Amazon.co.uk Review
Nancy Farmers new novel is a big, energetic, magical and breathtaking volume--a sweeping Viking adventure set in AD 793 that is rich in excitement and adventure, and which manages also to be quite funny at the same time. Farmer is a three-time Newbery Honor author in her native United States and her pedigree as a fine author is very apparent here. Theres marauding, sea-faring, kidnapping, beserking, dragon-bashing, magic and battle throughout.
Jack is a Saxon boy, apprenticed to the local bard and on the brink of harnessing his inherent magical abilities. Disaster strikes when he and his little sister Lucy are hauled away from their home in the North of England by a villainous-looking crew of Viking Berserkers led by Olaf One-Brow. Jack begins by hating his captors, for their cruelty and brutal way of living life. He is oppressed in every way, and thoroughly despised by a Viking girl in the raiding party called Thorgil who seems hell-bent on nothing more than dying a glorious death in war and ascending to Valhalla.
Jack and Lucy are hauled in front of King Ivar the Boneless and Queen Frith--a half troll with a fearsome temper--who is angered beyond measure when one of Jacks spells causes her hair to fall out. Leaving his sister behind as a potential sacrifice, Jack must undertake a dangerous quest to the land of the Trolls in Jotunheim to seek Mimirs Well and extract from it the elixir that could reverse his calamitous spell. There is substantial excitement and drama along the way.
Its difficult not to be entertained by everything within these 450 pages plus. The novel encompasses such great themes, speeding the reader through fascinating Scandinavian mythology, and at the end its impossible to let go. Reassuring, theres a sequel in the making. (Age 10 and over) --John McLay
Product Description
Jack, an apprentice bard and just beginning to learn the secrets of his mysterious master when he and his little sister are captured by Viking chief, Olaf One-Brow, and taken to the court of Ivar the Boneless. Ivar is married to a half-troll named Frith, an evil and unpredictable queen with a strange power over her husband's court. Jack is sent on to the kingdom of the trolls, where had to find the magical well and undo the charm he has cast on Frith. He is accompanied by Thorgill, a shield maiden, aged 12, who wants to be a berserker when she grows up. Together, they are set for a magical and exciting adventure.
See all Product Description