Book #61

Goblin Hero
by Jim C. Hines

I had to read this because I was still waiting for Toni to finish Breaking Dawn; I was a little annoyed at the time that it was taking her so long to read it, since we both whipped through the first three Meyer books in a day or so, but now that I've read it, I understand. I'm sorry now that she had to read it and stay silent, without having me to bitch to about it. I can't believe she held in the outrage that is any rational person's reaction to "Renesmee" for as long as she did. The very idea.

But anyway, this one is the sequel to Goblin Quest, which I enjoyed enormously; this one I enjoyed largely. I'm having trouble now putting my complaint into words, because when I think about it, I understand Hines's choices and I'm not sure I'd do this book differently if I were writing it. This book picks up on Jig's story a few months after he finished his quest and killed the dragon; now he is renowned throughout the caverns as Jig the Dragonslayer (And Hines kindly included the lyrics to Jig's new epic ballad, which were hilarious because they were set to the tune of Sweet Home Alabama) and has taken on the role of goblin healer for his tribe; with the help of his lost god, Tymalous Shadowstar, he heals all the injuries goblins inflict on themselves, which are numerous and often serious. But that's it: he never wanted glory and he doesn't want it now; of course, it seems he doesn't really know what he wants. It's odd to read about Jig because Hines captured what I now think of as the essential character of the goblin: Jig is pretty much miserable all the time, with no hopes nor goals, just trying not to get hurt or killed. It isn't that he sees a day without pain as a victory, because he doesn't think of himself as victorious, since he has no long-term goals to work towards. Day to day survival is all he is, and he doesn't even enjoy his life so that survival is really nothing more than avoidance of death; he doesn't even have the standard goblin enjoyment of cruelty and causing others suffering. That's a depressing way to live. But that's Jig the goblin.

Enter into this a goblin that does have ambition: Veka, the fattest goblin in the clan, who wants to be the hero that Jig became. She is inspired by a How To guide she found, along with a spellbook, when the denizens of the mountain plundered the dragon Straum's lair, and now she is trying to become a heroic wizard, seeking fame and glory. She wants Jig's help, but he has no advice or help to offer, because he doesn't think of himself as a hero and he doesn't want the attention. They are becoming more and more annoyed with each other every day.

And then add to that the new problem: pixies. Pixies, like the one Jig slew in the first book, are invading and conquering the caverns, starting with the lowest levels; an ogre has come to the goblin cave looking for the mighty Jig the Dragonslayer to help his people, who have been enchanted and killed by the pixies. Jig's chieftain, who wants to get rid of the threat that Jig poses to her power, sends him off to help, along with a couple of useless goblins, the oldest and the stupidest, respectively.

So what was wrong with that? First of all, Veka was annoying. She was made a point-of-view character, and she hated Jig and was irritatingly fixated on winning glory and prestige; she becomes Jig's enemy at one point, but then finally gives in and joins Jig in his attempt to stop the pixie invasion. In retrospect, I have to agree that the inner thoughts of any goblin other than Jig would be annoying and selfish and short-sighted in the extreme; even Jig is like that in some ways. And by the time Veka gets to the end of her character progression, she has become more interesting, and it happened in what seems to me a realistic way, so I like that. Even though I was annoyed with her at first.

The second problem I had was the villains: there were too many, between the ogres and the hobgoblins and the pixies and Veka and the goblin chieftain. But again, all of them acted in exactly the way they should, based on the world Hines created in the first book; and that one had plenty of enemies, too, between the Necromancer and the dragon and Jig's adventurer companions. So I don't know why it bothered me to have these villains given short shrift, as some of them were, especially the ogres and the pixie queen. Veka was handled well, as were the hobgoblins, but it felt like too much for a shortish book. Of course, when I think about it objectively, a goblin's life would be like that: surrounded by enemies, and unable to spend time coming up with and carrying out plans to overcome them in the best possible way. It's a miracle Jig manages to get through this; he does it because he is intelligent and pragmatic and able to think outside of the usual goblin mindset.

So by the end of the book, just like the last one, I am both impressed and amused by Jig and his travails; I love this character, and these stories. I love the world that has been created, and the author's ability to maintain continuity, to keep the world and the characters consistent with the way he has imagined them. This book wasn't quite as enjoyable for me, but I am even more enamored of the series as a whole.