When Gennifer disappears from the hospital after Debra pulls her out of a burning trailer, their mother kicks Debra out. But “Roller Deb” can’t just abandon her sister to her fate at the hands of the local dealer, especially once she learns he is actually a troll. And Debra isn’t as human as she always assumed she was. She also has a protector of her own, and when she ends up skating in a roller derby unlike anything she ever imagined, with her sister’s fate on the line, she’s going to need all the help she can get.
Troll or Derby is a dark book, but it’s saved from being unbearable by author Red Tash’s wry sense of humor. The plot begins in the middle of the action, with Deb rescuing her sister from a fire, and it doesn’t let up until the end. That’s both one of the book’s strengths, and its biggest weakness. I felt hurtled along through the plot with no time to stop and breathe or to look around at the scenery. As a consequence, it wasn’t until nearly halfway through that I started to feel any real connection to the characters. Despite that, Tash’s writing was skilled enough to keep me reading, and there are a few places where it went from good to great.
Reviewed by Niko Sylvester for IndieReader