Top 10 Best The Legend of Tann Books
Recently, I decided to pick up a ten-book series from my local library and read it. Why? Back when I was in fourth or fifth grade, there was a particular book series that some of my classmates occasionally read: The Legend of Tann (in Swedish, Legenden om Tann). I remember trying to read it back then, but I was too lazy to get through more than a few pages. So now, years later, I decided to give it another go and read the series in full. Now that I've finished all the books, I'm ready to share my thoughts with this ranking.The Legend of Tann is a Swedish fantasy series by Niklas Krog. It follows the adventures of a dwarf named Tanarog, also known as Tann. Tann lives in the Stripe Mountains (Randbergen), a mountain range located in the far south of the fictional land of Unadan. The mountains are also home to "the Beast," a dark creature that feeds on evil and poses the greatest threat to the dwarfs.
Unlike other dwarfs, who prefer the safety of the mountains, Tann enjoys spending time in the woods outside. One day, he accidentally falls through a window in the mountain and ends up outside, where he meets a wandering oak tree named Bladhus. (Yes, in this series, trees can walk, talk, and even have faces!) The two quickly become friends.
Later, the Beast - after apparently breaking through enough of the mountain's defenses - manages to invade the dwarfs' home. Tann and his friend Bladhus team up to drive the Beast out of the mountain and back into the woods. This marks the beginning of Tann's legendary journey.
The series consists of ten main books plus a prologue book, which tells this backstory in greater detail. Today, I'll be ranking all the books in the series. With that said, here's the list!
Havet (The Sea) is the sixth part of the Legend of Tann book series, and in my personal opinion, it is the best book in this series. Everything in this book just works so well, and the pacing is great. It picks up right after the fifth book ended, with Tanarog, Aina, and Bladhus successfully reaching Aina's parents in the forests of the north. After Tann was rejected by Aina's parents due to how forest people dislike dwarfs, Tann and Bladhus continue their journey without Aina. This time, Tanarog wants to see the sea in the far north.
This book isn't necessarily flawless, but out of these ten books, this one comes the closest. This book was such an enjoyable ride. The book mainly involves Tann and Bladhus wandering, but lots of interesting stuff happens. When they were in the dark forest with the evil pine tree was definitely a nice and exciting moment. I really like that Ztark and The Slayer (Dräparen) return in this book. They were my favorite characters from the previous book. There is also a subplot involving Aina when she's at the forest with her parents, talking and stuff. This I really like because it would've been a bit boring if it was just Tann and Bladhus wandering around. But overall, this book is my favorite.
The third book in the series, Drakmötet (The Dragon Meeting), is my second favorite book of the series. It takes place a little after where the second book ended, with the beast finally having been defeated, and the Bonuro Forest is now safe from the beast's wrath. Now, the three friends have another goal. They are going to find the parents of Aina.
It was revealed in the first book, I think, that once upon a time when Aina was little, her parents left the forest people in the Bonuro Forest to meet the forest people in the north beyond the plains, but they never came back. So now they are going to find them.
A good chunk of the book takes place on the plains north of the Bonuro Forest. It pretty much starts off at the edge of the forest. This is the only book in which Tanarog is alone for the majority of the book. Only at the start and end of the book is he with his friends. For the rest, he's completely alone. I personally thought that was a decent thing because that way I could feel the character more than when he's not alone.
I love the setting though. This book personally feels the longest and is the only book in this series where I think the pacing is not too fast. All of these books are pretty short, but I personally thought this was longer, which was a good thing. The moment when Nidaros and Tanarog actually communicate for the first time was quite epic and exciting.
Personally, this is my second favorite book in the series and a great book overall. With the great pacing and storytelling, this is just slightly worse than the sixth book in the series.
Dräparen (The Slayer) is the fifth book in the series and picks up right where the fourth book left off, with Tann, Aina, and Bladhus continuing their search for Aina's parents. They have just crossed the massive plains that separated the Bonuro Forest from the cliffs. The cliffs are primarily home to the cliff trolls.
These guys are some of my favorite characters in the book series. Yes, they can be incredibly annoying at times, but they were quite charming in this book, personally. Some of the trolls even have personalities. Ztoor, the main antagonist in the book, for example, is shown to be much more intelligent and smarter than the other trolls, as a good chunk of the trolls happen to be incredibly stupid. Ztark is an even better character though, as he has even more personality, and he actually receives character development later in the next book in the series.
Let's not forget Dräparen (the slayer), who is the mascot of this book, a green muscular monster from the swamplands in the east. Unfortunately, he didn't appear much in this book and appeared more in the sixth book instead, but he's awesome.
Personally, the only books in the series I consider to be "awesome" are Havet and Drakmötet. However, Dräparen is not a book that's too far from receiving the title as well. I highly enjoyed this book, and it certainly was a nice book to read. I think the book is over too fast, but other than that, it's great.
This book maybe could've been in the third spot, but due to the unfortunate fact that this is so far the only book in this series that unluckily features bathroom humor (something I despise with a passion), this book is a bit lower. However, it is not that big of a deal, and the rest of this seventh book in the series, known as "Ömannen" (The Island Guy), is pretty great.
It starts right where the previous book left off, with Tann, Bladhus, and Aina having successfully reached the sea. Now, Tann and Aina want to explore the islands off the coast, so they borrow a boat. Due to bad weather, they are stranded on an island with one resident, Magnus, who despises visitors. Magnus, despite only being in this book and appearing in less than half of it, is one of the most developed characters. Most one-time characters in this book series get a lot of attention. I legit feel bad for him and his rough backstory as to why he's on the island in the first place. Gotta say he looks pretty cool as well with the yellow-green skin, in my opinion.
It's a great book. Despite the unnecessary bathroom humor at times, this is one of the best books in the series, in my personal opinion.
The eighth book in the series, Faram den Store (Faram the Big), was certainly a memorable book and also a great-tier book in my opinion. Like many books in the series, it starts right where the previous book ended. In this case, it starts with Tann and Aina having returned to the mainland after their encounter with Magnus the island guy. Now they are going to return the boat to its owner, who is Faram. And now that they are on the mainland, Tann wants to visit the dwarfs who live in the Hindus Mountains, and Faram helps the company reach it.
Faram is certainly one of my favorite characters in the series. His backstory is one of the most interesting ever. Long before the events of the book series, there was a dragon known as Marma. Once she had a baby who didn't resemble a dragon at all. This was Faram. However, Marma's husband, Nidaros, tried to kill him, which resulted in the battle between him and Marma at the Hindus Mountain range. Marma was destroyed, but Faram was safe. Faram, presumably being hundreds of years old now, was just alone and wandered around Unadan, now that he had nothing left. What they do to his character is certainly an interesting act. Not really spoiling too much, but it is great.
And so is this book. It is great personally. While the weakest of the great-tier books, it's still a great book.
Dvärgarna (The Dwarfs) is the ninth installment in the series and the second-to-last book. This is the first book on the list that I only consider to be "good-tier." In this book, the friends have successfully reached the Hindus mountain range, and Tann now wants to meet the dwarfs that live there. Unfortunately, the dwarfs are arrogant jackasses who despise visitors who try to enter their mountain. When Tann manages to sneak into the mountains, he is forced to participate in the holy competition if he wants to escape. Otherwise, he will end up in the dwarfs' jails.
The best thing about the book is the introduction of Grim, a character who grew to become the quatragonist in the last installment of the series. He's basically the exact same character as Tann. Same personality, same goal, just that he's from the Hindus mountains and not the Stripe mountains, and is a bit younger. However, it's nice to see how Tann actually manages to interact with someone who has the same goals as him. That is a nice touch. Overall, the book is good.
Skogsflickan (The Forest Girl) is the first book in the series (technically the second if you consider the prologue book to be the first, but that is more of the "zeroth" book if you understand what I am saying). In my opinion, this book does a good job as the first in the series.
It picks up about half a year after where the prologue book ended, with spring finally arriving, and Tann can't wait to hang out with his oak tree pal, Bladhus. However, surprisingly, a forest girl arrives at Bladhus as well. Tann and Bladhus learn that after they chased away the beast from the Stripe Mountains, it is now causing chaos in the Bonuro Forest, knocking down tree after tree. Tann realizes that he must leave the Stripe Mountains and defeat the beast, or at least chase it away from the forest. So, he and Aina set off on an adventure to find the beast and chase it away from the forest.
One of the biggest annoyances I find in the book is that Bladhus barely appears, despite being a main character in the series. No joke, the first time he actually appears as a protagonist is in the fourth installment. He only appears slightly at the beginning of this book, slightly at the end of the second book, and at the beginning and end of the third book before actually being a major character in the fourth book.
However, the chemistry between Tann and Aina is great and feels so real in my opinion. They mainly start off as just partners, but they quickly develop feelings for each other, and it feels authentic. The beast, the main antagonist, is also quite a cool-looking dude. He looks badass and exotic, which I certainly like.
This is the only book in the series that really has a forest setting. The second one did as well, but they spent more time in the caves than in the forest. Forests are my favorite types of biomes, so I love that the setting is mainly forest in this book.
Why is this book so low then? Well, for starters, I already talked about the... more
Items 8-10 are, in my personal opinion, "decent-tier." Besterns Håla (The Beast's Cave) is, in my opinion, an example of how to NOT make a good book. This is probably the most boring book of the series altogether, if I'm completely honest here.
It takes place a while after the first book, with the beast having been chased away from the forest and lacking the energy to wreak more havoc. So he's resting in his cave deep in the forest, regenerating so that he can get back to causing havoc later. Tann and Aina must prevent this from ever happening, so they constantly wake the beast up until he just doesn't want to go out in the forest ever again.
So basically, all this book is about is Tann and Aina getting into the beast's cave, waking him up, fleeing, and the beast going to sleep again. And it goes on. Yes, each time they wake him up is a bit different, and the beginning of the book was decent, and some parts were alright, so it's not lowest on the list. But yeah, this book is boring. Other than that, there is not much to say about this one, but it's an alright book.
Nidaros Vrede (Nidaros' Wrath) is the fourth installment in the book series. Personally, I think this book was too short and not very significant or interesting. The entire book is basically the friends continuing their wander through the plains, and the dragon Nidaros is super angry for some reason, so he starts to spray fire everywhere.
That's really the only significant thing about this book. Nothing really interesting happens. The best part is at the end of the book when the friends manage to get to the cliffs in the north. Nidaros gets a fine ending as he, the dragon who always tried everything to eliminate Tann, at last befriends him. Overall, the book is just alright.
This is the finale of the book series, known as Trollkrig (Troll War). I expected it to be an epic and climactic finale, but honestly, I was a bit disappointed with it. In fact, it is probably my least favorite installment in the book series. The first half was just so slow, and I felt it didn't make any sense at all.
Basically, in this book, a group of cliff trolls led by the evil pine tree Barret has decided to cut down all trees in Unadan. I will admit that Barret is quite a decent villain with understandable motivations, but that's not the problem. The problem is that the first half of the book just doesn't seem to make much sense to me. The main characters, Tann, Grim, Aina, and Bladhus, just don't seem to get anywhere. It's hard to explain, but it didn't make much sense.
The second half is better as it gets more climactic, but even then, I didn't feel like it was anything that interesting. The ending was really nice, and I really liked the reappearance of Ztark and the Slayer, two of my favorite characters in the series, and how they came in at the last minute to fight the trolls. I liked the ending a lot, though. Overall, the book was just below decent.