Trolls in the Hamptons, by Celia Jerome
Book Review by Joshua Palmatier
Have you read this book?
I've just finished Celia Jerome's debut novel Trolls in the Hamptons.
It's a mix of fantasy, humor, and romance, with a heavy emphasis on
the romance elements, which is not an element that I personally prefer
to read. The closest thing I've read that you could compare it to would
be Gini Koch's Touched by an Alien, and I'd say if you enjoyed that book, you'll like Trolls in the Hamptons as well.
The general plot (without giving anything away) is that the main character, Willow Tate, is an illustrator/writer who mostly writes graphic novels for a living. Everything is going along fine, until she has this new idea for a novel involving trolls. She begins sketching out the outlines of the idea . . . and suddenly a giant, red troll--just like the one she's just drawn--appears and wreaks havoc in Manhattan outside her apartment. The problem is that no one appears to see this troll, blaming all of the damage and such on a giant red trolley, or train, or whatever. Willow tries to rationalize the experience away, but when it keeps happening--and when she gets a visit from an agent of the DUE (the Department of Unexplained Events)--it becomes more difficult. And did I mention the agent was hot?
And that's where we get into the heavy romance plot. Like I said, such plot lines are not a personal preference for me, so my focus remained on the fantasy plot line and how it developed. In general, as long as the fantasy plot line weighs in more than the romance plot line, I'm fine. Here, I'd say that the romance plot line is more important though. The fantasy plot line is there, but never really comes to the fore, even at the end. This books deals more with Willow, her love life, her fun and eccentric family and friends, and her attempts to deal with the sudden influx of magic in her life, even as she comes to realize that the magic was always there, she simply ignored it.
So, if you like romances with a splash of the fantastic interwoven into it (and I know plenty of people who do), I'd recommend this book. If you prefer more fantasy and less romance, this may not be the book for you. Willow as a main character was fun and interesting (if perhaps neurotic) and, like Tanya Huff's The Enchantment Emporium, her family is crazy and eccentric and a lot of fun as well, so I'll likely read the next installment (coming in May 2011). Not as much action as the more Sf-oriented Touched by an Alien, but it had its moments.
The general plot (without giving anything away) is that the main character, Willow Tate, is an illustrator/writer who mostly writes graphic novels for a living. Everything is going along fine, until she has this new idea for a novel involving trolls. She begins sketching out the outlines of the idea . . . and suddenly a giant, red troll--just like the one she's just drawn--appears and wreaks havoc in Manhattan outside her apartment. The problem is that no one appears to see this troll, blaming all of the damage and such on a giant red trolley, or train, or whatever. Willow tries to rationalize the experience away, but when it keeps happening--and when she gets a visit from an agent of the DUE (the Department of Unexplained Events)--it becomes more difficult. And did I mention the agent was hot?
And that's where we get into the heavy romance plot. Like I said, such plot lines are not a personal preference for me, so my focus remained on the fantasy plot line and how it developed. In general, as long as the fantasy plot line weighs in more than the romance plot line, I'm fine. Here, I'd say that the romance plot line is more important though. The fantasy plot line is there, but never really comes to the fore, even at the end. This books deals more with Willow, her love life, her fun and eccentric family and friends, and her attempts to deal with the sudden influx of magic in her life, even as she comes to realize that the magic was always there, she simply ignored it.
So, if you like romances with a splash of the fantastic interwoven into it (and I know plenty of people who do), I'd recommend this book. If you prefer more fantasy and less romance, this may not be the book for you. Willow as a main character was fun and interesting (if perhaps neurotic) and, like Tanya Huff's The Enchantment Emporium, her family is crazy and eccentric and a lot of fun as well, so I'll likely read the next installment (coming in May 2011). Not as much action as the more Sf-oriented Touched by an Alien, but it had its moments.
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