The Forest of Hours by Kerstin Ekman

The Forest of Hours

Kerstin Ekman

A rich mix of dark forests, mythical creatures, glamour, hunger and cruelty make this a strange and compelling read. An innocent troll is seduced out of the forest by his fascination with humans and this is the story of his attempts to live with them. It took a few chapters to settle down to the journey, but from then on I was completely hooked. It's a long trek, but stick with it for the beauty of this world and the insights that it offers.

Extract
Time passed. The spheres rotated as ever and the huge wheel of the stars turned. Skord spread out his cards to find out why their experiment had been ill-favoured by the great ones. They went through their moves as usual, with solemn faces and shining weapons, but did not answer. He felt they cared little for the creatures living like rats under their floorboards. Sometimes they would scatter crumbs carelessly, and at other times send their wild animals on extermination raids. So, Skord thought, perhaps we should get away from their residences. Maybe all of us would be better off in the forest.
Parallels
  • Fairy Tales by Grimm
  • Doctor Copernicus by John Banville
  • The Inheritors by William Golding
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Violence
Explicit sexual content