The Troll King

The Bowl of Souls #9

by Trevor H. Cooley

Part Four of the Jharro Grove Saga and the 9th book in the acclaimed Bowl of Souls Series, an action-filled fantasy series set in a world of magic, mystery, and monsters!He was born a king. Half troll and half man, he crawled from the womb of a god and found himself leader of a deformed but powerful race. As he struggles to lead his people Mellinda slithers into their midst. She wields the Rings of Stardeon and she has her own plans for his people.A prophet has been taken. A demon army joins the enemies of the grove. Will Justan’s might and Tarah Woodblade’s powers be enough to help Jhonate’s people protect the Jharro Grove? It may all depend on the choices made by The Troll King.Join Justan, Fist, and Tarah on an epic journey that will pit them against dark forces that plot to destroy the Jharro Grove and end the world. Ogres and trolls, warriors and wizards are destined to clash, their fates guided by The Bowl of Souls.The Bowl of Souls series.THE MOONRAT SAGA1. Eye of the Moonrat2. Messenger of the Dark Prophet3. Hunt of the Bandham1.5. Hilt's Pride4. War of Stardeon5. Mother of the MoonratTHE JHARRO GROVE SAGA6. Tarah Woodblade7. Protector of the Grove8. Ogre Apprentice9. The Troll King10. Priestess of War11. BehemothTHE DARK PROPHET SAGA12. Sir Edge13. Halfbreeds (2021)

Genres: Fantasy, Magic

504 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2015

About the author

I was born in South Carolina and have lived all around the United states. Utah, New Mexico, Michigan and Tennessee.

I started reading novels in second grade and my love of Fantasy started with Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series. I couldn't get enough, continued with David Eddings, Tolkein, Robert Jordan. All I wanted was to become a published writer.

The characters and concepts that eventually became the Bowl of Souls series started in my teens. I wrote short stories, kept notebooks full of ideas, and generally dreamed about my world constantly. There were several attempts at starting a novel over the years.

Not long after I was married, my wife told me to stop talking about the story and write it down. Here I am, many years and rewrites and submissions and rejection letters later taking the plunge into self publishing.

The Bowl of Souls Series:

THE MOONRAT SAGA
1. Eye of the Moonrat
2. Messenger of the Dark Prophet
3. Hunt of the Bandham
1.5. Hilt's Pride
4. War of Stardeon
5. Mother of the Moonrat

THE JHARRO GROVE SAGA
1. Tarah Woodblade
2. Protector of the Grove
3. Ogre Apprentice
4. The Troll King
5. Priestess of War
6. Behemoth (2017)

THE DARK PROPHET SAGA
1. Sir Edge (Upcoming)

TALLOW JONES
1. Tallow Jones: Wizard Detective (Fall 2017)

NOOSE JUMPERS
1. Noose Jumpers: A Mythological Western
2. (Upcoming)
I currently live in Idaho with my wife and four children.

Reviews

[Milan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good read but I found that the many many many PoV's detracted from the overall quality of the story. There were in my opinion just a bit too many plot lines.

This book seemed as a sort of setup for the future novels, but I think it would have been far better novel if it focused on Malaroo completely and on Justin Jhonate and Tarah as main characters. I love Fist and I'm glad he and Maryanne got together, but it seems to me that it could have been better if his part was omitted till next book or shortened a bit.

It all worked in the end though even if I complain a bit.

[Bob Hengstebeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read this book when it was first released. I know not all of Cooley's fans liked the book because it is light on action, I disagree. This is late in the saga for world building but it was timed well and adds a new depth to plot. I like the addition that flushed out the history of the trolls further from the previous books and I look forward to seeing where this goes. Hopefully, now that Noose Jumpers is finished we will see the next book come out before the end of the year.

[NelsenandKatie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel sees a growth in the world. I would say this novel probably does the most world building, as well as the novel prior to it, than any novel that came before. At the time of writing this, I have finished the finale to the series, where many of the threads started in this novel are wrapped up! Which is exciting, my favorite characters and plot threads reside in what happens in this novel.

I will say, the pacing is a tad slower in this volume than in the previous 8. The writer seems to be taking more care to flesh things out and add detail and reality to his world. Which is fine, it just takes a bit more dedication to read. For me, previous volumes seemed to flow, where pages would turn on their own accord. This has that, just not to the prolific extent I was used to.

The set up that happens in this novel eventually turns into the finale for this Saga, which I will tell anybody, is perfect in nearly every way.

If you are still reading this review I am ashamed of you. Get reading. There is a finale you need to get to and your still two books away from it. The finale is perfect in almost every way. Its worth plowing through any slowness to get there.

[Shannon McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love getting to see more of Fist :D

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid continuation of the series.

[Cherry Mischievous · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Thoughts:
This series has taken on the multiple thread kind of writing style. The book tells the stories of the different protagonists in their own different journeys each in their own thread. The book jumps from thread to thread every couple of chapters or so. Say I have been reading about Fist in the Trafalgar mountains for the last couple of chapters. Then the next chapter talks about Justan in Malaroo. While immersed in my favourite ogre, Fist's, story, I have forgotten what had happened to Justan and had to go back and read about Justan's thread before I could continue reading the next chapter. This slowed the pace of this book right down to a crawl. Not only that, it disrupts the continuity of the story flow which is really annoying. The previous books in this series had used this kind of writing style before but not as prevalent as in this book. This brought the rating of this book right down despite me being an old fan of this series already. And then of course there is the cliffhanger ending.... Safe to say that I wasn't very happy with this book... but it gotta be read if I want to continue reading this series.... **pout**

I really didn't like the way Qenzic treated Lyramoor at the jail cave in the Thunder People territory. Let Qenzic go through what Lyramoor had gone through in his slavery days and see if Qenzic would still be sane! The fact that Lyramoor is still a highly functional individual and loyal to a fault to Qenzic who flipping doesn't deserve any of that loyalty at all, is a blinking miracle!... So there are issues in this book that I am quite passionate about... or really, really do not like... or riles me up....

I don't know whether it is the author's magic that is waning or it is me getting disenchanted... either way, this book is not the best in this series.


Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 3
Writing Style = 2
Ending = 2<
World building = 4
Cover art = 3.5
Pace = 1
Plot = 3
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 cherries

http://www.cherrymischievous.com/2017...

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story; continues saga I'm loving

I've read all of the books built into the Bowl of Souls saga as well as these Jharro Grove Saga books. The characters are likeable and the world building is well done. Only minor complaint is the breadth of the story keeps it difficult to remember who's who. Some sort of recap of what's gone on previously would be helpful, too. Seeing the next entry will be out next year just re-emphasizes in my mind how much some sort of "our story thus far" would be very helpful when next book comes out. Thanks, Trevor!

[Will Wittmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too many storylines

I really like these books but as he adds more and more of characters with different storylines you feel cheated. It's almost like short stories smushed together to make a whole book.

[Norman Drabek · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is getting way to drawn out. I found this story on the boring side. If I had not invested so much time in the earlier books, I would have probably stopped reading it and start on a new story. Disappointed.

[Phillip Olive]

So so.

Eh. Kinda mediocre book. Have loved most of the rest of the books but this one just didn't pull me in.

[Paul Letheby · Rating 5 out of 5]

The saga continues

I M enjoying this series as the characters grow and evolve. The story may be the same but the storyline continues to grow.

[Lyndsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggled with some of the typos in the book, but I still enjoy the characters and the story.

[Ralph Trickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure why I didn't like this as much as the other books in the series. It just didn't excite me as much as the others for some reason.