Elizabeth H. Boyer

Of all of Elizabeth Boyer's books, this has been and always will be my favorite of them all. When I was an impressionable teenager, I stole a copy from my father's book stash and read it so much that it fell apart.

There was and always will be something alluring to a young thief on the run who, forced into a chance, finds himself rising to become a better man. Or elf as it were.

When it comes to Boyer's books, there's always something a little formulaic about them: wizards all act the same, show more the heroes all have the same brazen stance, and yet the blend and the fact that the stories don't always *follow* the same old story formula makes the rest more than alright. I've always felt her books stood a little apart from the rest and don't get the recognition they deserve. This book is definitely at the top of them. show less

The Troll's Grindstone is the 5th in the 'World of Alfar' novels; the other side of the human country of Skarpsey, a world where Ljosalfar battle Dokkalfar (light and dark elves).

Leifr, the hero, is taken from the land of Skarpsey to the Alfar realm to impersonate one of the Alfar, break an alog that keeps all metal edges within its influence dull, and defeat the Dokkalfar wizard who cast the curse.

A lot of the action takes place after nightfall, or in swamps, or underground (as a show more consequence of attempting to reverse the Dokkalfar curse), and I felt the author conveyed the gloomy atmosphere well. Though I found some of the phrasing a bit old-fashioned, the action flows along nicely as our hero gathers his friends in a race against the dark wizard to clear a powerful pentacle (5 significant landmarks) of his malign influence, in spite of being handicapped by not knowing everything about the Alfar he is impersonating.

(April 2010)
3.5 stars show less

This is an old fantasy book that belonged to my dad. Ivarr is tired of being stuck at home, so when he gets the chance to work for a witch, he takes it. He finds that he really enjoys the work, until a powerful necromancer kills his teacher. Ivarr is stuck in the Other World, but he's not leaving until he gets revenge. Then he meets up with a group of elves who need his help. It seems the same necromancer, named Lorimer, has gotten them into trouble too.

Wicked trolls, a disembodied head, an show more enchanted maze, and a fire-breathing dragon -- this book has it all. It was good fun. I understand that she wrote more, but they might be hard to find. Recommended, and thanks to Dad. 3.5 stars show less

While it took most of the book to stop being annoyed with the main character (basically until about 18 pages left), the book was otherwise quite good. The only other problem was that, occasionally, the author will be very obvious. For example, you're read the whole book, and she'll say, "Mikkla is very stubborn". Like you would have forgotten that or wouldn't have picked it up every time he's stubborn. Fortunately, it doesn't happen very often.

Spoilers: a young man travels to the "Alfar" show more realm where he tries to open a box with "something" in it of great importance and everyone he meets seems to want to get it. The surprises in the book (ie the box contains a magical gauntlet and Sigurd's father is Halfdane) are very good. And the not-so surprises (Jotull and the other Warlord being the worst) are not so obvious that you're annoyed. As I noted above, some rough, meandering, editor-fail writing, but I still mostly enjoyed it. Probably will not read again because Sigurd (the main) is almost insufferably stupid, stubborn, and arrogant throughout. Probably some good stuff about Norse mythology here and all the norse names, places, and customs are cool. A very original book. show less