Troll Hunter: Witch for Hire (Mason)
(Gretchen's (Mis)Adventures - Season One #0·5) by P. A. Mason (2020)
(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)
I'm a little wary of books with many subtitles, but this is becoming the norm in these days of quick ebook publishing. I'm also not fond of the use of "Season" to describe entries in a series, unless it's actually about the seasons of the year or seasons of a TV show or similar.
I assumed the 0.5 meant this was some kind of prequel, or setup for the rest of the available books. In any case, there was a story here to be told. It might not have been the best-written, but it did it's job. I gave it 3 stars on Good Reads because I didn't think it was a two-star book. Some of the things I gave two stars to weren't very good.
It also contained Chapter 1 of the first book, which is a marketing gimmick, so I can't complain about that.
The story revolves around a witch named Gretchen, who makes potions. She has feline familiar named Mulligan, and a broom that doesn't always fly right. Plus, there's a weird spell book. She spends a lot of time down at the pub, owned by a sick, dying dwarf, where the riff raff hang out.
She gets hired by the town to get rid of a troll under the bridge, which is feeding on people's livestock. No one else wants the job. She manages to make a potion, with the help of the spell book, but by accident, the troll becomes "enchanted". I'm not sure if that's the correct term, but that's the one used. The troll becomes self-aware, developing a more of human intelligence instead of operating on a more animalistic level. Basically, it became a player character race.
Enchanted creatures have rights, so they can't chase him off any more. But Jurgen becomes Gretchen's responsibility. The troll isn't welcome at home any more, nor does he like that way of living. But he's still a troll, and people don't like him. He gets a temporary job with the silversmith, doing heavy lifting in the back, but after an allergic reaction, he winds up working at the pub.
Gretchen starts working at the pub, the Salt and Bog, because the dwarf needs help. And when the roof of cabin falls in (due to excessive water damage), she moves into the pub as well.
There's another witch, Nora, and a girl who wants a love potion so that the silversmith will fall in love with her. He's such a catch that every mother would want him for their daughters, and yet he turns them all down. Gee, wonder why (that's not really a mystery at all). And everything works out in the end, including Gretchen getting her house fixed.
I don't see myself getting the boxed set of the next "seasons". Also, this was one of the books I downloaded while looking for books with gnomes. I don't remember the gnomes. They might've been there, but if so, nothing about them stuck out in my mind that I remember them a day after finishing the book.
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