When I first came across the book Goblin Quest, it did intrigue me considering its unique perspective on fantasy adventures.
However, it took me a long time to decide whether I should go ahead and read it considering my ever increasing to-read-list.
Once I did read this quirky adventure though by author Jim C. Hines, I have to say I was so glad that I took a chance on it. Now I am hooked on to the Goblin Quest series and look forward to the sequels as well.
As for the storyline, you have your warrior prince, an incredibly gifted mage, the loyal dwarf who is also the prince’s mentor and a somewhat mysterious elf, the master lockpicker in the group. Basically your typical quartet for most adventures or a good role playing game.
Yet these heroes are not the main focus of the book. As the title suggests already, this book is from the viewpoint of ‘Jig’, a near-sighted goblin who lives with his tribe inside a long maze of caves within a mountain. Even in goblin standards, Jig is quite the coward and does not have much of a body to go on epic adventures.
Unfortunately for him, he gets caught up with the quartet and is taken prisoner. His captors are looking for a mysterious magical artefact with some incredible power. This artefact is supposed to be hidden deep below the caves, guarded by a fierce dragon. Of course to reach the dragon, you have to go through the evil necromancer and not to mention all the other mystical creatures that live inside the caves.
Jig is forced by the prince to guide them along the caves as he reckons someone living inside these mazes would know the way around and warn of upcoming danger.
Although Jig does not really know his way around and could not care less about any artefact or noble quests, he has no choice but to do as asked to avoid getting killed by the sword-swinging prince who is more than happy to show goblins their true place in the chain of living organisms.
Honestly the first half of the book was just nice. It felt more like I was reading about levels from a role playing game rather than chapters from a fantasy adventure.
However, as the story went along and we entered the second half of the book, things changed dramatically. It was as if the author suddenly remembered character building and other basics of good fantasy fiction. Things start moving quite quickly and our adventurers are faced with one issue after the other.
More importantly though, we start learning further about each of the characters, their motivations, why they are involved in this quest in the first place. Jig’s growth as a goblin and his experiences along with his will to survive against all odds starts captivating the reader.
As mentioned above already, by the time this book was towards its final pages, I was completely hooked. I was loving every moment of reading this goblin fantasy quest.
If you have ever rooted for the little guy, if you like anti-heroes, if you love role playing games and especially if you are a fan of fantasy creatures such as goblins, trolls, dragons, warlocks etc., you will absolutely love Goblin Quest.
For others, I do strongly recommend giving this book a try. Stick with it and you will not be disappointed. It does have everything that most fantasy adventure fans look for in a good book.
