Life of Zarf--Troll Overboard

sheanuggets89 - What do you think it would be like to be in a bunch of madness at sea? This is the book known as, Life of Zarf: Troll overboard, by Rob Harrell. Our main hero is Zarf, just an average middle school troll, and his friends, Kevin, and Sierra. Our setting takes place at sea, (most of the time), But at other times an Island and Zarf’s hometown (Can’t find name). The trouble starts at the end of a middle school day when Prince Roquefort decides he wants to go on a diving trip with Zarf’s grandpa because he had been sailing before, and he had magic beans he had lost at sea. So they go on the boat, and travel far out at sea. Prince takes Zarf to help him when diving for his beans and then it starts, they encounter a dump truck sized sea monster, it proceeds to strike at them. The large green serpent almost consumes Prince R., but Zarf, Even though he hated him, Took a hard whack at his nostril, and he swam away. But when they come to the surface, they lost the boat. So in a way to put it, They are stuck in a hurricane tide ocean. But Fortunately, They found Kevin (a really freaked out friend of Zarf who really likes Mutton Pudding), As well, they spot a island. So they literally swim in dangerously high wave ocean. And reach the island, it may seem like they are stranded, But they find a mer-pig, S’wella. She didn’t do much though. Zarf and Prince were getting very,very hungry. So they take the beans from Prince Roquefort, and about half an hour later Later, the seeds basically turn them into human trees, Prince’s legs turn into trees, and Zarf’s hair is covered in leaves and branches.Sometime later, Zarf is roaming the beach of the island, But suddenly, a short pirate comes out of the blue, and threatens him with a sword, They take the others and bring them to the dreaded captain redbeard. Who reveals a secret, she is Sierra’s forgotten mom. Ridinghood, They go on a new boat (a big ol pirate boat),and kevin notices s’wella in the ocean, she yells to pull her up, And so they bring her up. She warns them that the sea witch was coming. They keep sailing and they end up in a area where they encounter a pod of sea serpents. They shoot spittoons at the monsters, and one of them is the serpent from earlier, Zarf shoots it off, and the serpents leave, only to encounter something worse, The sea witch herself. Her red eyes glowed, tentacles flung everywhere, and then the horrid mouth opened, Sharp teeth, Horrible gums, and godawful breath, the monster assaulted the crew, all of the crew, Zarf got attacked, but had an idea. The beans from earlier had a long shot, but still a shot, of killing the witch. He chucks the beans into the loathful mouth of the monster, the minute it swallowed the beans, It went nuts. Its teeth cracked, It started screaming, bushes and vines and all sorts of plant-like features started growing on the beast, and then, the witch dies. The madness had ended. I really liked this book, It had a ton of lovable unique characters with a lot of action and comedy, I would give this book 8.9/10 because some parts were cheesy and were a little confusing and I didn't like prince roquefort, I think people who enjoy comedy and action and basically random fiction like this would be good to recommend to.

Starred review from July 1, 2016
Zarf, middle school troll, is tricked into a quest for magic beans that takes him into--and then out of--the belly of the beast. Blech.There are pirates involved, too, not to mention monsters, a sea witch named Ursula (no relation to the one in Little Mermaid--really), and a friendly mer-pig. It all starts when royal classmate Prince Roquefort, justly dubbed a "little waste of oxygen," persuades Zarf's seagoing grandpa to take him on a short cruise. Suspicious, Zarf comes along. Indeed, it seems that the prince has concocted a scheme to recover the beans from Jack's beanstalk, which had been dumped in the ocean as an anti-giant measure, and use their magic to make himself...taller. Disasters, of course, ensue as Zarf and the prince are temporarily swallowed by a finny monster, stranded on a small island with Zarf's histrionic porcine buddy, and then captured by the somewhat-less-fearsome-than-advertised pirate Redbeard the Unapproachable. Harrell plugs cartoon line drawings of comically disgruntled or distraught figures into the narrative on nearly every page to deliver sly gags and punch lines while navigating the plot toward a bean-tastic battle with the outsized witch. The humans, a minority here, look white, though on the colored cover Zarf has light brown skin under a tuft of orange hair. A series that began as a Wimpy Kid wannabe moves up to a cabin in first class. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 10-12)

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