be honest the cover art was not encouraging me enough, the novel looked old , but there is time for every thing, and so i started it.
In the beginning the pages and the story felt uncertain, the way the story been told was weird ,I didn't know how the rest of the pages will folded, the boy Jack met the bard who decided to make him an apprentice, and that was that, Jack was learning wizardry in some sort of way...but then what?
the answer was "Vikings",they came and the story changed 180 degrees, it turned up side down to become this trilling adventure, and everything was totally different than what i would have expected, the chr. and the magic was refreshing, and highly enjoyable.
I am glad that this novel found its way to fall into my hands, cos it would be a shame to miss such an amazing adventure.
Plot Summery
June 9, 2009
The basis for the Celtic mythological worldview is that there is a separate world from ours, parallel and magical, that can be reached through certain states of mind, interactions with magical creatures, or portals. And the basic hero myth of all cultures starts with a mundane reality (almost always with a farm boy), a journey to a strange new land, magical talismans, and the return home.
This book takes the hero myth and the parallel world myth, blends it together with a veneer of historical fact and setting, and does it all one better by adding a second layer of leave-taking and home-coming. We begin in a version of Middle Ages England that is hovering between Christianity and druidism. We then move into the strange and slightly magical world of a pseudo-Norse culture, steeped in Germanic mythology and oral poetry. Finally we step into the fully magical realm of Jotenheim, a kind of Skull Island where everything is larger than life. There follow two homecomings. What a trip, and what excellent story-telling. The author manages to retell most of the good stories out of Norse mythology throughout the book.
Like the other book by Nancy Farmer that I've read, The House of the Scorpion, the author is able to create situations of real horror and the feeling of danger. Her writing is some of the most immediate and evocative that I've read in authors for teens/young adults. I read the audio version of this book, and the narrator was terrific.
This book takes the hero myth and the parallel world myth, blends it together with a veneer of historical fact and setting, and does it all one better by adding a second layer of leave-taking and home-coming. We begin in a version of Middle Ages England that is hovering between Christianity and druidism. We then move into the strange and slightly magical world of a pseudo-Norse culture, steeped in Germanic mythology and oral poetry. Finally we step into the fully magical realm of Jotenheim, a kind of Skull Island where everything is larger than life. There follow two homecomings. What a trip, and what excellent story-telling. The author manages to retell most of the good stories out of Norse mythology throughout the book.
Like the other book by Nancy Farmer that I've read, The House of the Scorpion, the author is able to create situations of real horror and the feeling of danger. Her writing is some of the most immediate and evocative that I've read in authors for teens/young adults. I read the audio version of this book, and the narrator was terrific.
March 24, 2012
I don't think I would have ever picked this book up - simply because of its title. I know that's a little shallow, but to me trolls spell BIG, UGLY, and HAIRY. Ugh. Although they are all of these things in Farmer's Sea of Trolls, the story beautifully weaves Nordic mythology with fictionalized history in this tale of adventure. It takes place in Anglo-Saxon Europe, where the Vikings (known in the book only as really large Northmen with a thirst for booty and plunder topped with wild red hair) are pillaging the British Isles. They stumble upon a small island where they capture Jack, who is training to be a Bard or magician, and his sister Lucy, who is convinced that she is actually a lost princess. The pacing is fantastic. Farmer's action scenes are nail biting and tense, while her characters' thoughts, conversations, and decisions are fraught with anxiety, anger, relief, or genuine happiness. Though the Northmen are cruel, Jack finds humanity, humor, and perilous adventure among them as they tell him, "Just say no to pillaging." With obvious resemblance to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit (but just enough to maintain uniqueness), Farmer puts elegant life into an epic tale fraught with giant spiders, dragons, poisonous oversized flowers, and yes, BIG HAIRY TROLLS.
June 26, 2017
This is a rollicking adventure, a feast if you like Norse mythology. I have to admit I was thoroughly entertained by this book, even as I spent a good bit of it grinding my teeth. I would recommend this to any young boy who loves fantasy and adventure -- but I would hesitate before suggesting it to any girl who loves same.
The book's main flaw, and it's a big one (for me, anyway), is that its female characters are uniformly repellent. Of all of them, only the very minor characters of Heide and (possibly) Jack's mother are sympathetic. All of the major evil, dangerous, and/or untrustworthy monsters -- dragon, trolls, half-troll Queen -- are female, and the two main human females are no better: Lucy is the sort of brat one itches to drown, and Thorgil is a girl-warrior for readers who hate girl-warriors. It's almost as if Farmer is endorsing the "girls have cooties" ethos of the supposed male target demographic, and leaving little or nothing that girls could latch onto. If a man had written the book, I'd suspect he was either a raving misogynist or had decided misogynistic tendencies.
It's a shame, because there's so much to like about this book.
The book's main flaw, and it's a big one (for me, anyway), is that its female characters are uniformly repellent. Of all of them, only the very minor characters of Heide and (possibly) Jack's mother are sympathetic. All of the major evil, dangerous, and/or untrustworthy monsters -- dragon, trolls, half-troll Queen -- are female, and the two main human females are no better: Lucy is the sort of brat one itches to drown, and Thorgil is a girl-warrior for readers who hate girl-warriors. It's almost as if Farmer is endorsing the "girls have cooties" ethos of the supposed male target demographic, and leaving little or nothing that girls could latch onto. If a man had written the book, I'd suspect he was either a raving misogynist or had decided misogynistic tendencies.
It's a shame, because there's so much to like about this book.
August 5, 2024
I'm enjoying this quite a bit, during my doctor's office waits. I recommended it to the Possum, too.
***
The conjunctivitis sure slowed my reading down. Oh, but this was fun. All the pleasure of Norse mythology, but zippier than Tolkein. Great characters, particularly the way Jack never feels like he'll get the Norsemen.
As a special added bonus, I understand Odd and the Frost Giants rather better now, too.
***
The conjunctivitis sure slowed my reading down. Oh, but this was fun. All the pleasure of Norse mythology, but zippier than Tolkein. Great characters, particularly the way Jack never feels like he'll get the Norsemen.
As a special added bonus, I understand Odd and the Frost Giants rather better now, too.
November 26, 2024
Published two years after her third Newbery Honor book, The House of the Scorpion, The Sea of Trolls is prime Nancy Farmer, when her stories became more urgent and her literary notions masterful. Jack, age eleven, is a farmer in a remote Saxon village in 793 A.D. The region is mostly safe from trolls and berserkers who hunt for places to pillage, but life changes when a mystic known as the Bard invites Jack to be his apprentice. The Bard dabbles in questionable spiritual arts, but Father permits Jack to accept the offer. Under the Bard, Jack learns to open himself to the "life force" that animates all things, but progress is interrupted when enemies sack the village. Jack and his five-year-old sister Lucy are abducted by berserker Northmen.
"That's the problem with stories going on too long, Jack thought. Sooner or later you get to a bad part."
—The Sea of Trolls, PP. 52-53
"Anger belongs to death...It turns on you when you least expect it."
—The Bard, P. 39
"Death must be fought with life, and that means courage and that means joy."
—The Bard. P. 45
Lucy’s spirits are buoyed by the playful stories Father always told her, that her real mother is a queen and someday they'll reunite. Jack knows the future is far more grim; Olaf One-Brow, a berserker, now owns Jack and Lucy, and frequently demonstrates his lust for violence as their ship glides northward over the cold seas. Thorgil, age twelve, is a berserker as well, and never misses a chance to show loathing toward the captives. Jack and Lucy would be doomed to life as slaves if not for his burgeoning skills as a bard; Olaf sees Jack’s command of wordcraft as useful to create a proper eulogy when Olaf is dead and gone. Jack has given up hope of seeing Father or Mother again, but can he build a decent life where Olaf is taking him?
"No kindness is ever wasted, nor can we ever tell how much good may come of it."
—The Bard, P. 449
Dangers are legion on the high seas. Olaf and Thorgil are but mild threats; Jack faces Queen Frith, a half-troll with an appetite for torture. Jack sails to Jotunheim, home of the trolls, to unlock a certain unique magic to save Lucy's life, but he didn’t train with the Bard long enough to pursue the quest with confidence. The Bard remains in the village, now feeble and out of his mind, and Jack is an amateur. He'll have to become a full-fledged bard along the way, forged on the anvil of necessity, or he and Lucy will perish far from home.
"Quests always have their ups and downs...The point is never to give up, even if you're falling off a cliff. You never know what might happen on the way to the bottom."
—Olaf, P. 265
"I have lived long enough to know that nothing lasts forever...But I also know that to ignore joy while it lasts, in favor of lamenting one's fate, is a great crime."
—Rune, P. 199
It's easy to play it safe in life. Choose safe friends, a line of work with minimal risk, and don't venture opinions or actions that provoke pushback. The Northmen abhor this strategy; their culture is to throw themselves into conquest, combat, and taking by force what others take for granted. Olaf and his men are horrified at the prospect of growing old and dying quietly; their Norse religion decrees that only warriors who die in battle go to Valhalla, kingdom of the god Odin. What good is it to avoid personal risk so you live to old age? Why not put your flesh and blood on the line to maximize glory, so you aren't cheated of a single moment? The Bard actually agrees, as he explained to Jack when describing why most people can't tap into the life force. "You see, lad, most people live like birds inside a cage. It makes them feel safe. The world's a frightening place, full of glory and wonder and danger. It's better—so most people think—to pretend it isn't there." He continues, "A few people realize the door isn't locked...They keep pushing and pushing until—presto!—the door swings open and they fly away. The world looks completely different outside." Confining yourself to a "safe" life because you fear getting hurt is the worst form of folly. You cannot save your human assets for after this life is over. Adventure beckons so briefly, and it's up to you to chase it while your legs are swift and your back can bear the burden.
"Those who spend sheltered lives are ever afraid of danger. But you know danger is what we warriors were born for...Our happiness lies in risking all in some adventure, and if we survive, so much sweeter is our homecoming. But to all men, eventually, comes doom. Our only choice is to meet it boldly. It will come to us whatever we do."
—Olaf, P. 220
"Most people live inside a cage of their own expectations. It makes them feel safe. The world's a frightening place full of glory and wonder and, as we've both discovered, danger. Flying isn't for everyone."
—The Bard, P. 449
Nancy Farmer writes beautifully, but I don't always notice because her words blend with such ease to become story. After a while all I see is the cauldron of life: bitter, sour, sweet, nourishing. The Sea of Trolls isn't an all-time powerful novel like The House of the Scorpion, but I'm a better person for taking the ride. I want to see what the next adventure in the series brings.
"That's the problem with stories going on too long, Jack thought. Sooner or later you get to a bad part."
—The Sea of Trolls, PP. 52-53
"Anger belongs to death...It turns on you when you least expect it."
—The Bard, P. 39
"Death must be fought with life, and that means courage and that means joy."
—The Bard. P. 45
Lucy’s spirits are buoyed by the playful stories Father always told her, that her real mother is a queen and someday they'll reunite. Jack knows the future is far more grim; Olaf One-Brow, a berserker, now owns Jack and Lucy, and frequently demonstrates his lust for violence as their ship glides northward over the cold seas. Thorgil, age twelve, is a berserker as well, and never misses a chance to show loathing toward the captives. Jack and Lucy would be doomed to life as slaves if not for his burgeoning skills as a bard; Olaf sees Jack’s command of wordcraft as useful to create a proper eulogy when Olaf is dead and gone. Jack has given up hope of seeing Father or Mother again, but can he build a decent life where Olaf is taking him?
"No kindness is ever wasted, nor can we ever tell how much good may come of it."
—The Bard, P. 449
Dangers are legion on the high seas. Olaf and Thorgil are but mild threats; Jack faces Queen Frith, a half-troll with an appetite for torture. Jack sails to Jotunheim, home of the trolls, to unlock a certain unique magic to save Lucy's life, but he didn’t train with the Bard long enough to pursue the quest with confidence. The Bard remains in the village, now feeble and out of his mind, and Jack is an amateur. He'll have to become a full-fledged bard along the way, forged on the anvil of necessity, or he and Lucy will perish far from home.
"Quests always have their ups and downs...The point is never to give up, even if you're falling off a cliff. You never know what might happen on the way to the bottom."
—Olaf, P. 265
"I have lived long enough to know that nothing lasts forever...But I also know that to ignore joy while it lasts, in favor of lamenting one's fate, is a great crime."
—Rune, P. 199
It's easy to play it safe in life. Choose safe friends, a line of work with minimal risk, and don't venture opinions or actions that provoke pushback. The Northmen abhor this strategy; their culture is to throw themselves into conquest, combat, and taking by force what others take for granted. Olaf and his men are horrified at the prospect of growing old and dying quietly; their Norse religion decrees that only warriors who die in battle go to Valhalla, kingdom of the god Odin. What good is it to avoid personal risk so you live to old age? Why not put your flesh and blood on the line to maximize glory, so you aren't cheated of a single moment? The Bard actually agrees, as he explained to Jack when describing why most people can't tap into the life force. "You see, lad, most people live like birds inside a cage. It makes them feel safe. The world's a frightening place, full of glory and wonder and danger. It's better—so most people think—to pretend it isn't there." He continues, "A few people realize the door isn't locked...They keep pushing and pushing until—presto!—the door swings open and they fly away. The world looks completely different outside." Confining yourself to a "safe" life because you fear getting hurt is the worst form of folly. You cannot save your human assets for after this life is over. Adventure beckons so briefly, and it's up to you to chase it while your legs are swift and your back can bear the burden.
"Those who spend sheltered lives are ever afraid of danger. But you know danger is what we warriors were born for...Our happiness lies in risking all in some adventure, and if we survive, so much sweeter is our homecoming. But to all men, eventually, comes doom. Our only choice is to meet it boldly. It will come to us whatever we do."
—Olaf, P. 220
"Most people live inside a cage of their own expectations. It makes them feel safe. The world's a frightening place full of glory and wonder and, as we've both discovered, danger. Flying isn't for everyone."
—The Bard, P. 449
Nancy Farmer writes beautifully, but I don't always notice because her words blend with such ease to become story. After a while all I see is the cauldron of life: bitter, sour, sweet, nourishing. The Sea of Trolls isn't an all-time powerful novel like The House of the Scorpion, but I'm a better person for taking the ride. I want to see what the next adventure in the series brings.
June 8, 2017
This book was super super fun! The writing managed to make it really believable that we were seeing the world through a child's eyes (well, an 11-year-old) and it was still really an intriguing, wonderful book. It also felt very self-contained, though I am intending to go off and read the other two. It was clear that Nancy Farmer did a lot of research, but not in an info-dump way that makes it clear that's what she was doing. The book was exciting and an easy read--I finished it in about two days, if that says anything, though it does clock in at around 450 pages. Overall, I though this book was super fun and I was glad to have read it!
August 15, 2011
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.
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.
July 13, 2019
Трилогия «Море троллей» теоретически может считаться историческим фэнтэзи, но практически – уж слишком много в ней неисторических допущений. То Ивар Бескостный женат на полутролльше, то сакс Джек использует термин «викинги», в общем, есть к чему придраться. Но если не придираться, получится отличная даже не сказка – сага. Полная приключений и мифических существ.
Итак, 8 век, Британские острова. Мальчик Джек двенадцати лет живет в деревне на побережье вместе с семьей – папой, мамой и сестренкой Люси. Неподалеку на старой римской вилле живет Бард – ирландский друид, много чего повидавший и много где побывавший. Бард видит у Джека способности к магии и берет к себе в ученики. Но научить успевает немногому – на деревню нападают скандинавы и забирают Джека и Люси в рабство.
Поначалу кажется, что история долго раскачивается. То, что я описала в предыдущем абзаце – пр��мерно пятая часть книги (поэтому те мои друзья, которым я рекомендовала «Море троллей», страдали и не понимали, где же экшен). Но с того момента, как Джек и Люси оказываются на корабле северян, повествование ускоряется в разы, а еще появляется самый интересный персонаж всей трилогии – девочка Торгиль.
Писать подробностей про Торгиль я не буду, чтобы не спойлерить – раскрывать её историю интереснее глазами Джека. Торгиль агрессивна и импульсивна, постоянно лезет в драку и зациклена на идее умереть в бою и попасть в Вальхаллу, так что поначалу Джек её искренне ненавидит. Но узнав обстоятельства её рождения и взросления, проникается сочувствием – что тоже выглядит чересчур прогрессивно для саксонского мальчика, воспитанного в 8 веке, но зато понятно для современных читателей.
Две вещи, которые мне больше всего нравятся в этой трилогии: это развитие Торгиль как персонажа и то, как в приключениях Джека и Торгиль всплывают скандинавские – а во второй книге кельтские – мифы и саги. Там и Ётунхейм, и источник Мимира, и Сигурда с Фафниром помянули, и Озерную Владичицу Нимуэ, и Острова Блаженных. Как обычно, это интереснее выцеплять, когда знаешь легенды и можешь провести параллели, но и для первого знакомства с предметом «Море троллей» подходит – Нэнси Фармер ориентируется на middle grade, поэтому все явления объясняет.
К сожалению, третью часть трилогии так и не перевели на русский, хотя вышла она 10 лет назад, и поэтому получается, что она не полностью доступна целевым читателям – детям (а читать «Море троллей» можно лет с 8-9 точно). А было бы классно, если бы всю трилогию переиздали, и желательно еще и отредактировали tone of voice перевода, потому что от слова «мальчуган», которым переводчик постоянно называет Джека, аж зубы скрипят, ну что за сюсюканье.
Итак, 8 век, Британские острова. Мальчик Джек двенадцати лет живет в деревне на побережье вместе с семьей – папой, мамой и сестренкой Люси. Неподалеку на старой римской вилле живет Бард – ирландский друид, много чего повидавший и много где побывавший. Бард видит у Джека способности к магии и берет к себе в ученики. Но научить успевает немногому – на деревню нападают скандинавы и забирают Джека и Люси в рабство.
Поначалу кажется, что история долго раскачивается. То, что я описала в предыдущем абзаце – пр��мерно пятая часть книги (поэтому те мои друзья, которым я рекомендовала «Море троллей», страдали и не понимали, где же экшен). Но с того момента, как Джек и Люси оказываются на корабле северян, повествование ускоряется в разы, а еще появляется самый интересный персонаж всей трилогии – девочка Торгиль.
Писать подробностей про Торгиль я не буду, чтобы не спойлерить – раскрывать её историю интереснее глазами Джека. Торгиль агрессивна и импульсивна, постоянно лезет в драку и зациклена на идее умереть в бою и попасть в Вальхаллу, так что поначалу Джек её искренне ненавидит. Но узнав обстоятельства её рождения и взросления, проникается сочувствием – что тоже выглядит чересчур прогрессивно для саксонского мальчика, воспитанного в 8 веке, но зато понятно для современных читателей.
Две вещи, которые мне больше всего нравятся в этой трилогии: это развитие Торгиль как персонажа и то, как в приключениях Джека и Торгиль всплывают скандинавские – а во второй книге кельтские – мифы и саги. Там и Ётунхейм, и источник Мимира, и Сигурда с Фафниром помянули, и Озерную Владичицу Нимуэ, и Острова Блаженных. Как обычно, это интереснее выцеплять, когда знаешь легенды и можешь провести параллели, но и для первого знакомства с предметом «Море троллей» подходит – Нэнси Фармер ориентируется на middle grade, поэтому все явления объясняет.
К сожалению, третью часть трилогии так и не перевели на русский, хотя вышла она 10 лет назад, и поэтому получается, что она не полностью доступна целевым читателям – детям (а читать «Море троллей» можно лет с 8-9 точно). А было бы классно, если бы всю трилогию переиздали, и желательно еще и отредактировали tone of voice перевода, потому что от слова «мальчуган», которым переводчик постоянно называет Джека, аж зубы скрипят, ну что за сюсюканье.
January 4, 2011
May I just say that I ♥ Nancy Farmer? She is possibly my very favorite author. I love the pictures she paints with such simple, exquisite strokes. I love her characters who seem so innocent and unsure, yet they are immensely brave. I love the friends she creates, and the feeling of reality that soaks through her stories, even if they are about trolls and vikings and giant owls. This book especially was just a joy. I absolutely loved Jack, the young bard apprentice who has to find himself on an epic adventure. I loved the classic Lord of the Rings feel and the references to traditions and stories that have been around so long they do seem like some sort of reality. I loved her trolls that appeared. I loved the love Jack and for Lucy. I loved Lucy. I loved Olaf. I loved the Bard and his and Jack's relationship. I LOVED Thorgil. I loved the appearance of "Jack and Jill." I felt completely wrapped up in this tale. I was so comfortable reading it, and I never wanted to put it down. This is a timeless novel. I want to read it aloud to my nieces some day when they're old enough to understand just how simply it conveys such wonderful messages. I would definitely suggest it to any fantasy-lover, or anyone for that matter. Except girls addicted to senseless, badly written romance novels. It's too far above trash like that (referring to the books... not the girls...)
May 26, 2010
Although a long read, this a great book to read aloud because it appeals to people of all ages. Tempting to "buffer" between sessions together though! We all caught one another buffering when we read this book together. ;) Lots of primary school kids have borrowed our copy and it has gone to many read-ins. There is something about Nancy Farmer's style and the way the action keeps on coming and the characters keep on developing that makes this book a page turner. The House of the Scorpion and The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm are both among my favorite re-reads and discussion books. I just checked out the third in the The Sea of Trolls series titled The Islands of the Blessedand have it sitting beside my nightstand!
November 17, 2010
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
December 20, 2016
It took me a year to finish it because I started reading it to my daughter first and then we kind of got stuck and I put it aside.
But the book is great, amazing characters and mythology and history woven together.
But the book is great, amazing characters and mythology and history woven together.
December 6, 2017
Onvan : The Sea of Trolls (Sea of Trolls, #1) - Nevisande : Nancy Farmer - ISBN : 689867468 - ISBN13 : 9780689867460 - Dar 459 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2004
August 17, 2025
A sweet book meant for young readers that holds up even as an adult. Felt like I was revisiting the Septimus Heap or Artemis Fowl books I loved as a kid.
November 15, 2011
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.
The 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.
Jack 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.
Jack 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.
This 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.
The 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.
Jack 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.
Jack 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.
This 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.
December 20, 2018
I loved this book! It was fantastic, and the narrator of the audiobook was amazing as well! It made me laugh out loud, and it caused me to sit a few extra minutes through intense scenes. It didn't make me cry, but not all books need to make you cry. I'm excited to read the next book.
July 3, 2022
Middle school book that will also interest adults (at least the 2/3 more than the last 1/3.) However my son - the actual audience for this novel - loved it. Has some Easter Eggs for adults, such as the Bard in question being the individual the created the Beowolf Epic poem! [Led to a great discussion with my son!]
Jack is a (Christian) farm brat who recently became apprenticed to a (Druid) Bard. Just beginning to understand his powers, Jack & his sister Lucy are kidnapped while trying to save his village from a group of Northmen (Vikings) Book chronicles his quest to earn his freedom and return to his village. Along the way he meets trolls, dragons, sea monsters and giant spiders. Good and bad are mixed in all the characters: Jack befriends the hated Northmen while realizing they are murderous, slave selling, blood thirsty bezerkers. Trolls can be friendly while also eating ‘2 legged deer”
Appendix has discussion of the destruction of the Holy Isle as well as the legend behind Jack and Jill which was really interesting!
Also the cover art is fantastic!
Jack is a (Christian) farm brat who recently became apprenticed to a (Druid) Bard. Just beginning to understand his powers, Jack & his sister Lucy are kidnapped while trying to save his village from a group of Northmen (Vikings) Book chronicles his quest to earn his freedom and return to his village. Along the way he meets trolls, dragons, sea monsters and giant spiders. Good and bad are mixed in all the characters: Jack befriends the hated Northmen while realizing they are murderous, slave selling, blood thirsty bezerkers. Trolls can be friendly while also eating ‘2 legged deer”
Appendix has discussion of the destruction of the Holy Isle as well as the legend behind Jack and Jill which was really interesting!
Also the cover art is fantastic!
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