Amanda Hocking – The Trylle Series

By Amie Kealy

*potential spoilers ahead for those who haven’t read it.*

Having just finished reading Crescent City 2, I had a major book hangover that I needed to get over – and the Trylle series by Amanda Hocking was just what I needed. A light, easy, and fast-paced read, each book in the trilogy was around 300 pages long, which made a nice contrast to the 800 page tome that is Crescent City.

Having read the Trylle series when I was younger, I’ve tried going back to it a few times over the years but have never been able to finish them because of the way the love triangle plays out – even though there is a happy ending, it wasn’t the ending I wanted! But I thought it was time to try reading them again, and I quickly devoured them over three days. It’s only taken me about ten years, but I’ve finally managed to read all three books, from start to finish, again.

The novel follows the teen life of Wendy Everly, a troubled teenager who doesn’t feel like she fits in. She has the ability to convince people to do what she wants, but not knowing any better, she doesn’t think anything of it – she doesn’t think it makes her different from the other humans she’s surrounded by. With a mom who’s convinced that Wendy isn’t her real daughter, she grew up under the care of her older brother and Aunt, after her mom tried to kill her when she was just six years old. They move from place to place, since Wendy is always getting into trouble at school, and it’s at her current school that she meets Finn Holmes – dark haired, dark eyed and mysterious, Finn’s interest is Wendy where the story begins.

Wendy is both unnerved and excited by Finn’s constant attention – wherever she goes, he seems to be watching her, and she feels his eyes on her even when he isn’t around. After getting into an argument at the school dance, Finn turns up outside Wendy’s bedroom and we learn that Finn isn’t simply a boy with an interest in Wendy – he’s a tracker, sent out to find Wendy and bring her back to her original home: Forening, the home of the Trylle Trolls. This is when we learn that Wendy is, in fact, a troll, and not human. Not only does Finn tell her she doesn’t belong in the human world, he also reveals that her uncanny ability to persuade people, is only one of the many powers she will have as a Troll.

When Wendy goes back to Forening, she’s introduced to her real mother, The Queen of Trylle, making Wendy a princess who explains the concept of changelings and the other inner workings of her new home. When troll babies are born, they are swapped out at birth with humans babies so that they can get an inheritance from the rich family they are raised in, and then bring that money back to Troll world to help keep their world running.

But despite Wendy being a princess, Forening is traditional, with a rigid class structure and dislike of change. And despite the attraction she and Finn have for each other, his status as a lowly tracker means that they can never be together- to be found in a relationship with a tracker, would mean that Wendy has to relinquish her title as princess and give up her crown. In the first two books we see Wendy and Finn grapple with their emotions for each other, and even though Wendy is willing to fight for her love for Finn, he is unwilling to do the same. Ultimately Finn chooses his duty as her guard and puts the future of their Kingdom first, and Wendy does the same once she realises she can’t fight for something that never really ever began. (This is why I’ve never been able to finish it again – I always wanted her to end up with Finn, and it just doesn’t sit right with me that she doesn’t ☹)!)

But Finn isn’t the only person tasked with bringing her home- an enemy faction of Trolls, the Vittra, have sent their own trackers after Wendy to bring her back as a prisoner to their King. We learn in book two the reason the enemy King wants Wendy in his clutches is because he is actually her father! This comes as a shock to Wendy and the readers because we were previously told that her father was dead. As the books progress, the Vittra King launches attacks on the Trylle that are delayed after agreements to wait until Wendy is Queen of the Trylle before starting out-right war. In the midst of all these negotiations, Wendy meets Loki, the right-hand man to the Vittra King who’s own sorry lot in life causes an instant spark between himself and Wendy. They bond over shared hardships and Loki helps Wendy escape the clutches of the King multiple times.

By book three, the plot starts to become repetitive and dragged out but when it does finally end, we see Wendy defeat the Vittra King after being crowned Queen upon the death of her mother, and her marry Loki, with their first child already on the way. This is somewhat of a scandal since Wendy already married someone at the end of book one, as a means of solidifying her position of their princess. But Tove, Wendy’s husband, is just her friend, and asks her for a divorce so that he can pursue someone he actually loves.

So, overall, the Trylle series was the perfect palette cleanser needed to fix an epic book hangover so I’m glad I decided to re-read it. It mixes fantasy and faerie lore with romance and modern America, in a fast-paced plot that is very easy to get through. Despite not feeling quite so heartbroken over how the story plays out, I will always be disappointed that Wendy and Finn couldn’t fight harder for their feelings for each other. It’s the one reason why the Trylle series will never quite sit easily with me because I just wish it had ended differently, even if all the characters are happy at the end.