The Heartless Troll

The Heartless Troll
By Oyvind Torseter
Translated by Kari Dickson
Enchanted Lion Books, 2016. J Comics. Unpaged.

A king loves his seven sons so much that he has a hard time letting them go. He finally lets the oldest six leave to go and find wives but does not want his youngest, Prince Fred, to leave. After a troll turns his oldest six sons and their new wives to stone, the king reluctantly lets Fred go on a quest to find the troll and his brothers. The Heartless Troll recounts Prince Fred’s quest with his cowardly and wise-cracking horse. With the help of some friends he makes along the way and a princess who has been imprisoned by the troll, Fred takes on the disgusting troll.

Adapted from a Norwegian folktale, this is a unique graphic novel that can be both strange and funny at times. With strong uses of shading, the art can be both cartoonish and creepy (the huge troll with his black smears for eyes and over-sized, scrawled dialogue is especially creepy). This graphic novel is for older children who are looking for a graphic adventure that is out of the ordinary.

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