Trollhunters by Guillermo del Toro is a creative fantasy filled with adventure and suspense. In this book we are informed about a young boy named Jim Sturges Jr., our protagonist, whose life has been controlled by his father’s endless fear for his safety. This is until Jim learns the reason for his father’s paranoia: the existence of trolls. Now Jim must embark on a brave adventure and meet some unlikely companions to fight alongside him in the quest to save the world.
Jim Sturges is a below average young man who, despite his best efforts, fails in both physical and academic challenges. His father shows an unhealthy fear for his son’s safety after his brother was kidnapped by troll at a young age. But Jim’s father can’t protect him when his Uncle Jack comes back from the troll world requiring Jim’s assistance with defeating Gunmar the black, an evil troll intent on conquering the world. As the war is strung out along the book Jim must make crucial decisions about his life, his companions, and whether he wants to become a troll hunter at all.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It has a good mixture of real life situations and fantasy.
This book used a range of complex language to create great imagery of the scenes and characters. Some good examples of this would be two of Jim’s companions throughout the book, trolls Binky and ARRRGH!!! These two very different characters are opposites both in their physical traits, but also their personalities and use in the book. It appears that Binky, a many-eyed troll with tentacles, is a scholar and gives the readers information about the story that helps them understand the plot. ARRRGH, a much larger black-furred troll with horns, has a connection with the antagonist and thus forwards the plot. As shown, the author has thoughtfully created two characters to help the reader understand and follow the book.
One of the only problems I found within the story was the fact that the plot moved much too quickly. At points I found myself confused about where they were, or the scene jumped suddenly without warning. I also found that this means that the reader can sometimes become overwhelmed with the book and need to set it down for a minute or two in order to figure out what’s going on.
Overall this is a clever and well written book that, although confusing at certain points, is a good novel for any interested reader.
- Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop
