The Islands of the Blessed

By Nancy Farmer

In the final adventure of Nancy Farmer's acclaimed trilogy a malevolent spirit of a vengeful mermaid is wreaking havoc on Jack's village and it's up to him, the old Bard and Thorgril to confront and vanquish the restless draugr. But the task will not be easy and the three find themselves travelling once more with Thorgil's northman brother and his crew into the most dangerous of waters. Their quest to right old wrongs leads them from a village plagued by a hogboon to the fin folk land of Notland and via every danger in-between. Can they escape the perils they face and return in time to help undead spirit to find peace?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Dec 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781471104985

Nancy Farmer

Nancy Farmer has written three Newbery Honor books: The Ear, the Eye and the Arm; A Girl Named Disaster; and The House of the Scorpion, which also won the National Book Award and the Printz Honor. Other books include The Lord of Opium, The Sea of Trolls, The Land of the Silver Apples, The Islands of the Blessed, Do You Know Me, The Warm Place, and three picture books for young children. She grew up on the Arizona-Mexico border and now lives with her family in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona.

Reviews for The Islands of the Blessed

[bookslesstravelled · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great read. One I would love to read again soon.

[amandabock-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I love the way Nancy Farmer blends folklore with adventure, linking together all kinds of old tales. However, it's less effective when the tales are more obscure, simply because you miss all the cool things she's doing. This installment lacked excitement. Plot elements came out of nowhere, and all was wrapped neatly with a bow at the end. I miss Olaf One-Brow.

What I appreciate most about this series is how many characters are a mixture of horrible and honorable characteristics. For instance, the Northmen are blood-thirsty pillagers, but are also incredibly loyal and brave. If they are to be your allies, you must accept the bad with the good. I'm noticing villains like this in other books as well, and am wondering if it's a new trend that reflects a more inclusive world view.

[mkunruh-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This one was odd. There were parts that was great, particularly the island/Skull-Splitter section were there is a story to work through and a resolution to be had, but the novel just doesn't seem to work -- too many disparate elements. And the ending was terribly abrupt.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Islands of the Blessed by Nancy Farmer is the third book in her Sea of Trolls trilogy. Although I loved the first book of this children’s adventure story, the second book had me almost deciding to give up on the trilogy. My completest nature decided the issue and I finally picked up the third and final book, and, while The Islands of the Blessed was not as good as the first book, for me it was much better than the second except for the questionable ending which for a book this long felt rushed and incomplete.In this book Jack, the apprentice wizard, Thorgil, the viking shield maid and the Bard, their mentor, are off on another adventure. Their quest this time to to find a way to dispel a mermaid’s ghost as she has been drawn into this world by the ringing of a magical bell. She is intent on wrecking havoc and is out for revenge for her own untimely death. The Islands of the Blessed is full of adventure, magic and humor. I would recommend that these books be read as a complete set as they very definitely follow each other in a linear style. The setting is of ancient Britain somewhere about 750. The plot interweaves Druid, Christian, and Norse legends and religion and it is obvious the author has done extensive research in these areas. The characters are all well drawn and even the assorted magical creatures such as hobgoblins, mer-folk and trolls have distinct personalities which keeps the book lively and exciting.

[maowangvater · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Two years have passed since their journey to and escape from the land of the fairies, and Jack and his friend Thorgil are again confronted by supernatural perils. First the village is devastated as a terrible storm smashes through it and the crops in the surrounding fields. Thorgil, a Viking attempting to remain incognito among Jack’s Saxon neighbors, is emotionally devastated as well. She believes the storm was Odin leading the wild hunt, and although she had run into the midst of the storm and begged to be taken, she was left behind. Then the sound of an ancient bell awakens the malicious undead spirit begins to prowl the night. Lead by Jack’s master, the bard Dragon Tongue, Jack and Thorgil set out on another magical quest to bring peace to the village. Once again Farmer has masterfully concocted a fantasy adventure out of Norse and Germanic myth and folklore, this time adding some Celtic and Scots folklore into the brew particularly that of the northernmost Orkney Islands, islands originally settled by the Norse.

[the_hibernator · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When an angry ghost arrives on the shores of Jack's village, he, Thorgill, and the Bard must go on a dangerous voyage to pacify her spirit before she hurts anyone. Like the first two books of this series, Islands of the Blessed is packed with adventure after adventure, a vast array of creatures from Celtic, Norse, and Christian mythologies, and an engaging historical background. Like the second book, The Land of the Silver Apples, Farmer may have tried a little too hard to pack in extra adventures and creatures...this makes the book fun and entertaining, but it has the disconnected-wandering-adventures feel of Homer's The Odyssey instead of the tight every-event-has-a-reason feel of Harry Potter. Overall, an excellent book for perhaps the 5th through 8th grades.

[goth_marionette · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was good, the first book in the series was great. There was not enough development in the characters for my tastes. Too much responsibility was given to two young children that acted like children. The final line of the book was just bad, there was no need to go there. Thorgil had not been called Jill by him through the whole book so why start then. The adventure was interesting and kids who loved the first book should enjoy this one.

[fyrefly98 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Summary: Jack, now 14, is attempting to settle back down village life after his most recent adventure. However, when his village is ravaged by Odin's Wild Hunt, and then threatened by a spirit from the deep that has been summoned by a magical bell, Jack, the former shield-maiden Thorgil, and the Bard must head out once again in order to avert disaster. In their travels, they must deal with half-trolls, vengeful spirits, human sacrifice, mermaids, and all manner of deceit and trickery, but hopefully they will be able to lay the past to rest in order to save their loved ones, and find a place for themselves.Review: I think one of the best things about this series is how well it handles religious conflict. Farmer has set her story at a really interesting intersection of Norse, Pagan, and Christian traditions, and her books deal with the positives and negatives of each religion with a degree of maturity and level-headedness that you wouldn't necessarily expect from a mid-grade/young adult fantasy adventure. Although, I've always thought that these books don't really feel exactly like fantasy. I mean, there are trolls and elves and gods and evil spirits and such, but to me it feels more like historical fiction - just historical fiction where the characters are moving through a world where all of their myths are real.So, although I'm really enamored of the world that Farmer has created, the disappointing truth is that the story in The Islands of the Blessed just didn't hold my attention as well as either of its two predecessors. It had the same problem as The Land of the Silver Apples, where there's just too much going on - too many characters both new and reintroduced, too many adventures, etc. - without enough of a central throughline on which to hang all of the rest of the stuff. If I were forced to pick a "main" story, it would probably be that of the mermaid's spirit and the bell, but even that was ignored for large swaths in the middle of the book, and when it was finally brought back up, it was dealt with too quickly, and very anticlimactically. There's not even really a character arc to grab onto as the central thread of the story, since while the characters do grow up a little bit over the course of the story, it was never real a focus. (Also, the Bard was inexplicably crabby about trivial stuff throughout the entire book, which sort of ruined his whole "mysterious and powerful" vibe.) Overall, it wasn't terrible, but it did feel like it lacked some focus, and that diffuse nature made it hard for me to find a hook that really made me want to keep listening. 3 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: Younger readers who enjoy Jack and Thorgil's adventures for adventure's sake will probably really enjoy this one just as well as its predecessors. Otherwise, I think I'd recommend just reading the first book of the series, The Sea of Trolls; it's worth reading to get a feel for Farmer's world, and it manages to pack in a bunch of fun adventure without going off the story rails.