The Great Troll War is the fourth and final book in the Dragonslayer trilogy (or actually series, I guess) by Jasper Fforde.
Finished on: 14.1.2024
[Here are my reviews of the other books in the series.]

Plot:
The Trolls have invaded the UnUnited Kingdom, munching their way on humanity until the few remaining humans have been pushed to the very edge of the country. Among the survivors, so far, is Jennifer Strange. But she might actually have bigger fish to fry as the Mighty Shandar has nefarious, megalomaniacal plans that involve the Quarkbeast and world domination. Fortunately, she has help from renegade sorcerers, a renegade Princess, possibly Queen, and, of course, Tiger Prawns.

The Great Troll War is a fantastic ending to a wonderful series for younger readers. It is creative, funny, and also surprisingly emotional. It’s awesome.

It took Fforde a while to finish this book, and then it took me a few more years to read it, so I decided to give the entire series another go before diving into this one. And that was a great decision, not only because my memory is shit and it’s been nearly a decade, but because the books are just so much fun. Yes, there are some inconsistencies that become noticeable when you read the books back to back but the emotional impact is just that much bigger when you spend such an intense time with the characters.

And The Great Troll War actually had me shedding a tear or two, much to my surprise. I really wouldn’t have thought that I got that invested in all of them, but obviously I did. And I do think that there is more of a turn to adult readers than younger readers compared to the first novels. It’s not that it is suddenly a book for adults (though adults will always find remarkable stuff in these novels), but there is a more mature undertone than there was before.

Fforde has so many ideas again and manages to fit them together in surprising ways, including a cameo from himself which I found particularly fun (and which may or may not have been his answer to hitting a bit of block in the plotting, though it is is incorporated so nicely in the end that this is pure conjecture on my part). You can read his novel(s) just to marvel at the world and the concept he creates. But then he gives you so much more.

Summarizing: absolutely lovely.