FernFolio » mythology

The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer

fernfolio — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:28:19 +0000

Raised by a god-fearing, and embittered father, and a mother who has quietly stopped practising her women’s magic because of her husband’s disapproval, Jack has been accustomed to sorrow and disappointment, and to working hard from dawn to dusk tending the sheep and the crops, gathering firewood, hauling water, and carrying food to the village Bard. Though he works cheerfully, his parents’ love and attention is focused on his five-year old sister, Lucy, with her golden hair, pretty face and insistent manner. Captivated, Jack’s father has invented stories about the little girl, telling her she is actually a lost princess whose real parents live in a beautiful castle.
When the village Bard chooses Jack as his apprentice, the boy moves into the old man’s cottage, where he begins to learn about music and magic, and discovers the joy and power of the natural world. At first, he relishes his new life, quickly developing a deep affection for the wise and caring old man who endeavours to teach him, and delighting in his fledgling magic skills.
Then one night Jack is awakened by the Bard who is caught in the grips of a nightmare, one visited upon him by an enemy from across the sea. Recognising the impending danger, the Bard explains to his apprentice that years before, when he was Bard to King Hrothgar, he helped a hero named Beowulf defeat the monster Grendel. That monster’s sister Frith, queen to King Ivar the Boneless, who is half-troll and therefore possesses a dangerous amount of magic herself, has sworn to find the Bard and kill him. A shape-shifter, Frith has ridden the nightmare over the sea from Ivar’s hall in the North in search of the Bard, and now that she has found him, only chaos and destruction can follow.
Too soon, ships are spotted off the coast, and the Bard identifies the raiders as Berserkers, who drink a strange potion and become something other than entirely human. Alerted by the Bard, the villagers abandon their cottages and hide in the forest, while the old man and Jack remain to summon a thick fog, hoping to confuse the raiders. Jack’s sister, Lucy, long used to getting her way, refuses to stay in the forest and return to the village, where she is captured by the berserkers. Torn between his duty toward the Bard, and his affection for his sister, Jack allows himself to be seized by the raiders, hoping that he will somehow be able to protect and free the little girl.
Jack and Lucy are taken north to the lands of Ivar the Boneless and Queen Frith, where Jack become slave and bard to Olaf, the giant of a man who captured him, while his golden-haired little sister is given to the queen. After hearing the poem sung by Jack in Olaf’s honour, and greedy for her own glory, Queen Frith demands that the boy sing a poem for her. Terrified, Jack begins to sing, drawing on magic to help him, but things go awry and somehow Jack undoes the spell that makes Frith appear beautiful, and causes all of her long, red-gold hair to fall out.
Furious, Queen Frith vows to kill Jack, until she is reminded that he is the only one who can undo the effects of his magic. When it becomes apparent that, as an apprentice bard, Jack does not know how to restore the queen’s beauty or her hair, the half-troll issues an ultimatum. Jack will go on a quest into Jotsunheim, the land of the trolls, to find Mimir’s Well and drink the song-mead which it contains, . He will then return to Ivar’s hall and undo his magic in time for the harvest festival or Lucy will be sacrificed to the goddess Freya.
So Jack sets off with Olaf and Thorgil, a bad-tempered and hot-blooded shield maiden, to brave the many dangers of Jotsunheim. Along the way, they will be almost overcome by the sweet and deadly perfume of a meadow full of giant flowers, attacked by a troll-bear, and have to do battle with a nest of dragonlets. On that journey, Jack will learn a great deal about himself and others, both human and non-human alike, and he will come to understand that, as the Bard once told him, “the world’s a frightening place, full of glory and wonder and danger.”
Set against the backdrop of the 800s, when Viking raiders pillaged Saxon villages along England’s coast, and drawing upon medieval and Norse legends, The Sea of Trolls is a complex and richly-detailed adventure with strong and believable characters. It is written by three-time Newbery prize winner Nancy Farmer, whose other books include A Girl Named Disaster.
FernFolio Editor

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

fernfolio — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:59:13 +0000

Twelve-year old Percy Jackson seems to be plagued by bad luck. Constantly in trouble at his upper New York state boarding school, hounded by a nasty classmate named Nancy Bobofit, and struggling with both dyslexia and ADHD, it’s like he’s an accident waiting for a place to happen. And it happens inside one of the galleries at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which Percy and his classmates are visiting on a field trip. Attacked by Mrs. Dodds, his math teacher, he finds himself killing her with a sword tossed to him by Mr. Brunner, his wheelchair-bound latin teacher. Mrs. Dodds’ body turns into dust before Percy’s stunned eyes and, stranger still, no one, including Mr. Brunner, remembers anything about the incident or the math teacher.
In the weeks following the trip to Metropolitan Museum of Art, Percy’s marks plummet from C- to F, as he relives Mrs. Dodds’ death, and wonders if he’s lost his mind. Even his friend Grover, an awkward, rather hesitant kid made lame by muscular disease, can’t cheer him up or help him to put the nightmares behind him. Then, just as the school year is winding up, Percy decides to pay a visit to Mr. Brunner’s office, and overhears the latin teacher in conversation with Grover. They are talking about him, about the summer solstice, about protecting him, and about keeping him in the dark just a little longer.
When Grover turns up on the same Greyhound bus bound for New York City, after the school year ends, and makes it clear that he wants to escort his friend safely home, Percy gets mad and ditches him as soon as they reach the bus station. He heads home to the apartment shared by his loving mother, Sally, who works in a candy store but dreams of becoming a writer, and his loutish stepfather, Gabe, who lives to play poker, verbally abuse his wife, and make Percy’s life unbearable.
Fortunately, Sally has organized a weekend away for just her and Percy to a cottage at the end of Long Island Sound. There they spend an idyllic day at the beach, a place both of them love because it is where Sally met and fell in love with Percy’s father, who was lost at sea when the boy was only a baby. But nightfall brings a bad storm and an anxious Grover, who demands to know if Percy has told his mother about the incident with Mrs. Dodd. When she learns of it, a very alarmed Sally packs things up and the three of them head off into the storm to get Percy to safety at a nearby summer camp.
Just as they reach the camp, Sally’s car swerves off the road, and Percy and Grover are injured. Sally orders Percy to get to the camp, and takes off through the storm to intercept the creature that has been sent to stop him. But Percy cannot leave Grover behind, and manages to drag him from the car. Together, they reach the camp’s boundaries, where Percy collapses. When he awakens, two days later, Percy discovers that he has lost all that he has ever loved, and that most everything his mother told him about his father was a lie.
Camp Half-Blood, where he now finds himself, is a safe place, and a training facility, for the children of Greek gods. These gods are fond of entering into relationships with humans and the half-blood children that result from these unions are both blessed by special abilities and cursed by the dangers that their unusual parentage attracts. Percy is at first sceptical about this revelation, certain that his father was human, but Grover and Mr. Brunner, who are both far more than Percy could ever have imagined, assure him that his very ability to enter the camp grounds is proof of his parentage. What no one knows, however, is exactly which of the Greek gods fathered Percy, so he is placed in the cabin of the Hermes, the god of travellers, until his parentage can be determined. The boy settles into camp life, and rapidly finds himself involved in a variety of camp activities, such as metalwork, where you can forge your own sword, arts and crafts, where you can sandblast a Grecian statue, ancient Greek lessons, archery, foot racing, wrestling, and capture the flag. But just as he begins to enjoy his new life, Percy is attacked and the camp directors realize that the boy has an enemy inside the camp.
Concerned that he is no longer safe at Camp Half-Blood, the directors send Percy to the Oracle of Delphi, who prophecies that the boy will find what was stolen and see it safely returned. It is then that Percy learns that Zeus’ thunderbolt, the symbol of his power, has been stolen and that he, Percy Jackson, is the prime suspect in the crime. If a terrible war between the gods is to be averted, and Percy is to clear his name, the thunderbolt must be found and returned to Zeus, and by the summer solstice, now only days away. Accompanied by his friend Grover, and Annabeth, a fellow camper who eyes the boy with considerable suspicion, Percy sets off on a quest that will test his mettle and pit him and his companions against greatest and most terrible monsters of Greek mythology.
Written by Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief is the first of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books, which currently number five. Steeped in mythology, yet action-packed and full of tense moments interspersed with humour, this novel is sure to appeal to boys and girls, and eager and reluctant readers, alike!
FernFolio Editor

Loch by Paul Zindal

fernfolio — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:21:44 +0000

Fifteen-year old Luke, and his younger sister Zaidee, have spent most of their lives moving around with their marine biologist father, Dr. Sam Perkins. Sam works for the wealthy and controversial Anthony Cavenger, who travels the world in pursuit of mythological creatures – yetis, dragons, sasquatches and sea monsters. This time, Cavenger’s hunt has brought the Perkins to the shores of Lake Alban, near New York’s famous Lake Champlain, where the multimillionaire plans to find irrefutable proof of the water monster whom locales have whispered about for decades.
For Luke and Zaidee, this latest adventure allows them to spend time aboard Cavenger’s search vessel, helping their father and trying to bridge the emotional gaps created by their mother’s recent death from cancer. Once an internationally renowned scientist, Dr. Sam’s job with Cavenger has jeopardised his professional reputation and eaten away at his spirit. Though worried about his father, Luke is happy to renew his friendship with Sarah, and to spend time out on the water with her and his sister Zaidee.
Luke and Zaidee and Sarah are all aboard Cavenger’s boats the day that the search team sweeps Lake Alban for signs of the water monster, and all of them are witness to the horrifying events that take place when Cavenger orders great nets to be lowered into the lake in hopes of cornering and capturing the creature. Once he sees what lurks in the depths of Lake Alban, even the death of one of his crew won’t stop Cavenger’s hunt.
Frightened by what has happened, Dr. Sam orders Luke and Zaidee off the lake but they rapidly get bored of the trailer and their computer games, and decide to sneak in a little fishing from the family bass boat. Then Luke notices some scrape marks near the shore at the far end of Lake Alban, and makes a discovery that will change his and Zaidee’s and, ultimately, Dr. Sam’s lives forever.
Written by famed author Paul Zindal, who also wrote such classics as The Pigman and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, Loch is a terrific tale about two young people who discover that distance between fantasy and science, and fear and love, is not nearly as great as you might have imagined.
FernFolio Editor

Dusssie by Nancy Springer

fernfolio — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 02:14:06 +0000

As she reaches puberty, thirteen year-old Dusie is contending with all of the uncertainties of adolescence; fear that she is not brave or kind or wise, fear that she will never be attractive enough, cool enough, lovable enough to deserve that special love for which she longs.
When she awakens one morning to discover that, in place of her hair, she has a headful of snakes, Dusie is horrified. Things only get worse when she learns that her mother, Euryale, is not human but rather a gorgon, an immortal creature of Greek mythology, and that she, like Dusie and her dead sister, Medusa, has been cursed by the goddess Athena with a headful of writhing snakes.
Dusie is not comforted by her mother’s exclamations over the beautiful colours of her snakes, nor by her assurance that none of them is poisonous, in fact she cannot bear even to touch them. Just when things seem like they cannot get worse, Dusie realizes that she can hear her snakes talking and that they can read her every thought.
Dusie tries to cover her head and carry on with her life, but the snakes, and her new gorgon talents make a normal life impossible. Disaster strikes when Dusie gets cornered by a friend who is overly curious about her new look, and she must contend with the results of her actions.
At first, Dusie is furious with her mother, who has lied to her about her background and failed to prepare her for its challenges. She is determined to find a way to rid herself of her snakes and reclaim her life, but her snakes have other plans for Dusie, ones that will be immeasurably more difficult and more rewarding.
Dusssie, by Nancy Springer, is a story about adolescence and learning to true to yourself. Among the lessons Dusie learns to trust herself, to be herself, and that, before someone else can love you, you must love yourself. A wonderful story.
FernFolio Editor