The Land of the Silver Apples

Sea of Trolls #2

by Nancy Farmer

Jack is amazed to have caused an earthquake. He is thirteen, after all, and only a bard-in-training. But his sister, Lucy, has been stolen by the Lady of the Lake; stolen a second time in her young life, as he learns to his terror. Caught between belief in the old gods and Christianity (790 AD, Britain), Jack calls upon his ash wood staff to subdue a passel of unruly monks, and, for his daring, ends up in a knucker hole. It is unforgettable -- for the boy and for readers -- as are the magical reappearance of the berserker Thorgil from a burial by moss; new characters Pega, a slave girl from Jack's village, and the eager-to-marry-her Bugaboo (a hobgoblin king); kelpies; yarthkins; and elves (not the enchanted sprites one would expect but the fallen angels of legend). Rarely does a sequel enlarge so brilliantly the world of the first story. Look for the conclusion in The Islands of the Blessed in 2009.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Mythology, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Middle Grade

496 pages, Hardcover

First published August 21, 2007

About the author

Nancy was born in 1941 in Phoenix and grew up in a hotel on the Arizona-Mexico border where she worked the switchboard at the age of nine. She also found time to hang out in the old state prison and the hobo jungle along the banks of the Colorado River. She attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, earning her BA in 1963. Instead of taking a regular job, she joined the Peace Corps and was sent to India (1963-1965). When she returned, she moved into a commune in Berkeley, sold newspapers on the street for a while, then got a job in the Entomology department at UC Berkeley and also took courses in Chemistry there. Restless, again, she decided to visit Africa. She and a friend tried to hitchhike by boat but the ship they'd selected turned out to be stolen and was boarded by the Coast Guard just outside the Golden Gate Bridge. Nancy eventually got to Africa on a legal ship. She spent more than a year on Lake Cabora Bassa in Mozambique, monitoring water weeds. Next she was hired to help control tsetse fly in the dense bush on the banks of the Zambezi in Zimbabwe. Part of the time she spent in the capital, Harare, and was introduced to her soon-to-be husband by his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. He proposed a week later. Harold and Nancy now live in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona on a major drug route for the Sinaloa Cartel. This is the setting for The Lord of Opium. They have a son, Daniel, who is in the U.S. navy.
Nancy's honors include the National Book Award for The House of the Scorpion and Newbery Honors for The Ear, the Eye and The Arm, A Girl Named Disaster and The House of the Scorpion. She is the author of nine novels, three picture books and a number of short stories. Her books have been translated into 26 languages.

Reviews

[Sanja_Sanjalica · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent sequel to the first book, the characters are still finding themselves and their place in the world. Love the hobgoblins and the portrait of Elfland. The characters we got to know in the first book are learning and developing, which is always great, as well as the mythology woven into the book. Can't wait to read the next one!

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love how it just threw me into a land where just about anything could happen. Had a lot of suspense, and got me wanting more every time I set down the book! One of my favorite books because of the historical ties.

[Trini · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so excited to read this book. I LOVED The Sea of Trolls. It was a five star for me and I enjoyed it so much.

But a mere 50 pages into this book, I could tell something was wrong. Something was up. And here arose my first, and huge, issue about this book that quickly changed the rating from a "probably 5 stars" to a "definitely 4 stars or lower".

The characters were so very different. And in a bad way. You suddenly get thrust into the characters and they are so terribly, terribly different. It seemed like only their names and their experiences were similar with their Sea of Trolls personality.

I didn't find myself enjoying the book very much. Sometimes, I had to force myself to pick up the book, and then I would stop 20 minutes later because I couldn't take it anymore. I just...I don't know. I couldn't get hooked into this book.

Another issue.

It says that Jack is 13. He was around 12 when The Sea of Trolls was finished. Which means...an entire YEAR passed after the events of The Sea of Trolls, which means another year of training with the Bard. What magic did Jack learn? Close to none, because when he names off all the magic he knows throughout the book, it's magic that we've seen him do in Sea of Trolls.

Then, of course, Pega was annoying at some points and lovable at the others. Sometimes she would just start bawling for no apparent reason, when she says that "she's been through worse before", and it's so, so stupid.

The appearance of Thorgil felt rushed (and this is not a spoiler, because it states so in the description that Thorgil comes back). It felt rushed and it never got very explained much. We don't feel much coming from Jack at all, either, during this moment.

Then also, several plot twists, many important, are introduced throughout the book, but Jack doesn't seem to elaborate on these very much, nor does he care to talk about them much at all. Only a few paragraphs are spared on them, and nothing more.

I understand it can be hard to devote just the right amount of time and words to plot twists. It might seem too short, or too long, whatever amount of time you spent into making the characters realize the plot twist. But all you need is all of the characters realizing the plot twist, them expressing a few thoughts, and you're done. Mention the plot twist in passing and everything, to make it seem official! Whatever.

Everything in this book felt rushed. The beginning came swiftly, and I couldn't find myself attached to any character. They all felt like background characters compared to Jack, who starts doing literally everything and knows everything, I guess. I really liked Thorgil once more and also I found myself caring for Father Severus just a tad (also, Severus? Snape? Are you there?). But really, there was nothing else.

As for the writing, it was fine. It flowed well enough and I could deal with that.

I honestly couldn't figure out the point of this book. Other than to provide more worldbuilding, which we HONESTLY didn't really need in the first place, there wasn't anything. The first book did the worldbuilding fine and could have left the world at that. But oh no, Nancy Farmer can't have it that way. She needs to have it explained...thoroughly...with loads of creatures...

We could have just left the worldbuilding off with "there are the Saxons, then the berserkers from the North, who are Northmen, and there are also trolls from a long way away, in the world of Jotunheim. Also, there's this Great Tree, Yggdrasil, which is basically Life, and then there are also multiple heavens that you go to, depending on your religion."

I know that this is based off of Norse mythology, but if we were really interested in Norse mythology, we could have snagged a nonfiction book from the library to learn more about it, if we were that intrigued.

But please.

I did enjoy this book a little bit, and some parts were fun. But I also found all of the characters extremely stupid, not knowing anything, until BAM! They seem to know EVERYTHING, at just the RIGHT TIMES!

All in all, here's how I'll sum this book up:

Jack, aka the classic Stupid-But-Actually-Intelligent Protagonist, is stupid but seems to do everything and know everything. Thorgil, aka Subtly Main Character #1, whines about people and things happening to her, but suddenly Jack tells her something great and she is ELATED! Pega, aka Subtly Main Character #2, cries terribly but then is strong-headed in more serious situations! The Bugaboo and the Nemesis, Background But Recurring Characters #1 and #2, are only there for comic relief and to save the main characters when they are always in deadly situations! Father Severus, Background But Recurring Character #3, is there to merely provide more information about Christianity! Ethne, Background But Recurring Character #4, the comic relief elf that apparently loves suffering! And there is also Brutus, Background But Recurring Character #5, the annoying slave whose "special powers" are never actually revealed!

Then we have the Bard, the classic Mentor Who Does Nothing During the Quest, who is actually tolerable but hardly appears in the book at all!

And let's not even talk about Lucy, the classic Annnoying Sibling, but taken a STEP FURTHER! It appears in the description that she would again be a damsel in distress, but nah, she's just an annoying, heartless, selfish brat.

This book should be renamed to: What Was The Purpose Of This Thing Again? More Worldbuilding? I Guess So!

(NOTE: I actually did like this book, and I will be checking out the third book just to round this trilogy off, but wow did I have a lot of issues.)

My review of The Sea of Trolls

[Fran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trolls, hobgoblins, elves, Thor, Odin, Midgard and dragons oh my! A quest to locate The Lady of the Lake begins a quest among unlikely companions. My son read this whole series in 7th grade and loves Farmer. Great mash up of familiar characters with those completely unexpected.

[Victoria Sitkiewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very excited when I saw this on the bookstore shelves, because I really enjoyed the first one, and I'm a huge admirer of Nancy Farmer in general.

I enjoyed the adventure, and certainly the kids who liked Sea of Trolls will love this one, too. However, I was disappointed in the mythology and folklore allusions in this one. Perhaps it's just that the world of hobgoblins and elves is more well-trodden than the realms of Nordic mythology that Farmer introduced us to in the first book. The story is good, even great (and addresses some of my earlier issues with the character of Lucy), but the novel lacks the depth and innovation of Sea of Trolls.

All of that being said, I will be eager to see what happens to Pega and Thorgil next, which, I now see from the flap copy, we will learn be able from The Islands of the Blesseds in 2009. Why does it seem so arrogant and pushy to have the publication date for the final book so soon? It feels like they're flaunting it in my face, "Ha, ha, the final book is done, but we're going to make you wait two years before we let you see it!"

Sheesh. Think of the effect on a fifth grader. Are they still going to be interested when they're in the seventh grade?

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Low three, honestly. Didn't grab me like the first book and I struggled to finish. The narration is quite good though.

There's lots of religious backgrounds and mythologies or whatever mixed into this. Sort of a "there are many ways to heaven" deal, so maybe not for kids (or adults) who are keen on sticking to nothing at all or their own kind.

I got lost in the names and places and events a bit. It didn't help that I took one or two big breaks in my listening, but still.

The writing was fine. I didn't get the same vibe of pithy wisdom as from the first book, but it had moments. Holy cow my neighbors are full on smoking something fierce right now and probably super high. Anyway, it was fun to have Thorgill appear again, and Pegga was a neat character. I kept thinking Brutus would grow in personality and character but he never did, I thought.

I probably won't rush into the final book of the trilogy. I forget if I've bought it already. If not, I may never. That is, even if I can get it from the library I may not. I may just move on.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ooh, I wanted to *love* this book as much as I loved Sea of Trolls. But as happy as I was to see Jack, Thorgil, and the Bard again, I just wasn't as thrilled with this one as I was with its predecessor. The characters were great, especially the new monks and the hobgoblins, but the story meandered entirely too much and I often got confused as to how things related to each other. But still, a fun read and I liked it. I will definitely read the next one...

[R.C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I find myself wondering why this book was written. A bewilderingly poor follow-up to its entertaining predecessor, it never felt like the storyline actually needed to happen. There are many, many points at which Jack, a now confirmed senseless jerk, could have done something to prevent obvious bad things from obviously happening, but simply did not. The side characters met in this installment are also far cries from the fascinating, complex folks encountered in "The Sea of Trolls"; rather, the vast majority seem to be one-sided and far more juvenile than what we were taught to expect. And while Farmer's penchant for introducing moral quandaries mostly continues in a thought-provoking manner, there are times where the situations fall flat, more often than not due to her protagonist's idiocy. Not helping many situations are the numerous songs and slapstick moments which have the unfortunate effect of irritation instead of humor.

I will likely try out the final installment, but won't be afraid to let it drop if it can't live up to "The Sea of Trolls". Quite the disappointment.

[Carl Klutzke · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one just didn't grab me. I slogged along through it to get closure, but it was really missing whatever spark that I enjoyed from the previous book. _The Sea of Trolls_ had a lot of insight into how people are complex and they do both good and bad things. This book had very little of that. It mostly felt like Jack being annoyed and ungrateful for things that people did for him. The author incorporated a lot of interesting notions about fantastic places and beings, but the story that tied them together wasn't satisfying.

[Bridget]

What an amazing journey/tale Jack, Thorgil, and Pega had!!! This fantasy book is steeped in magic and history. The author certainly did her research. My only complaint is that I would've liked to know more about Pega's background. I highly recommend this, especially to fantasy lovers.

[ElaF · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐

[Ellen Spes · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like trolls and elves etc. this is for you.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another 500 page read aloud! We enjoyed this one even more than the first, with the hobgoblins being the true stars of the show.

[Carrie Slager · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off, let me say that the ‘AD 790, Britain’ part of this blurb is complete nonsense. If you’ll recall, the first book apparently takes place in 793 AD. So either the blurb writer is confused about the timeline or does not know that AD goes forward while BC goes backward. If you’re really picky, let’s just say that this book takes place 3 years later, in 796 AD.

I love this book because we finally learn why Lucy is such a brat. That may seem like a lame reason to like a book, but I really, truly hated her in the first book and she’s even more obnoxious in this book. But Nancy Farmer has an excellent reason for adding what seemed like the token cute character at first and a seemingly unimportant event sets off a series of events in motion that will change Jack’s future forever.

Of course old favourite characters like the Bard, Thorgil and Lucy reappear, but we’re introduced to many new ones: the slave girl Pega; Brutus, a descendant of Lancelot himself; the Bugaboo, king of the hobgoblins; Ethne, a Christian half-elf and many others. My personal favourite characters include the charming and unpredictable Brutus, the Bugaboo and the Nemesis, who is a hobgoblin whose duty is to keep the Bugaboo from getting an inflated head. Now if only all leaders had someone like the Nemesis…

With amazing characters, a fast-paced plot and extraordinary world-building, The Land of the Silver Apples is a fitting sequel to The Sea of Trolls. readers will lose themselves in Nancy Farmer’s fascinating world where the old religion collides with the new rising religion, Christianity. I can’t think of an author who puts a better spin on old fantasy clichés than Nancy Farmer while still staying true to the time period.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

"You'd better tell me about that lie, Giles," said the old man, massaging his forehead. "From all the sin you keep going on about, I'm sure it's going to be spectacular."

This one suffers a bit from Second Book Syndrome, if you ask me. While most characters are still fun to read about, the story itself seems a bit forced at times. A lot happens, and at times it's a bit difficult to keep track of everything, but even more problematic is: It seems as if Farmer just piled one problem upon the next without any real reason apart from lenghtening the story. The book could have been shorter, and a bit less dark. While Book 1 was all about self-discovery and aventure, this one adds another element: darkness. And I don't like it too much.

Jack is still a nice character, although he does act very grown-up for his thirteen years - but that was the same in Book 1; I blame the writing style, which at times can be a bit weird. Pega, a new character, adds a bit of spice to the book, thankfully, and luckily Thorgil is also present... Even though it takes almost half of the book before she's introduced. Other new characters such as the Bugaboo and the Nemesis are fun as well.

But on the other hand, Lucy is even more annoying than in the previous story. Gods. Could someone give her a good, 600-page-long thrashing, please? Let's hope we've seen the last of her now. The same goes for Brutus and Ethne...

6/10
Downstarred from 6.5/10 (5/7/2020)

[Christina Getrost · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this one quite as much as the first one, The Sea of Trolls, because it didn't seem to be as original as that one (I'd never read anything about Norse berserkers before!) but it was still fun. Jack is back home in Saxon England, but his sister is not behaving nicely at all, she's a very spoiled brat, and so their father takes them to the local monastery to have her exorcised, fearing that she's possessed. Well, it turns out she's a changeling--Jack's real sister was kidnapped while a baby and this elf child put in her place! So off Jack goes to the underground Elfland to try to find his sister and bring her back, braving magical mushrooms and the sparkling illusions of the elves. His traveling companions are the freed slave Pega and the Roman slave Brutus--who is more than he seems. And the Viking warrior girl Thorgil soon shows up, too. Plus there are some fun "pookas" or hobgoblins (they go by many names), Bugaboo and his Nemesis, who are a hoot. Kind of a comedy duo of short proportions. They were the best thing about the book. Beware, it's book two of a trilogy and has a lame ending, in my opinion.

[☼Bookish in Virginia☼ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one quite a bit better than "Sea of Trolls".

Of course you don't know but I thought the first book in this series was one that certainly some people would thoroughly enjoy while others, like myself, would find it 'meh'. The problems had nothing to do with writing so much as the plotting and lack of satisfactory character development in the main character Jack. (The secondary characters were much more interesting.)

In this second volume, we get to see Jack develop a bit, plus there are a pair of very nice plot twists involving his family. Overall though I was astonished to find that I had the same darn reaction to this book as the first. About a 75 pages from the end, the reader-part of my brain felt like the book should end, and yet it didn't. It made everything that came afterwards almost annoying and like a protracted dénouement that isn't all that cathartic. I don't know that I've ever experienced anything like this before. Quite puzzling.

Sooo, if you also thought the first book was mediocre, know that this reader liked this one better.

Pam T
mom/blogger
booksforkids-reviews

[Kurtis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the first book in this series way back in about 6th grade. Back then, I thought that it was a great book. Now, all that I remembered about it is that the main character learned some magic. I usually enjoy those kinds of books, so I thought I would read the second book. What a bad decision! It dragged on and on and I just kept hoping something more interesting might happen. At one point, there's an earthquake, and the author somehow managed to make that part boring! There was no climax in the whole entire book, either. No exciting parts, no energy. You could see what was going to happen from miles away, and when it did happen, it was even worse than I imagined it to be. I wanted to put the book down after the first 50 pages, but I didn't want to just in case it improved and had a good ending. Now, I've completed the whole thing and I can take the sequel off my "to read" bookshelf.

[Overbooked ✎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

After having hugely enjoyed the first book in the series, I had great expectations for this second novel, but alas, they weren’t fulfilled. I liked the mainly Norse mythology theme of The Sea of Trolls, but IMO in this second book the author tried to put too many fantasy elements, Saxon/Celts and popular folklore as well as Christian beliefs (a puzzling mix of fairy tale creatures: hobgoblins, elves, kelpies, mermaids, nymphs, knuckers, The Lady of the lake, Lancelot, The man in the moon, angels and demons and saints), this time it didn’t work for me.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

i really enjoy nancy farmer, as she does a fantastic job of weaving tales and making them feel very accessible to all readers (The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm is just brillant). The Land of the Silver Apples is the second book involving the children from The Sea of Trolls, and Jack journeys to the Fairie World to rescue his sister, picking up strange friends and having adventures along the way. Thorgil, the daughter of a berserker, provides great comic relief. Although I was amused, I feel overall the book was a little too long and that some of the stops along the journey did not do much except add to the total number of pages.

[Joanna Brauckmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great sequel to the Sea of Trolls! The size might intimidate some kids, but the adventures that Jack has as a bard-in-training makes it hard to put down and of course they'll sympathize with Jack as he struggles with envy, self-control, anger, and disappointment. Tolkien is the only other author I know who took such pains to explain mystical creatures and legends, but at such a level with density of information that children could never follow. Farmer does an excellent job of presenting different creatures of middle earth and elf land to medieval England. I highly recommend this book!

[Lillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished the book and can't wait to go and buy the 3rd book. It got my attention with every page, though not as much as the sea of trolls. The original characters (Jack, Thorgil, and Lucy) didn't develop as well as I hoped, but the new characters made up for it. My favorite parts of the story was when they were with the hobgoblins, they made the story much more interesting.

[☯Meera☯ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not *quite* as good as the previous. I found myself longing for the adventures in the Sea of Trolls, but the same enchantment just wasn't here. I felt like skimming through it really often. But...because it still was enchanting...Five stars.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book but it gave me a massive headache with the crazy facts about Elf Land and Middle Earth.

[Allan I · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever wondered what paradise would be like? Well, this book shows exactly what that would be like. The few reasons I liked this book are the detailed environments, the emotions the characters experience, and the variety. This book, The Land of the Silver Apples, proved to be a much better pick than the first.

As the first reason was, the detailed environments. What I mean is that the author really makes the book immersive when she shows how beautiful this paradise is. Hence the name Illusions of Paradise, it is called that because the book explains that this wouldn’t really be possible on earth. I would suggest this book to all people of ages 10-15 because it can be very repetitive. Anyhow, the description definitely caught my attention.

Secondly, the emotions each of the characters experienced. In the story, the main emotions are fear and anger, but there are still other emotions. Much of the fear comes from the different species of monsters or creatures. (See paragraph 4). Not to ,mention Jack, the main character, also has a slight romantic relationship with Thorgil. Each of these truly change and are explained by an excellent definition by the author throughout this book.

Finally, the variety. This I also referred to in the last paragraph as many different creatures that are somewhat explained and mostly deal with fear. A specific creature called a knucker mentioned in the Land of the Silver Apples, is a creature that turns into either what you expect, or what you fear most. Which reminds me how in Harry Potter (can’t remember which one) how they have to cast the spell “Riddikulus” on their worst fear. Some shapeshifting creature. Same idea.

All in all, a very well made book in my opinion. I highly recommend reading this book and it’s series. Once again, the reasons for reading this book are the detailed environments, the emotions, and the varieties.

[JP · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this review or all of my reviews on my site!

“You’d better tell me about that lie, Giles," said the old man, massaging his forehead. “From all the sin you keep going on about, I’m sure it’s going to be spectacular.”

Well… when you put it that way.

A year has passed. Jack learns family secrets and has to go on ANOTHER QUEST. I’m actually curious to see if the backstory we get here was planned all along or developed from clues in the first book only when a second was need. It really could go either way.

This time, we see elves (meh) and hobgoblins (lots of fun). Along the way, we end up with another new main character: Pega. Former slave, freed by Jack, and fond of commenting on ‘how it all could be worse’. She’s fine… but not as interesting as Thorgil, personally. (We get both though!)

It’s another adventure through the magical land of alt ~800 AD British Isles. Weaker than the first, but still absolutely solid enough that I enjoyed reading it. Onward to the thrilling (I hope!) conclusion in The Islands of the Blessed!

[Angelica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the first one, this book suffers from a weird pacing issue where lots of things are happening in the story, but it still feels very slow because there are many scenes of the characters just sitting and talking. They’re saying interesting and important things, don’t get me wrong, but it does make for a slow story. Honestly, the pacing is would be pretty realistic if the events were happening in real life, but it’s not as punchy and exciting as other contemporary fantasy I’ve read.

But what this book lacks in exciting action, it makes up for in interesting characters and themes. The main trio, Jack, Pega, and Thorgil, are all beautifully written, flawed, but well-meaning characters whose friendship I love. Also, Thorgil is my baby and I will give her all the love in the world. (But don’t tell her that because she would hate it.) The side characters are interesting as well, although some are more intolerable than others *cough* Lucy *cough*. There is also a fascinating clash between pagan mythology and Christianity that makes for some conflict and occasional hilarity. Overall, a fun story that works well as a continuation of the series and on its own.

[Packleader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah... no. Maybe I'm too old but Jack is supposedly 13 except he acts more like he's 16/17 imo. Thorgil's appearence feels too forced and just for the sake of having her in the story. Also towards the end she reveals she has a skill that was not mentioned once before. New character Pega is not treated nicely from the get go and it is repeatedly emphasized how ugly she is - just because of a scrawny build and a wide mouth? Seems the author wants to make very sure the reader will not get the wrong idea and start seeing her as a possible romantic interest for Jack.

And then there's the religion. While the first volume showed that everyone has a different faith but in the end it's different views on the same thing, this book heavily emphasizes on the christianty. Elves used to be angels, every creature that gets baptized gets a soul... and not even a mention what the non-Christian's view on this is. They just go along with the Christian explanations.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jack’s a jerk throughout the book, Brutus’s character is kind of foggy and unclear throughout, and there are some major plot points that never really feel resolved and kind of just get forgotten/never mentioned again, like the curse on Jack’s family that sends them on the quest in the first place, then promptly gets forgotten about. Also: I HATE the constant pressure on Pega to marry the Bugaboo when she clearly doesn’t want to. “She’s ugly so she won’t have any opportunities in the human world! Therefore she should just marry the hobgoblin king, who she doesn’t want to marry, because what else can she do with her life? Nothing.” UGH.