Hilda and the Time Worm
by Luke Pearson
by Stephen Davis
Flying Eye Books, 2020
Hilda and the Time Worm is the fourth Hilda tie-in novelization. The Hilda series of graphic novels (see Hildafolk) were so good that Netflix made a show off of them, and those were so popular that they decided to make a series of novels for children off of it. Hilda and the Time Worm is the first novelization that isn't clearly a rehash of the graphic novels, so I read it.
Hilda lives in the small town of Trollberg, full of magical creatures and surrounded by deadly trolls. Life is pretty good after Hilda's recent adventures, except that Erik Ahlberg is being a jerk again; he wants to outfit the bell towers with massive bells to scare away the trolls, and has built a fancy airship to help out with the troll patrols. Naturally, Hilda and her friends want to stop this, but they are meanwhile distracted by the arrival of the thirteen Yule Lads and a time-travelling grumpy neighbor. In the end everything works out through the fourfold magic of pluck, moxie, friendship, and breaking the rules as necessary.
Okay, we need some serious background spoilers to explain that; skip this paragraph if you don't want truly massive spoilers for the graphic novels, the TV show, and also the earlier novels. In the earlier tales, Hilda has learned that the trolls aren't deadly (at least, on purpose... at least, not most of them) but that they are attracted to Trollberg because the great mother troll sleeps under the valley; she stays endlessly at rest because she doesn't want to destroy the human settlement that appeared one millennium while she was sleeping. Erik Ahlberg keeps trying to drive the trolls away, but if he's too efficient at this the trolls will be distressed because they are too far away from their mother, and she will rise up to comfort them, killing all the humans. Hilda is here to maintain the balance and save everyone! Erik is just a well-funded jerk, not actively evil.
Anyway... This is a nice, cozy novel, with enough twists and subplots and weird Nordic cultural references to keep it interesting. If you liked the graphic novels or the show, you'll probably like this book. It is illustrated, although not heavily. It fits in with the general spirit of the original Luke Pearson art and stories, and is basically a nice, fun read. I would much rather have a new addition to the original series than a double-derivative novel, but failing that, this was nice.
The novels in the series are:
- Hilda and the Hidden People
- Hilda and the Great Parade
- Hilda and the Nowhere Space
- Hilda and the Time Worm
- Hilda and the Ghost Ship
- Hilda and the White Woff
- Hilda and the Laughing Merman
- Hilda and the Faratok Tree
- Hilda and the Fairy Village
However, I would recommend starting with the graphic novels, the first of which is published under the names of Hildafolk, and in later editions, Hilda and the Troll.