Series: Thorgal Title: Het offer (The sacrifice) By: Rosinski & Van Hamme Thorgal is near his death, he can't recover from the poisoning he received. Aaricia and her children ask a local lord for food and shelter, but he shoves them away. Jolan destroys the bridge to the lord's castle while he's on it so he falls into the ditch, and the lord swears revenge. The next morning already, while Aaricia, Thorgal and their children are camping near a river, the lord comes accompanied by a group of armed men. It looks bad for all of them, but then Vigrid (See: Aaricia) comes and helps them, he was sent by Frigg. He can postpone Thorgal's death by two days, two days in which he needs to get a solution for his problems...   This book is sort of a milestone in the Thorgal-saga. It's the last Thorgal-book by the tandem Rosinski-Van Hamme; Yves Sente allegedly takes over the scenario, and it's the first that Rosinski painted completely. And most important: it is supposed to become the start of a renewed series, in which Jolan becomes the main character. So there are references to quite some previous adventures, one more explicit than another. Alinoë, Kriss, de Key-keeper, Frigg, Tanatloc, Tjahzi, Vigrid, Volsung of Nichor, all of them are part of this story, sometimes literally, sometimes they are just referred to. It seems as if Van Hamme wanted to say good-bye to everything that made this series as big as it is, to everything that worked - because let's face it, not all books were from the same high level. Is this book then filled with sentiment? Far from! There most certainly is a coherent story, there most certainly is a goal to be reached, there certainly is tension, even though it is all a tad predictable. But still it is one of the stronger books since Qâ, with from time to time véry beautiful pages. And with a great start for a series of Jolan-stories.

 
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Last Update: Sunday, May 3, 2009