Books like Trollhunters

After watching the Netflix series and becoming somewhat obsessed, I grabbed this book at the earliest opportunity. It didn't disappoint.WARNING: Do NOT read this book if all you want is the Trollhunters Netflix series in book form. Because the differences are enormous, albeit well-reasoned on del Toro's part. They are two different beasts that share a common blood.Reading Trollhunters is like taking a decadent, sobering trip into the 9th circle of Dante's Inferno. It's dark. It's gritty. The trolls (especially the Gumm-Gumms) are absolutely disgusting, revolting monsters, illuminated in a way only del Toro could achieve. The descriptions in this book might actually be difficult for the faint-of-heart or queasy to power through. The writing is gorgeous - the prose feels wonderfully atypical at times; even the simplest sentences can germinate from a place of pure originality, like a breath of fresh air. You grow to know and love the characters. The twists keep readers on the edges of their seats until the bittersweet end.My singular complaint, is that this novel does read like it was meant to be an ornamented movie script. Scenes that could be more powerful in fewer words are dragged out longer than they need to be, especially action scenes; I felt that the strength of the fight scenes floundered under their own verbosity. Also, some of the smaller scenes added in near the end felt as if pulled straight from film. I've had these same feelings before while reading works from other directors, and while I enjoyed those books as well, it seems to be a common thought that nags at me.BUT overall, I'm really glad I decided to visit the slimey underbelly that is the novel version of Trollhunters. It was vile, heartwarming, intense, and funny. And I loved it.