{"id":4868,"date":"2016-10-29T09:16:51","date_gmt":"2016-10-29T13:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=4868"},"modified":"2016-10-29T09:16:51","modified_gmt":"2016-10-29T13:16:51","slug":"book-review-troll-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-troll-bridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Troll Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Troll Bridge <\/em><\/a>by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran<\/p>\n

Dark Horse, 2016<\/p>\n

ISBN-13: 9781506700083<\/p>\n

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition<\/p>\n

Troll Bridge<\/em>, a graphic novel based on Gaiman\u2019s short story from Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions<\/em>, follows Jack from child to adulthood, and his reluctant relationship with a lone bridge troll. As a child, he is frightened by ghosts, ghouls, and witches, but this does not stop him from his curiosity about the world around him. He meets a lurking, hungry troll during one of his wanderings across the uninhabited lands of his hometown. He is able to fend off the beast by promising to bring him a heartier meal when he\u2019s older. When he tries to deliver as a teenager, the troll refuses his offering off a teenage girl, indicating he would not eat an innocent. Jack, again, is able to convince the troll that he would come back with a something better for him to dine on later in his life, and again, the troll acquiesces. Jack\u2019s adult life is a cycle of trouble, and culminates in his wife taking their child and leaving him after she tires of his poor decision making and harmful actions. Wandering in unfamiliar territory, he finds himself in front of the old archway of the troll bridge, and finds the troll after much searching. What happens upon his return to the troll is unexpected.<\/p>\n

Doran\u2019s rich art style lends a haunting quality to Gaiman\u2019s short story. Every page is haunting. Just as Jack\u2019s life changes, so does the landscape of his hometown and the relationships he develops and just as easily destroy. Even the bridge troll himself is significantly different as the story takes shape. Gaiman and Dorman\u2019s efforts with Troll Bridge<\/em> not only prove the short story is a significant piece of art, but also that the graphic novel format isn\u2019t simply a picture book. It can be the perfect medium for a solid piece of literature.\u00a0Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker<\/p>\n

Editor’s note:<\/em> Other works of Gaiman’s that have been made into graphic novels include his short story\u00a0“Harlequin Valentine” and his novels\u00a0Neverwhere, The Graveyard Book,<\/em>\u00a0and Coraline.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Troll Bridge by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran Dark Horse, 2016 ISBN-13: 9781506700083 Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition Troll Bridge, a graphic novel based on Gaiman\u2019s short story from Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions, follows Jack from child to adulthood, and his reluctant relationship with a lone bridge troll. As a child, he is<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2917,2918,2894,83,84,1526,1545,2916],"class_list":["post-4868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-colleen-doran","tag-dark-fairy-tales","tag-graphic-novel","tag-horror-fiction","tag-neil-gaiman","tag-short-stories","tag-smoke-and-mirrors","tag-troll-bridge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4868"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4948,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4868\/revisions\/4948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}