Sean Randall reviewed Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines
Review of 'Goblin Quest' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
"you've either got the greatest gift of understatement ever seen in a human, or else you've not the slightest idea what you're talking about."
This is a delightful little book, looking at much of the fantasy genre in something of a different light. Jig, the goblin protagonist, is not originally a part of the adventuring party (which holds many of the standard fantasy elements we'd expect, such as the magic user, the warrior etc). he's more a captive, which skews the viewpoint on the adventuring class from the outset. Jig's charity is naturally somewhat limited in that department also, and so the group that sets off on a mighty quest is hardly a harmonious one.
"Over the course of Jig's rant, Barius's face had turned
red, then purple. Jig watched him curiously. He hadn't realized humans
could change color. Perhaps they were part lizard."
Jig's only a goblin, and so …
"you've either got the greatest gift of understatement ever seen in a human, or else you've not the slightest idea what you're talking about."
This is a delightful little book, looking at much of the fantasy genre in something of a different light. Jig, the goblin protagonist, is not originally a part of the adventuring party (which holds many of the standard fantasy elements we'd expect, such as the magic user, the warrior etc). he's more a captive, which skews the viewpoint on the adventuring class from the outset. Jig's charity is naturally somewhat limited in that department also, and so the group that sets off on a mighty quest is hardly a harmonious one.
"Over the course of Jig's rant, Barius's face had turned
red, then purple. Jig watched him curiously. He hadn't realized humans
could change color. Perhaps they were part lizard."
Jig's only a goblin, and so not very familiar with other species (having lived his entire life underground). He's got Humans, elves, dwarves and dragons to deal with, though: not to mention the odd God.
"Jig felt nauseous as he realized that he
had a hole passing all the way through his body. And how much blood did
he have left? That warm puddle all over the floor, that was him! He
needed that stuff to stay inside his skin, not be spreading across the
marble and soaking into his loincloth!"
Jig's also fairly used to pain, the goblins being something of a rough-and-ready bunch of miscreants. Little prepared him for the hardships he'd have to endure on this quest, though, even though he didn't want to be there in the first place.
"He had shouted into the black pit for a while, but nobody answered. The
pit absorbed his voice, making him sound small and scared. Which he was,
but he didn't like having the fact thrown in his face."
The humour reminds me of [a:Simon Hawke|1401|Stephen W. Hawking|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1197404653p2/1401.jpg], [a:peter David|13661|Victor Hugo|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1193505431p2/13661.jpg] or [a:dave Duncan|1221698|Neil Gaiman|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg] in their light fantasy modes. This is the first of what I think is a trilogy, so there's more jig to come. Whilst the sarcasm and fun is perhaps not of a standard when compared to some people's work, it's certainly passable and in many instances enjoyable. I really got into it, and will certainly be reading the rest.