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Troll Valley
Chris Anderson has everything. He’s the son of the richest family in town. He lives in a beautiful, loving home. He even has a fairy godmother. Chris Anderson also has nothing. He was born with a deformed arm, and when he gets angry he sees visions that terrify him. At the turn of the Twentieth Century, in a nation wrestling with faith and science, tradition and change, Chris will be forced to confront his own nature, and learn the meanings of freedom, love, and the grace of God.
368 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 11, 2012
3 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Lars Walker
19 books31 followersWalker is a native of Kenyon, Minnesota and lives in Minneapolis. He has worked as a crabmeat packer in Alaska, a radio announcer, a church secretary and an administrative assistant and is presently librarian and bookstore manager for the schools of the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations in Plymouth, Minnesota. He is the author of "The Year of the Warrior" and other novels and is the editor of the journal of the Georg Sverdrup Society. Walker says, I never believed that God gave me whatever gifts I have in order to entertain fellow Christians. I want to confront the world with the claims of Jesus Christ.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 26, 2025
Loved this book. Simple story telling that struck me in a way I didn't expect and wasn't prepared for. Wisdom from the author, "Let's begin again. Life is too short - there's too much pain in it - to let yesterday's sins murder today's joys." We must live in forgiveness. We all need God's grace.
May 3, 2012
I've read Walker's other books and like this one the best. His characters have authentic voices and raise questions that are not clearly answered, which makes this fantastic story all the more real. It's a graceful coming of age story, following Christian Anderson, who is a sad boy with a deformed arm. He lives with a bright, inventive, but overly cautious father, a strong and increasingly domineering mother, a hard but loving grandfather, two siblings, and a fairy godmother. But there's no bibbity-bobbity-boo here.
Christian slips into the underworld or faerie land a few times. You might even say the whole story is about how faerie land is breaking in on Chris' life. One time, he sees a giant hammering away on the manacles tying him to the ground. He's crying because he can't get free, but when Chris asks him about it, he says he chained himself down so that he wouldn't attack the beautiful children who were playing nearby. Now in his chains, he wrestles to get free and attack them. That complex conflict of the heart and will may be the key to Troll Valley. Christian and other characters are limited in ways that keep them healthy to a degree and restrained. They don't know how to assert their desires in positive ways and chafe at their restrictions until they can no longer stand it. If and when they break free, they make a terrible mess of themselves. Can they handle the self-determination they seek? Some of the restrictions which bind them are not sound ones, which makes the binding worse, and that is one of the major themes that makes this novel wonderful.
The perpetual lie of the devil is that we should control ourselves. "God controls himself; why shouldn't we?" asks the enemy of our souls. All of us long to have some kind of control of our lives. Most of us believe we have it, not noticing how we define ourselves in response to our families and societies. The devil knows we can't be truly independent of anyone or thing, but we want to believe we can. For us to die trying, of course, is his goal. He knows we can't handle it.
God calls us to get our eyes off of ourselves and look to him, who is the springhead of life. He wants us dependent on him, and why not? He is the Good, the Life, the Truth, the Love. We know what is good in this world because of his character and revelation. If we try to control our lives through scientific rules or anger or rebellion or if we escape into alcohol or other amusements, we miss life and the joy the Lord calls us to. That's what I got out of Troll Valley. I recommend it.
Christian slips into the underworld or faerie land a few times. You might even say the whole story is about how faerie land is breaking in on Chris' life. One time, he sees a giant hammering away on the manacles tying him to the ground. He's crying because he can't get free, but when Chris asks him about it, he says he chained himself down so that he wouldn't attack the beautiful children who were playing nearby. Now in his chains, he wrestles to get free and attack them. That complex conflict of the heart and will may be the key to Troll Valley. Christian and other characters are limited in ways that keep them healthy to a degree and restrained. They don't know how to assert their desires in positive ways and chafe at their restrictions until they can no longer stand it. If and when they break free, they make a terrible mess of themselves. Can they handle the self-determination they seek? Some of the restrictions which bind them are not sound ones, which makes the binding worse, and that is one of the major themes that makes this novel wonderful.
The perpetual lie of the devil is that we should control ourselves. "God controls himself; why shouldn't we?" asks the enemy of our souls. All of us long to have some kind of control of our lives. Most of us believe we have it, not noticing how we define ourselves in response to our families and societies. The devil knows we can't be truly independent of anyone or thing, but we want to believe we can. For us to die trying, of course, is his goal. He knows we can't handle it.
God calls us to get our eyes off of ourselves and look to him, who is the springhead of life. He wants us dependent on him, and why not? He is the Good, the Life, the Truth, the Love. We know what is good in this world because of his character and revelation. If we try to control our lives through scientific rules or anger or rebellion or if we escape into alcohol or other amusements, we miss life and the joy the Lord calls us to. That's what I got out of Troll Valley. I recommend it.
January 4, 2021
I'm a big fan of Lars Walker and everything of his that I have ever read. Having said that, I wasn't quite sure what genre Troll Valley would be. Would it be as historical as his Viking stories? As mythic, even though this book is set in the United States around the turn of the Twentieth Century? As folklorish and multiworld as what he's set in the future? So let me tell you. :)
This book is about a family of Norwegian immigrants to the United States. They begin as farmers, but just about every aspect of life, including changing business and table delicacies, get explored as Lars Walker tells a story following the main character as he grows from a boy into a man.
There is folklore, but there is also a heavy dose of Lutheran pietism. You'll learn about Hans Hauge, even as you learn more about the prohibition movement in the States. You'll learn about Norwegian immigration and the American melting pot as it was once experienced. But what I love about this book is how it weaves together habits and episodes within a larger story arch that spans cool aspects of American history (ie., cowboys, outlaws, and goldmining, to name a few) with realistic life struggles that have significant spiritual overtones. Yes, it has occasional . . . should I call it fey intervention? Yes, it deals with things like prohibition, coexisting with other religious beliefs, industrialization, etc. but all together it really is just a great American novel that's truly Great American Novel material!
This book is Christian historical fantasy but in far from a preachy way. The Christians are not automatically the good guys! There are superstitions and situations stretched beyond the breaking point.
There is also a modern story frame, which has ongoing percussions with me: It's like I'm also learning the story to help me dry out.
Read this book! But don't expect the main character to be a troll. :) I think Troll Valley is a reference to a place in Norway with the settlers establishing a new Troll Valley of sorts. It wouldn't surprise me if it's also a way to ponder in what way we all have trolls in our lives.
Fantastic book from a fantastic author. I will happily read every book that that man writes.
This book is about a family of Norwegian immigrants to the United States. They begin as farmers, but just about every aspect of life, including changing business and table delicacies, get explored as Lars Walker tells a story following the main character as he grows from a boy into a man.
There is folklore, but there is also a heavy dose of Lutheran pietism. You'll learn about Hans Hauge, even as you learn more about the prohibition movement in the States. You'll learn about Norwegian immigration and the American melting pot as it was once experienced. But what I love about this book is how it weaves together habits and episodes within a larger story arch that spans cool aspects of American history (ie., cowboys, outlaws, and goldmining, to name a few) with realistic life struggles that have significant spiritual overtones. Yes, it has occasional . . . should I call it fey intervention? Yes, it deals with things like prohibition, coexisting with other religious beliefs, industrialization, etc. but all together it really is just a great American novel that's truly Great American Novel material!
This book is Christian historical fantasy but in far from a preachy way. The Christians are not automatically the good guys! There are superstitions and situations stretched beyond the breaking point.
There is also a modern story frame, which has ongoing percussions with me: It's like I'm also learning the story to help me dry out.
Read this book! But don't expect the main character to be a troll. :) I think Troll Valley is a reference to a place in Norway with the settlers establishing a new Troll Valley of sorts. It wouldn't surprise me if it's also a way to ponder in what way we all have trolls in our lives.
Fantastic book from a fantastic author. I will happily read every book that that man writes.
September 8, 2025
Historic Magical Realism
Following a malformed young Norwegian at the beginning of the twentieth century, Troll Valley is a quiet story with high interpersonal and internal drama.
Set in a developing farming community in Minnesota, Walker captures the historical realities and hardships of this time period so well I often found myself looking up dates and locations.
While the story feels grounded and realistic, there is a supernatural aspect to the story - the protagonist's (fairy) godmother.
Troll Valley feels like an outlier in Lar Walker's writings. While his other novels and series feature great character development, this book is largely a character piece. The drama comes from our protagonist's experiences and responses to changing times.
I read the novel a few years ago and loved it.
I just finished the audiobook and it is equally excellent.
Narrated by the author, his acting abilities begin to shine (SHINE!) as additional characters appear in the narrative.
Readers who enjoy historical fiction, magical realism, Norwegian history, Norwegian folk tales, and character driven stories will love Troll Valley.
Following a malformed young Norwegian at the beginning of the twentieth century, Troll Valley is a quiet story with high interpersonal and internal drama.
Set in a developing farming community in Minnesota, Walker captures the historical realities and hardships of this time period so well I often found myself looking up dates and locations.
While the story feels grounded and realistic, there is a supernatural aspect to the story - the protagonist's (fairy) godmother.
Troll Valley feels like an outlier in Lar Walker's writings. While his other novels and series feature great character development, this book is largely a character piece. The drama comes from our protagonist's experiences and responses to changing times.
I read the novel a few years ago and loved it.
I just finished the audiobook and it is equally excellent.
Narrated by the author, his acting abilities begin to shine (SHINE!) as additional characters appear in the narrative.
Readers who enjoy historical fiction, magical realism, Norwegian history, Norwegian folk tales, and character driven stories will love Troll Valley.
June 27, 2012
I've never done a book review before, so I'm still figuring out how to do it. First of all, I'll say that I really enjoyed reading "Troll Valley". I'd call it a Christian/American Historical Fiction (turn of the 20th century)/Fantasy book, with a light dusting of horror from time to time (mostly off-screen).
When I started the book, the fact that it opened with a character waking up in a strange room with no idea where he was, or how he got there, I almost burst out laughing. That set-up is almost a cliché for a bad slush entry. Fortunately, though, it didn't stop me from reading it.
I enjoyed the fact that the book was unabashedly Christian, though not always in favor of the Church, especially as shown in the narrator's mother.
Another thing that I really enjoyed about the book was the glimpses of magic seen throughout it. The narrator will be talking about some perfectly ordinary happening of the early 20th century, and then suddenly and matter-of-factly go into a vision or some other magical event. He does no magic, but has magic in his blood, which profoundly effects him and his family, even four generations later.
Portions of the book revolve around the narrator's church experience, which starts off well, and gradually deteriorates. But at the climax of the book, some of the characters stop a great evil from being done by quoting Scripture. That was a high point of the story to me.
The low point was the section shortly before that, where we watch the first person narrator gradually turning himself into a world-class jerk, and seeing all his justifications for it.
The main story ends on a sustained note of pure, undeserved grace. I enjoyed it, but it reminded me, that to the world, and on the outside, moments of grace can sometimes be confused with stupidity. It also made me wonder how Bathsheba felt.
When I started the book, the fact that it opened with a character waking up in a strange room with no idea where he was, or how he got there, I almost burst out laughing. That set-up is almost a cliché for a bad slush entry. Fortunately, though, it didn't stop me from reading it.
I enjoyed the fact that the book was unabashedly Christian, though not always in favor of the Church, especially as shown in the narrator's mother.
Another thing that I really enjoyed about the book was the glimpses of magic seen throughout it. The narrator will be talking about some perfectly ordinary happening of the early 20th century, and then suddenly and matter-of-factly go into a vision or some other magical event. He does no magic, but has magic in his blood, which profoundly effects him and his family, even four generations later.
Portions of the book revolve around the narrator's church experience, which starts off well, and gradually deteriorates. But at the climax of the book, some of the characters stop a great evil from being done by quoting Scripture. That was a high point of the story to me.
The low point was the section shortly before that, where we watch the first person narrator gradually turning himself into a world-class jerk, and seeing all his justifications for it.
The main story ends on a sustained note of pure, undeserved grace. I enjoyed it, but it reminded me, that to the world, and on the outside, moments of grace can sometimes be confused with stupidity. It also made me wonder how Bathsheba felt.
January 13, 2013
I have a Kindle full of books acquired for free, like Boethius and the Kalevala and books of Fairy Tales. And for other books, I like the fact of having a book enough that I usually buy the hard-copy even if the ebook is a bit cheaper.
Then I read the first couple chapters of Troll Valley and was so enthralled that I spent money on an ebook for the first time--and also finished an ebook for the first time.
Like many of Walker's works, Troll Valley is probably best classified as magical realism. The protagonist is the crippled son of Norwegian farmers in early 1900s Minnesota, and the only strength he sees in himself is his fairy godmother. These fairies, however, are the huldre-folk of Norse folklore, not the flower-flitting wisps of Shakespeare's day.
The story follows him as he grows up and begins to take control of his own life and destiny--only to find that he who finds his life will lose it, and that every single one of us is a cripple in need of love.
Then I read the first couple chapters of Troll Valley and was so enthralled that I spent money on an ebook for the first time--and also finished an ebook for the first time.
Like many of Walker's works, Troll Valley is probably best classified as magical realism. The protagonist is the crippled son of Norwegian farmers in early 1900s Minnesota, and the only strength he sees in himself is his fairy godmother. These fairies, however, are the huldre-folk of Norse folklore, not the flower-flitting wisps of Shakespeare's day.
The story follows him as he grows up and begins to take control of his own life and destiny--only to find that he who finds his life will lose it, and that every single one of us is a cripple in need of love.
March 29, 2013
This was a delightful tale of mixed genres. Few books have made me stop and look deeply at myself the way this one did. When I reviewed
Blood and Judgment
, I compared it to
The Abolition of Man
. Troll Valley reminds me of nothing less than
Till We Have Faces
. Yes, it's that good.
Disclosure: I received a review copy.
Disclosure: I received a review copy.
March 10, 2012
It is hard to put your finger on what exactly this book is ... A historical novel with a dash of the fantastic. A fascinating look into another culture transplanted to America and changing in ways large and small from generation to generation. A love story where the pure force of love overcomes psychological, physical and even supernatural forces.
I am still not sure. But it is a captivating read and one that pulls you into its characters and settings - making you feel like you are reading about a real place and real people; that you are reading history in a sense not literature.
I am still not sure. But it is a captivating read and one that pulls you into its characters and settings - making you feel like you are reading about a real place and real people; that you are reading history in a sense not literature.
April 11, 2012
I enjoyed this book, and will include Lars Walker as one of my favorite authors. Yes, this is a little bit of a strange book: I can't quite call it historical fiction, and I can't quite call it fantasy. It contains strong elements of both.
It's also great fun.
It's also great fun.
April 16, 2012
Gave it two stars, because I thought "it was ok." That said - can see others giving it four. It was well-written, but ... different. I really have no idea how to describe it. A very unusual book in terms of structure and plot.
June 4, 2013
I don't know what to call this book. It's a mixture of historical fiction and fantasy I suppose. The characters really draw you in with their complexity and rawness. The book really draws you into some hard situations where it's hard not to think about some hard questions as well.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews