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Thursday, July 9, 2015

Book Review: Trollhunters (Trollhunters #1) by Guillermo del Toro, Daniel Kraus

Trollhunters (Trollhunters #1)
by Guillermo del Toro, Daniel Kraus
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
July 7, 2015
"You are food. Those muscles you flex to walk, lift, and talk? They're patties of meat topped with chewy tendon. That skin you've paid so much attention to in mirrors? It's delicious to the right tongues, a casserole of succulent tissue. And those bones that give you the strength to make your way in the world? They rattle between teeth as the marrow is sucked down slobbering throats. These facts are unpleasant but useful. There are things out there, you see, that don't cower in holes to be captured by us and cooked over our fires. These things have their own ways of trapping their kills, their own fires, their own appetites."

Jim Sturges is your typical teen in suburban San Bernardino-one with an embarrassingly overprotective dad, a best friend named "Tubby" who shares his hatred of all things torturous (like gym class), and a crush on a girl who doesn't know he exists. But everything changes for Jim when a 45-year old mystery resurfaces, threatening the lives of everyone in his seemingly sleepy town. Soon Jim has to team up with a band of unlikely (and some un-human) heroes to battle the monsters he never knew existed.


The book begins with two young boys playing on bikes after one’s birthday party in 1969. Jack just turned 13 and he and his younger brother, Jimbo, are playing the hero and mad scientist when Jack vanishes beneath a bridge, the only evidence, his new bike bent and broken. Jim sees something that cannot be real and he runs home in fear. Years later, Jim is grown up and works for a electronics firm and what he saw that evening in ’69 has him living in fear still, locking the house with a series f locks on the doors and metal shutters that lock down the windows. So nothing can get in. Except his teenage son will discover his father is not crazy and that monsters are real—not existing in closets, but able to come up from below. That San Bernardino, California has an underground city of trolls.

It’s hard enough being a teenager in the 21st century, with a bully who is also a football and basketball champ, the Math teacher making your life hell, and the new girl in the school from the British Isles makes your heart beat fast. So when Jim Junior and his best friend, Tubby find out trolls are real and not all are evil, but yet, there are evil, child eating ones too in his town, and they are pulled into this battle, surviving high school and the town’s annual festival is not the only thing they have to worry about.

This is the kind of story I enjoyed reading as a kid. Though there is some slightly gory things (trolls being what they are), I think a middle school kid can handle it. It may not be Halloween or October, but this is a summer dark fantasy read not only teenagers and middle schools kids will enjoy, but adults too. Just be sure to check beneath your bed or couch before you do.

I give Trollhunters 5 sheep





Pamela K. Kinney

About the Authors:

Guillermo del Toro is known for his critically acclaimed feature films, such as Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, The Hobbit, and Pacific Rim, as well as his best-selling Strain Trilogy.
Daniel Kraus is the award-winning author of Scowler and Rotters, and is the director of six feature films. He lives with his wife in Chicago. 
Sean Murray is an illustrator, concept artist, author and teacher known for his work on video games such as Dungeons & Dragons Online and The Lord of the Rings Online, as well as the creator of The World of Gateway, which includes his fantasy guidebook Gateway: The Book of Wizards and the upcoming card game Gateway Uprising.

1 comment:

  1. It's killing me! I must read this book. As soon as my book budget allows, I'll be grabbing it! Loved your review and am more excited about this book!

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