Review by Booklist Review
This Norwegian import artfully reimagines a classic folktale of monsters, valor, and a clever young prince. The youngest of seven brothers, Prince Fred is left behind after his brothers and their wives are captured by a troll and turned to stone. With nothing but a small pack and an opinionated horse, Fred journeys to the troll's lair, where he meets a beautiful princess who helps Fred track down the troll's heart, which Fred must destroy to free his brothers. Though the story isn't groundbreaking, Torseter's lively, atmospheric artwork is a stunner. Moomin-like Fred traipses through a landscape of jumbled stacks of forest and rubble, and the troll's lair itself is composed of gravity-defying rooms cobbled together from lumber and bones. In sharp contrast to the cartoonish quality of most of the pages, the troll is frightfully detailed, rendered in fine lines and smudged shadows, and his dialogue appears in an oversize, angrily scribbled font. With anachronistic details and gaze-worthy illustrations, this expressionistic graphic novel is perfect for readers who like their folktales on the offbeat side.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Torseter (Why Dogs Have Wet Noses) builds this marvelous graphic novel on the scaffolding of a traditional fairy tale in which a king loses six of his seven sons to an evil troll and reluctantly sends the seventh out to search for them. Readers join Prince Fred as he sets off in a floppy hat astride an unwilling horse. "Goodbye, father!" Prince Fred cries. "Do we really have to go?" murmurs the horse. "I'm sure they can find their own way home." Prince Fred makes his way deep into the troll's lair, littered with skulls and bones, and discovers a cool-headed princess being held against her will. The two defeat the troll with a smooth team effort that involves-among other things-distracting an octopus with a saxophone. The delicate, spidery lines and dark landscapes of Torseter's panels combine the energy of Ralph Steadman, the effervescence of Jules Feiffer, and the charm of the Moomintrolls. Mordant grotesquerie (a broken table leg replaced with a femur) vies with hilarity as Prince Fred is shown perched miserably on the rim of the troll's gigantic, bone-filled commode. Dickson's translation shines as well. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-Inspired by the Norwegian folktale "The Troll with No Heart in His Body," which will probably be unfamiliar to most U.S. readers, this graphic novel is the story of how a king's youngest son leaves home to attempt to rescue his brothers. Along the way he encounters different animals and tries to save a princess from a huge troll. Prince Fred keeps up his spirits and maintains his sense of humor throughout, and the narrative is fast-paced and fun. Cartoon sketches are mostly in black-and-white but also contain frequent splashes of color to add energy and action to the story. The book is oversize, which will appeal to readers who want to lose themselves in the illustrations but will make it more difficult to carry. The tale is filled with humor and adventure, and readers will enjoy Prince Fred's witty banter with his reluctant horse, the hungry wolf, the spirited princess, and the evil troll. VERDICT A cute and charming option for fans of fairy tales.-Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Torseters contemporary graphic-novel retelling of Asbjornsen and Moes Norwegian folktale The Troll with No Heart in His Body opens with a full page of text containing the beginning of the story (There once was a king who had seven sons). Those who skip the intro will pick up the story just finedialogue and illustrations fill in the background as Prince Fred sets off to rescue his six older brothers and their wives, all turned to stone by a troll. Instead of the originals raven, salmon, and wolf, this prince helps (and is later helped by) an elephant, a wolf, and his own horse. An imprisoned princess helps Fred defeat the troll and rescue his brothers; cool as a cucumber, she acts as though she could probably have freed herself but simply hasnt bothered. Shades of brown, orange, red, and yellow add a sinister vibe to the black line drawings in which the women are human, the brothers are horned creatures in trench coats, and Fred is a hoodie-wearing large-nosed animal of some kind (previously seen in Torseters The Hole, rev. 11/13). Gory details in the art add shivery pleasure: the halls in the trolls mountain home are lined with skulls, and the troll himself is nightmarish, with two black smudges for eyes and freakishly long fingernails. (Too big for dialogue balloons, the trolls words are scrawled angrily across the pages.) Plenty of humor keeps the story from being too scary, though. Freds horse, for instance, is a real nervous Nellie in both words (I keep thinking about wolves) and pictures (he sits warily at their campfire, knees pulled up to his chin). The story ends with Fred and the princess riding off on the horse to the refrains of an octopus playing a saxophonean oddly perfect ending for this one-of-a-kind graphic novel. jennifer m. brabander(c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A dark, old tale recast in a lighter vein, featuring a young prince, a captive princess, and a troll with a hidden heart.Setting out to find his six brothers and their brides, who have been turned to stone by an evil troll, Prince Fred gets help along the way from his nervous talking horse and a chance-met elephant, tricks a hungry wolf (rather than give it the horse in trade, as in the original), and enlists a willing princess to lie down with the troll (in pajamas) to winkle out just where the giant has hidden his heart. Said organ turns out to be stashed in a magically sealed jar at the bottom of a filing cabinet guarded by a giant octopusan ill-considered plan, since octopuses are particularly good at opening jars (this is true). Following a prose opening, Torseter presents the tale in a mix of panels and larger scenes, all drawn as thin-lined cartoons with color highlights. Fred and his clan recall the Moomins; the princesses are all human but too stylized to determine ethnic identity (they are diversely garbed, though); and the troll is a particularly hideous, hulking figure. Come the denouement, off ride Fred and his capable but never-named princess to a more or less happily-ever-after. No, the princess doesnt really get her duebut at least the horse survives. (source note) (Graphic folk tale. 8-11) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
