Trollhunters
by Guillermo del Torro & Daniel Kraus
PLOT SYNOPSIS
James Sturges, Jr., son of the hopelessly paranoid and nerdy James Sturges, Sr., is your typical, run-of-the-mill, loser high school student. Not particularly good at anything from math to gym class, he struggles to understand what his purpose in life is, that is, until a twist of fate puts him face to face with a secret world of monsters and an age-old rivalry. He, his trusty friend Tub, and a trio of heroes of troll-kind must act as “Trollhunters”, the defenders of both humans and trolls, to protect beautiful San Bernadino, California from the troll-pocalypse.
Series: Single
Age Recommendation: 14+
Warning: Some foul language and some scenes of violence and gore
Faith Based: No
ISBN: 978-14714-0518-1
Overall
Characters
Story/Plot
Writing
Setting
Consistency
THE BOTTOM LINE
This familiar yet bizarre world houses crowds of relatable, believable characters, and a non-stop plot which will keep you entranced until the end.
THOUGHTS…
Trollhunters is a creative, inventive novel which proves fantasy can be admirably executed in standalone books. The idea behind the story seems ridiculous at first blush and from another author, it might have become just another volume to toss on the pile of forgettable literature. This book, however, managed to capture my attention with every page–so watch out, because this novel could lead to a sleepless night or two if you’re not careful! Its blistering pace, character intrigue, fantastic action sequences, and even a tiny bit of romance blew my expectations out of the water. The writing mechanics of the book are spot-on and any idiosyncrasies, uncommon usage of words being a good example, are a deliberate choice which helps to place the reader further inside the story. The characters are some of the best I’ve read in quite a while, each sporting a shocking amount of depth while their development is handled masterfully. Even supporting characters were not simply the rehashing of characters seen time and time again but had unusual substance. My one gripe involves the occasional use of high school clichés; however, they are minor to the story. Ultimately, Trollhunters was an entertaining read for both adults and teenagers (no doubt children would be just as enraptured with it, but smatterings of foul language and a few over-the-top scenes of gore and violence make it less than ideal for a younger audience). It is a truly remarkable book which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.
RANTS AND RAMBLES
DISCLAIMER: When I review books, weaknesses and inconsistencies tend to dominate my discussion; therefore, I will emphasize that any particular rant (and, yes, they can be long-winded) does not have special bearing on my unified opinion of the book. For this, please refer to my overall star rating. Additionally, this review is my personal opinion, intended to help like-minded readers navigate the plethora of available options. Use it as a tool but do not assign undue importance to it (i.e. feel free to disagree with me).
The writing mechanics in this book were spot-on. I can’t recall a single typo, missing word, or even poor punctuation. No doubt someone out there will harp on the placement of commas or the correct use of the word “that”, citing their eighth-grade English teacher as a source of authority, but the truth is, the writing here was amazing. The few instances of deviation from the “correct” way of doing things would normally have taken me out of the story at a detriment to the book as a whole, but in this case, the authors used these aberrations to entrench the reader further inside the story.
While the characters are absolutely fantastic, I do roll my eyes a bit at the use of occasional clichés, such as high school being a vicious place where teachers allow jocks to rule over nerds and underclassmen. Though this cliché no doubt exists for a reason and may very well have a place in private settings (kids can be absolute monsters to each other, after all), the idea that teachers would know about this behavior and allow it to go on is ridiculous. And if it is not ridiculous, it is the most depressing commentary on our society I have ever read. Nevertheless, these clichés were minor to the story and easy to forgive in the grand scheme of things.
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