“Plans were for adventurers. He preferred the goblin approach. Blind panic might not work all the time, but at least it saved you the stress of planning.”
― Jim C. Hines, Goblin Quest
Jim C. Hines is an American fantasy writer who has written the trilogy, the Goblins series, which was publish in the year 2006-2008. The books series are a well written comedy with hints of old fantasy rpg quests. Those who likes to play games or read old books will recognize a lot of the jokes in this one. Though it is clearly supposed to be a fantasy comedy, it is in no way limited to that but also has a lot of lore, adventure and even a few moments that tugs on your heartstrings showing the writer’s ability to convey.
The first book, the goblin quest, is according to me by far the best book of the three. It has a more confined story, limited by the smaller setting and more clear goal. Jig the goblin is the scrawny and useless goblin in the group who often is left to clean the tunnels. One day he is captured by one of the most cruel and dangerous of all creatures, human heroes. Two princes, one is a warrior and the other is a mage playing with dangerous magic, is traveling with a cleric dwalf and an elven thief to find a magical artifact owned by a powerful necromancer. Jig is supposed to be their guide, it’s just one problem. He doesn’t know the way, so the quest continues, and he must use his limited wit to try not to get killed by his surroundings or his companions.
The story is from the perspective of little Jig who is as far off from the traditional main character. The world is seen from his eyes as he watches the people who normally would be main characters and frankly shows the insane reality of what we who play fantasy games assume to be normal.
The second book, Goblin Hero, follows Jig once more has he now has become Jig Dragonslayer, and has become famous for being a healer thanks to the god he worships. A god since long forgotten by the civilized races and an outcast among other gods. Unfortunately, being a hero means that everyone expects you to solve all the problems and continue to do heroic quests so when trouble brews, Jig are forced to search out an unknown threat who has been killing ogres and hobgoblins. This time he is followed by Veka, a goblin who fancies herself a sorceress, Grell, the old and witty old goblin, and a dumb as a bag of rice warrior goblin named Braf. Together they will have to face the new threat preferably without dying.
This one was the weakest of the three books according to me. It was still enjoyable but the other two follows a clear path while this one felt unfocused. One of the greatest things from previous book was the relationship between Jig and the forgotten god Tymalous Shadowstar who Jig can talk to through his mind. Those two together makes a hilarious combo but in this book I felt that it wasn’t enough interaction between them and far to much time was dedictaded to the other companions who wasn’t as great according to me. They were funny but left no impression on my mind and I felt that Goblin Hero was a good book but not as great as the first one.
The last book, Goblin War, takes Jig and put him into a larger setting ramping up the stakes. One day, humans come into the goblin caves and takes some of them as slaves to rebuild their castle. Jig meet’s old faces from the first book as they will need to defend themselves from a clan of orges who has become powerful under a forgotten god like Shadowstar. The forgotten gods are cursed after being exiled by the other gods during a rebellion making sure that no civilized race could remember their name. The new god want to break this curse but Shadowstar just want Jig and his race to live free and have the same as all other races. Even if it means that they will one day forget him. That does not mean that he isn’t tempted and leaves him divided between Jig, who needs to unite the different tribes of Orges, hobgoblin and goblin, or breaking his curse.
This story has what I wanted from the second book, a lot more interaction between Jig and Shadowstar. It also expands on the lore and the world giving us a truly epic fantasy story. I felt that this one leans more into the traditional epic storytelling instead of the comedy of the previous ones. Not that the comedy isn’t there but this one felt too large to be a pure comedy like the first book in the series.
Overall, this book series was a pleasant surprise for me. I listened to it on Graphic Audio and it was amazing. It amused and entertained me to the very end and even the second book was good even if I did not consider it as good as the first and third book. I would give this one an 8 out of 10 but considering my problem of the second book, I could would also consider it a 7 out of 10 but are happy to give it an eight since I have read this one several time out of mere enjoyment. The Goblin Series is one that I would strongly recommend for those who want a lighter fantasy story.
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