‘The Barrow Troll’ – David Drake


Page Count: Ten and a Bit Pages.

I found out, the other day, that author David Drake had sadly died, a reminder that Drake is one of any number of fantasy authors that I have shamefully never got round to checking out. In my defence, I do get there in the end, it just takes bloody ages sometimes (it’s not like I don’t have a lot of other things going on at the same time, anyway…) The article I was reading mentioned that ‘The Barrow Troll’ continues to be worth a read and can be found in any one of a number of anthologies. I had a feeling that I had one of those anthologies and was right 😊 I don’t know about all the other anthologies but ‘The Barrow Troll’ can definitely be found in ‘The Sword & Sorcery Anthology’ (Edited by David G. Hartwell & Jacob Weisman).

With all that said, lets talk a bit about ‘The Barrow Troll’. Quick thoughts today because it’s my lunch break and I’ve got a few other things to get done before the weekend starts. That and the fact that ‘The Barrow Troll’ is only ten and a bit pages long… 😉

Ulf Womanslayer knows where the gold is and will do whatever it takes to make it his, up to and including kidnapping Johann (a priest) for some spiritual assistance. There’s a troll to be taken care of though, if that gold is to belong to Ulf. Can Johann’s holy fire defeat the troll… and is there worse yet to come…?

‘The Barrow Troll’ is a story that doesn’t hang around; it comes in, does its job and leaves. Short and sweet then but also a mark of a writer who knows exactly what they want to get out of a tale and do just that. No fripperies here then and I think ‘The Barrow Troll’ reads all the better for it, taking a sideways look at ‘Sword & Sorcery’ and doing a really good job of it. What we get here is a tale where it’s clear straight from the off that this isn’t your regular ‘Sword & Sorcery’ tale. Something doesn’t feel quite right here and when you add foreboding background and some sparky dialogue to the mix, Ulf isn’t afraid to say exactly what he means, ‘The Barrow Troll’ swiftly becomes a tale that demands your attention. I for one was hooked very quickly. I enjoyed the ending and how the focus falls on consequences rather than the action leading up to it. Don’t get me wrong, the fight with the troll looks amazing, and is, but while all that’s great about ‘Sword & Sorcery’ storytelling is present in ‘The Barrow Troll’, it’s those thought provoking moments (around greed and consequence in particular) that really elevate this tale above a large chunk of its peers.

‘The Barrow Troll’ is short enough to get you through a coffee break but packed with enough to keep your brain ticking over for much longer. If you see it, read it; it’s that simple. And ‘The Sword & Sorcery Anthology’ is well worth your time anyway, loads of good stories in there, but maybe that’s a post for another time.

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