The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer

Title: The Sea of Trolls
Author: Nancy Farmer
ISBN: 0-689-86744-1
455 pages
Atheneum Books, 2004 edition

Description:

Set in the 700s A.D. in Northern Europe, the Sea of Trolls tells the story of a young boy named Jack who, along with his younger sister Lucy, are captured by Vikings and taken away from their home in England. The Vikings are going to take Jack and his sister to a market where they are to be sold as slaves, but Jack and one of the younger vikings, Thorgil, become friends. Instead, Jack and his sister are to be given to the evil Queen Frith as presents. When Jack mistakenly causes the Queen to lose all of the hair on her head, she threatens to sacrifice Lucy to the gods if Jack cannot find his way to a mythical well across the seas. Along his travels throughout the Viking world, Jack meets trolls, dragons and giant spiders, all set with the backdrop of the mythic Viking age.

Review:

A very well written and researched book by a three-time Newbery Award winning author, 'The Sea of Trolls' is a very fun adventure that really captures the spirit of the Viking age. The characters are well developed and the story is engaging. The author adds lots of historical facts with fantastic and mythical elements, with an appendix at the end that gives the reader a little bit more background information about Scandinavia and its' history. The book is, however, extremely long and may be a bit of a stretch for a 'tweens' attention span (especially if they are not a overly confident or experienced reader). Overall, a quality book that is truly enjoyable.