Trollhunters

Reviewed By  Ian Banks       February 16, 2017

 

Author  Guillermo Del Toro, Daniel Kraus illustrated by Sean Murray

Distributor:      Allen and Unwin
ISBN:                 9781471405181
Publisher:         HotKey/Bonnier
Release Date:   December 2016  

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Although Trollhunters was been released on Netflix late in 2016, the written word is far more gruesome that anything you could possibly see on the screen.

As you read page after page, slowly turning each one because, although you really don’t want to know more, you can’t help it, you simply have to read it for yourself.

Trollhunters is a completely fantastical journey into the world of things that go bump in the night and comes under the heading of sci-fi or something worse, maybe horror!

San Bernardino in California is a town that is mired in grief. Children have been going missing with absolutely no trace, beginning with one each month and slowly increasing to one a week and then more often.

Two brothers are racing their bikes down a canal way, playing a game of the imagination. One brother loses sight of the other, but as he races down the canal he finds his brother’s bike in a mangled heap, but no sign of his brother. As the weeks go by and their father continues to search, more and more children disappear.

Years go by with the surviving brother eventually having his own son, over protecting him and living with complete paranoia, as to what is and has, been causing the disappearances of the children.

It is not until his son, Jim, and his mate Tub become embroiled in the underground world of the Trolls, discover that the Uncle who went missing is still very much alive and living in the underworld as a warrior, things begin to change, but whether the change will eventually be for the good of the township is difficult to say.

Lurking underground is a completely incredible, scary and smelly world inhabited by the Trolls. They have been there for generations, enjoy the flesh of young children and in some cases, have an almost addictive taste for cats! When an old walking bridge is relocated from Scotland to San Bernardino things in the underworld begin to hot up.

Jim and Tub discover, with the help of their school friend and possible sweetheart of Jims, Clare, that if they want to seek liberation for themselves and the townspeople, they may have to combine forces, becoming warriors who can take on the worst of the Trolls in a fight over good and evil.

Can they liberate the good Trolls, destroy the evil trolls, make a difference in their world and will eventually good triumph over evil, or is it all just one of those horrible, horrible dreams that you have that verge between reality and fantasy.

Whatever, remember that you really do have to be very, very careful of just exactly what does live under your bed; Monsters, Trolls or just a load of smelly old socks!

Fast paced, at times terribly gruesome and descriptive, funny and revolting, Trollhunters will be enjoyed by anyone who loves to be confused, is scarred of what may well lay under the bed and enjoys a fantastic, outrageous, fantasy adventure.