In a world not of our own, the babe of a Baron is whisked away into the night by his nursemaid and a knight. As they flee, the castle they called home burns, over run with soldiers of the enemy. Nothing matters anymore but the safety of the child.They fail and succeed a the same time.Both adults meet their demise, however the baby is taken up by a female troll who has just lost her own infant. It is here Claye, known by trolls as Maggot, is suckled, then raised as a troll. Throughout his entire childhood he is painfully reminded how different his is and how weak. It gives him a deep determination which carries him the rest of his life.Eventually he leaves his troll clan to encounter the strange and confusing ways of man. Caught in the midst of war, he tries to learn the ways of men. Time and again, cruelty and death drive him away. Having spent time with both sides of the war, he learns first hand how false and treacherous his kind are. The one thing which keeps him returning is the pursuit of a beautiful woman. His determination wins him the chance to meet her and find his birth mother. Part Tarzan of the Apes and part Mogley of Jungle Book, Maggot’s tale is a charming one. At times the story is gritty, other times fast paced action but always, always it is entertaining.I’m not fond of the ending. It’s not one I would’ve chosen. But then, in our real lives, things seldom turn out how we expect them. Read The Prodigal Troll and see what you think.I enjoyed this book. Think "Tarzan of the Trolls".
The central character is a boy brought up by trolls, à la Tarzan or Mowgli, who then seeks his destiny among his own kind; he wanders into a human war between subsistence pastoralists and settled agriculturalists (Native Americans vs European feudal settlers seeming to be the paradigm) and eventually, in an ending that came rather abruptly though did at least fit with what we had seen before, chooses his own way.I was a bit dubious about the sexual politics of the book. The story is all about how Maggot (né Claye) becomes a Man; the only thoroughly evil character is a eunuch who was born male and is addressed by female pronouns; and Maggot's crucial decisions are about rejecting the women who might care for him. That may not have been what the author intended but that was what came across to me.A more minor snark: "prodigal" does not mean "long-lost", it means "wastefully extravagant".
