From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8–Three years after the events of Troll Fell (HarperCollins, 2004), orphan Peer Ulfsson is living happily with his new family but is haunted by the memory of his two cruel uncles. Although they are now serving the trolls in the troll kingdom, Peer feels he has not seen the last of them. When their mill starts running again, seemingly of its own accord, Peer is alarmed, but determined never again to let anyone terrorize him. Even without the haunted mill, life is complicated–Kersten, the wife of his good friend Bjorn, has run off into the sea, leaving behind her baby with webbed fingers, and Peer suspects that she was a seal-maiden. Also, Peers feelings for his friend Hilde have developed from brotherly affection to something more. The narrative is tightly woven and more intense than that of its predecessor, and despite the presence of selkies, household fairies, and uncanny babies, the drama is centered around human struggles. In the tradition of Scandinavian myth and folklore, the conclusion is poignant and true, with enough open-endedness for another sequel.–Farida S. Dowler, Mercer Island Library, WA
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From Booklist

Starred Review Gr. 5-8. Strands of selkie legend frame Langrish's second book^B about likable orphan Peer and his corner of early Norse civilization, where the realities of sea, farm, and hearth come wrapped in shadowy tendrils of folklore. When a local woman disappears into the sea, Hilde's family (with whom Peer now lives) adopts her half-selkie baby, an act that incenses their volatile nonhuman neighbors. The upheaval intensifies the unrest plaguing Peer, now 15, who aches with unrequited emotions for his foster-sister. Finding new purpose in a plan to refurbish his treacherous uncles' abandoned mill, Peer haplessly stirs up further trouble, bringing his valiant, memorable surrogate family into yet another confrontation with the troll kingdom--and forcing Peer to face his savage uncles anew. Readers will want to start with Troll Fell (2004) to fully appreciate Langrish's elaboration on her characters' internal and external circumstances, though even newcomers will respond to the taut plotting and potent language; the rotating mill wheel "rumble[s] like some monstrous stomach," a ghastly beast slithers to the ground with a "squashy flump." The icing on the cake is an irresistible cover: lush, fanciful, and creepy in equal measure, it captures the best qualities of Langrish's evocative world. Jennifer Mattson
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