The Troll Queen

By John Vornholt

       Rollo the unconventional troll is back, fresh from his successful mission to save the Dismal Swamp from evil wizard Stygius Rex. He could be their new king, but he has gone off on another mission to the Bonny Woods to return the body of his fairy friend Clipper. His girlfriend Ludicra is about to embark on some adventures of her own together with several characters from the first book, including Rollo's sister. This will first involve crossing the Great Chasm, but a lot more than that awaits them.

I enjoy the idea of the usual villains being the heroes, and it is great at long last to see what the trolls and ogres get up to. The Troll King (also reviewed on this site) gave us all of this, and now its sequel gives us "more of the same" in traditional fantasy trilogy style. Nothing new is really introduced, although there is plenty of adventure and incident. This seemed to be a book for younger readers and I missed a lot of the humor from the first book, which was of the type that would appeal to adults as much as to older children. I said in my review of the first book that Vornholt would do well to give us less traditional plot with fairies and elves and more of the bits that made the earlier book so very enjoyable. There is a treading water feel here and I yearned for a few new elements to make the tale shine in its own right. If you read and loved the first book then this is obviously a vital read - it will certainly prepare children for the fact that fantasy trilogies often have a second book of this type…