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THE LAND OF THE TROLLS by Artur Laperla

THE LAND OF THE TROLLS

From the Felix and Calcite series, volume 1

by Artur Laperla ; illustrated by Artur Laperla

Pub Date: March 1st, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72844-866-4
Publisher: Graphic Universe

Trolls and good storytelling get short shrift in an unoriginal new early-reader graphic series.

A young White redheaded boy named Felix awakes one night to discover a purple troll in his bedroom, but he seems completely unfazed. Having arrived through a toy-box portal, the troll leads Felix back to her realm. The lay of the land is explained with a map and narration by the Ancient Master Troll, who also drops knowledge about giants, ogres, and sea sirens. A witless cave song follows: “We're trolls! We're trolls! Trollls!” [sic]. The purple troll, who goes unnamed until the book’s last pages (spoiler alert: Her name is on the book’s cover), is giving Felix a tour when they are attacked by tiny, adorable gnomes, the trolls’ age-old enemies. The gnomes steal the show—not ideal for a book titled The Land of the Trolls. The association of trolls with boogers feels derivative of Harry Potter. The book’s clever illustrations—graphic novel–style panels are supplemented with mazes, seek-and-finds, and a tunnel that requires readers to turn the book sideways—don’t make up for the realization that this book is the setup for a franchise in which worldbuilding takes precedence over narrative and characterization. Indeed, we learn almost nothing about the stars of the story; they are as uninspired and generic as a song about trolls that consists of only two words repeated. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A rocky start to an underwhelming graphic fantasy series.

(Graphic early reader. 7-8)