Spookdaddy
Cuckoo
- Joined
- May 24, 2006
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- Midwich
Swedish, rather than Danish - this is something I mentioned some years ago; in order to avoid repeating myself, I'm going to, erm, repeat myself. From Page 18 of the Suggestions for a Good Read thread:
I've no idea how much actual troll-lore Ekman uses, or if the troll motif is just a device, pure and simple. I really enjoyed it and may now have to re-read when I get back home.
Edit: I notice that I misspelled the author's christian name in the original post - it's Kerstin, not Kirstin.
The Forest of Hours by Kirstin Ekman.
I first became aware of this author through her novel Blackwater - an early action in the current Scandinavian takeover of the crime fiction genre.
The Forest of Hours is an entirely different kettle of fish, but equally excellent.
Skord is a forest troll who becomes infatuated with human beings and their world to such an extent that he leaves the forest in order to join them, becoming indistinguishable from the humans around him to all but a perceptive few. His lifetime extends over several centuries and his career includes banditry, soldiering, alchemy and medicine. Always at heart a creature of the forest, Skord remains a very moral animal when it comes to nature – wincing at the wearing of skins, the spilling of animal blood and the felling of trees - but decidedly more amoral when it comes to his adopted species; the book can be brutal as well as beautiful.
Despite the presence of trolls and giants and magical animals this is decidedly not a fantasy novel in the way that definition would normally be applied, and I wouldn’t class it as magical realism either; it’s really a book about the nature of humanity thrown into relief through being as observed by an outsider, and it’s point of view is pragmatic, practical and earthy rather than in any way surreal or ethereal. The writing style is clear and lucid and the descriptions of the natural world are stunning without being twee or romanticised – possibly the best descriptions of nature that I’ve ever read.
I think it’s out of print at the moment – but it’s well worth the effort of hunting down.
I've no idea how much actual troll-lore Ekman uses, or if the troll motif is just a device, pure and simple. I really enjoyed it and may now have to re-read when I get back home.
Edit: I notice that I misspelled the author's christian name in the original post - it's Kerstin, not Kirstin.
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