by Nancy Farmer
Recommended Age: 12+

You see, I have a godsister who is 23 years younger than myself. What’s a godsister, you ask? Her parents are my godparents; my parents are her godparents. So she’s my godsister, right? Oddly, though, she was born during my junior year of college, so we didn’t get to play together very much growing up. In fact, she’s still growing up.
Last summer I bumped into my godparents and godsister while visiting my old childhood stomping grounds. I really should have stomped a lot harder, because things haven’t stayed where I left them. One thing that’s new is that my godsister is the perfect age to enjoy Harry Potter. But when I asked her and her folks whether stories with magic were OK, they said no. And though I disagree, I sincerely meant to respect their wishes.

But boy, am I ever in trouble.
Now that I’ve read the book, I see that it has lots of magic in it. Witches and wizards. Norsemen and their gods, ghoulish Picts, bards with their talk of a life force that flows through everything, wise women, people who talk to animals, all mixed up with ancient Anglo-Saxon Christianity tinged with its own hint of folk myth. The book is awash with religious ideas and ideas about the nature of magic, and its general outlook seems to settle for an anachronistic sort of universalism. I can see that my godfamily, with their very understandable concerns about occult content, might be displeased.

“I know how exciting pillaging is,” the giant said fondly, ruffling Jack’s hair. It felt like a blow. “No matter how much you’re tempted, just say no.”As you may have guessed from this excerpt, the hero of the story is a boy named Jack, who along with his sister is captured and enslaved by a Viking raiding party. Fortunately, Jack is an apprentice bard with the beginnings of a magical talent, which he uses to protect his sister and their growing circle of friends from a nasty half-troll queen, and from many dangers on a quest to the frozen land of the trolls. Here there be dragons, as well as sea-serpents, timeless valleys, poisonous meadows, giant spiders, a bear, a boar, a crow, one girl who thinks she is a princess and another who wants to be a berserker, and things still weirder and more surprising.
“Just say no to pillaging. You got it.”

If you like The Sea of Trolls, there are other, award-winning books by Nancy Farmer, including The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm; The House of the Scorpion; and A Girl Named Disaster. [UPDATE: I am currently waiting for the paperback release of the sequel to this book, titled The Land of the Silver Apples.]
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