Goblin Quest

An excellent romp for anyone who likes fantasy, and who's tired of the same old looting-questing-raiding tropes. If you've ever played D&D, in particular, you'll adore the offbeat sense of humour and skewed perspective in this novel.At times, I got a bit annoyed with the very obvious trope inversions, but then the author would throw some fabulous aside out there, or a really resonant bit of character development, and I'd go back to being in love with the book. It's a fast, fun read, meant to be devoured in an afternoon, and I'm definitely hungry for more.The ending was particularly wonderful...after slogging through yet another dungeon crawl, despite the inversion of the heroes (it's hard to get bored when a cowardly goblin is your show more narrator), it was jarring in a good way to have such an unexpected, pragmatic, slightly brutal finish. Actually, that's a good way to describe everything about Jig, our goblin narrator - he's unexpected, pragmatic, and slightly brutal, simply because that's what life in a goblin lair lends itself to. He's also smart, if not a bit clueless, which just makes him that much more engaging.Highly recommended. show less

It was refreshing to read a DnD dungeon crawl adventure from the perspective of the hated, weak, little goblin. The wicked adventurers invading his home on another of their quests, shown with all their flaws as real people, not the perfect heroes they imagine themselves to be.
If I hadn't been told this was the author's first book, I never would have known; it was that polished and well-told. I can't wait to read more by this author.

Goblin Quest, by Jim C. Hines, is a uniquely clever and witty fantasy debut.

Jig is a small, even for a goblin, and often gets ridiculed by his peers. While patrolling through neighboring tunnels, Jig stumbles upon a group of adventurers. Captured for his knowledge of the underground tunnel system, Jig is forced to join the group and their search for the Rod of Creation. Legend says that the Rod was made by a dangerous Necromancer and is now supposedly held in a dragon's lair.

Join Jig on this fun journey of laughs, danger, and magic. In this distinctive fantasy, we get to view life from a goblin's point of view. As Jig learns more about the world around him, he also begins to learn more about himself. And as Jig's character develops show more throughout the story from the different situations and obstacles that he is forced to endure, I found myself growing more attached to the little goblin.

Goblin Quest is a cleverly written adventure fantasy with a not-so-ordinary goblin hero. Goblins are usually viewed as villains in most fantasy stories, so it was humorous to see the reversed roles where the humans are the greedy fortune hunters. I thoroughly enjoyed this fun and exciting fantasy debut and will definitely be following future episodes. show less

There are quite a few books which adopt as their protagonist a “villainous” Fantasy monster, but this one does a better job of it than most others. Only the webcomic Goblins! by Tarol Hunt is this book's equal at balancing humor and story.

Jig the goblin is a near-sighted runt, destined to die at the hands of the first adventurer he is unlucky enough to stumble into. Luckily for the reader, and Jig, destiny takes a sharp turn for the little monster. This book was short, well-paced, and competently characterized. Two of the adventurers are a flat imitation of a pair of the protagonists from the Dragonlance Dungeons and Dragons series, so familiarity with those books would enhance a reader's enjoyment of this one. Personally, I show more disliked Raistlin and his brother in Dragonlance, and seeing their dopplegangers through uncharitable goblin eyes was quite satisfying. Jim Hines managed to convert his success with short stories into a longer format by imitating the episodic structure of a typical tabletop roleplaying game. Many of the chapters of this book could stand as isolated short stories with a little tweaking. show less

Jig is a goblin. That means cannon fodder. That means pest. That means nuisance. It means creature that wandering adventurers repeatedly stamp into the dust on their way to bigger and more dangerous things.

Not only that, but Jig is the runt of his people. Small, frail, poorly equipped even for a goblin and short sighted. When a bully forces Jig out on patrol and he runs into adventurers looking for loot, Jig’s death looks certain

Through wit and common sense (both of which sorely lacking from the “heroes”), Jig manages to live – but is dragged along to play guide as the adventurers rampage through his mountain home looking for their great prize; while Jig desperately hopes to stay alive in the face of hobgoblins, poisonous show more lizard-fish, the undead and, of course, a dragon.

He’d also quite like it if his people weren’t massacred. Again.

This book is, I think, specifically aimed at a certain class of reader. If you have read a lot of high fantasy books, if you have played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons, if you are saturated in the tropes that come with that genre and that game and all the stuff that goes with classic sword and sorcery fiction – then this book is aimed at you and you will enjoy it.

It has numerable instances of calling out and poking fun at the tropes in the genre – some of them are tiny references (like poking the improbably-melon-breasted-depictions of women) or the basis of several characters (like Riana, the elf – who isn’t tall and elegant, isn’t classy aristocratic or anything else we assume about elves. And yes, she’s a thief – but why should a thief know how to find traps anyway? Since when do merchants trap their coin purses?) or even poking fun at player habits of the way these games/books are written (Darnak having to carry a massive pack to hold all of his gear – and his obsessive cartography to even navigate the dungeons). There’s a lot of these excellent tropes being poked

But above all there’s the very premise – our protagonist is a goblin. A creature, in this genre, that exists to die. Not even die in a heroic encounter, they barely count as monsters, they’re a nuisance, trash, something to grind through. Inept and incompetent and thoroughly bullied and exploited by everything around them – they would be pitiable if they weren’t so unpleasant. And through their lens you get to see the heroes – the bickering, the arrogance, the contempt, their greed and just how hard it is for a poor goblin to even live with this rampaging heroes attacking his home and stealing anything that isn’t nailed down. It’s a fun reversal and, for me as a player of the games and lover of the genre, it makes me smile to see so many of the staples being challenged –and realising how often my heroes have been these arseholes, albeit seen through a different lens.

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There is a genre of sending up D&D players. There are books that try to tell heroic fantasy from the monsters point of view. None of them are as fun as Goblin Quest. Jim Hines introduces a world only possible in the strict semi-reality of role playing games and plays with the tropes well.

The title spells out the plot: It's about a goblin. It's about a quest. It's also a hell of a lot of fun to read.

The other book that springs to mind is Mary Gentle's Grunts, which is another monster point-of-view book, but impersonal. Hines gives us a goblin to care about, and a very personal story for one small worthless goblin who has the misfortune not to die when he's supposed to, and he goes and gets himself a real life.

Jig is the runt of the show more goblins, a race defined in most RPGs as runts. That they have a society (of sorts) and culture (of sorts) rarely comes across in a monster guide book, except for pointing out one out of every dozen goblins will be slightly tougher, which usually means they'll take two hits instead of one.

The goblins here have some depth to them, more than the adventurers who keep barging into their caves looking for experience. The other characters step out of the stocks just enough to make them real and make them recognizable, but not enough to distract from the hero Jig.

Hines excels at a readable book that makes you remember past games when the DM has pulled something really clever out of their hat and sent the table into hysterics for fifteen minutes. The necromancer is a great example of this stunt.

This book belongs next to my Terry Pratchett books as the old friends I revisit when I want to read something light and familiar before I go to bed. show less

Meet Jig. He's a goblin runt. He's about to have a REALLY bad day. As if muck duty weren't enough, his pet fire spider has burned off all his hair and the bullying captain Porak has sent him ahead on patrol while the rest of the goblin guard gambles. Things might have turned out ok if only Jig hadn't run into that group of adventurers... Meet the adventurers. Prince Barius is the warrior, his brother Rysland is the magician. They've got a dwarf too, Darnak, who keeps them from killing each other. And don't forget the elven thief crouching over there in the corner. They're about to kill Porak's goblin patrol because, well, goblins are evil and that's what adventurers do, right? They're looking for the Rod of Creation and no monster, not show more even the 'rightful' owner of the rod will stand in their way. And Jig? Jig's about to become their guide. If only he knew where the Rod of Creation was... Taken from the goblin's rather unique perspective, this well plotted quest has you questioning your beliefs about heroes and the honour that they kill by. show less