The Prince and the Troll - Rainbow Rowell - ★★★

AUTHOR: Rainbow Rowell

SERIES: Faraway Collection, #1

GENRE: Short Story, Fantasy.

RATING: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: A contemporary retelling of the Norwegian fairy tale about a troll under the bridge. Works in bits and pieces, but might have clicked better were it longer.

Story Synopsis:

When a man accidentally drops his phone off a bridge, the last thing he expects is for a friendly troll to return it. As a gesture of gratitude and sympathy, he decides to get the troll, who seems to be female, a cup of coffee from the nearby Starbucks. This becomes a daily routine, and their friendship grows every day. But is a long-term friendship possible between creatures of two such opposite worlds?

The story comes to us in the limited third person perspective of the man.

This standalone short story is a part of the Faraway series, described on Amazon as “a collection of retold fairy tales that take the happily-ever-after in daring new directions.” Some of you might know the original Norwegian fairytale about the troll under the bridge, who demanded a fee from three goats trying to cross the bridge. Neil Gaiman had retold this story quite wonderfully in “Troll Bridge”, with a little change in the characters. Now Rainbow Rowell takes the tale further, with a few surprise twists of her own.

I liked some of the novel elements of this story. For one, the troll being female adds a nice angle to the traditional story. The troll’s feelings are more emotional than voracious, but at the same time, we wonder if her inherent nature will overpower her desire for friendship (and Starbucks coffee.)

The loneliness of the troll comes out strongly in the story. I initially wondered if she was depressed, but later, it seemed like she was just hungry for interaction. She was an interesting character for sure, and I wish the story had done better justice to her feelings.

You might wonder why an ordinary man is called a “prince” in the title. The answer, I think, lies in his attitude towards the troll after he decides to get her coffee. What the troll perceives as friendship is more like sympathy and charity from the man. He feels superior to the troll because of his better house and better job on “the road”, and by offering a measly cup of coffee to her, he probably considers himself a prince out on a rescue mission. The situation reminded me of what Phoebe told Joey in one episode of FRIENDS: “There are no selfless good deeds.”

The troll’s surroundings also have a role to play in the proceedings. From the man’s response to the smell and the murkiness of the troll’s living quarters, we understand that her home is far from ideal. But if she’s happy there, would it be right to pity her? As the story proceeds, we see that there is a conflict between the river (the troll’s residence) and the road (the man’s domain.) As the road expands, the river retreats, but soon, nature tries to reclaim what is hers.

As you can see, the little 30-page story explores quite a few ideas: depression, charity, climate change, and unlikely friendships. And therein lies the problem. A couple of these ideas would have worked well, but as the themes are quite deep, doing justice to all of them within a short story is a huge task. As a result, the story feels somewhat superficial, focussing more on multiple topics than on an in-depth approach focussed on a couple of themes. The vague ending doesn’t help as it offers no closure.

Starbucks aficionados will probably be pleased to see the variety of drinks that the man purchases for the troll, but as I am not a fan of such coffee chains and barely know their menu, the caffeinated offerings did nothing for me.

This is my very first experience of Rainbow Rowell’s work, and I enjoyed her worldbuilding and her characters. But the story was too short to do justice to the plot. I am keen to try her full-length novels to see if she can handle the story development better in the longer variant.

As far as this tale goes, it was just a one-time read for me. It will be slightly more memorable more for its characters than for its plot. I appreciate the new take on the old story, but my favourite retelling of the original tale shall remain Gaiman’s.

This is the first standalone story from the Faraway Collection, and is available for free to Amazon Prime subscribers.