“You’d know,” retorted the shield maiden. “Even Thor does inglorious chores when he’s on a quest,” said Thorgil, stolidly dumping an armload of bracken into a growing pile. “Why can’t someone else do this?” he complained, sitting down in the springy bracken. Her right hand was frozen, useless, yet she didn’t give up. She had to hold the bracken ferns in the crook of her arm and slice through them with her knife. “At least you have two hands,” said Thorgil, sweating and laboring nearby. “Curse this job!” he cried, hurling the sickle to the earth. Jack wiped his face and only succeeded in getting dirt into his eyes. He’d spent his time memorizing poetry and plucking away at a harp-not that he’d ever equaled the Bard. For three years he’d been freed of farmwork. Once his skin had been covered with comfortable calluses, protecting him from the slippery handle of the sickle, but no longer. Once he could have done this work without harm. Jack’s fingers ached and blisters had formed on the palms of his hands. The concluding volume of the heroic Sea of Trolls trilogy from National Book Award winner Nancy Farmer finds Jack and his companions on a journey that may end up righting old wrongs-if they survive.

Impeccably researched and blending the lore of Christian, Pagan, and Norse traditions, this expertly woven tale is beguilingly suspenseful and, ultimately, a testament to love. Their destination is Notland, realm of the fin folk, though they will face plenty of challenges and enemies before get they get there. Soon, Jack, Thorgil, and the Bard are off to right the wrong of a death caused by Father Severus. (Odin on a Wild Hunt, as the young berserker Thorgil sees it.) The fields of Jack’s home village are devastated, the winter ahead looks bleak, and a monster-a draugr-has invaded the forest outside of town. “Jack, Thorgil, and the Bard are off on a new quest in this immensely satisfying conclusion of the trilogy that began with The Sea of Trolls and continued in The Land of the Silver Apples” in this “beautifully written tale” ( Kirkus Reviews).

Islands of the blessed nancy farmer