Friday, July 25, 2008

Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines


Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines
Number of Pages: 348
Number of Pages Read: 270
ISBN: 0-7564-0400-2
Back Of Book Description:

Jig the Goblin was the runtiest member of an admittedly puny race. Jig was scrawny, so nearsighted as to be almost blind, and had such a poor self-image that when he chose a god to worship it was one of the forgotten ones--after all, what other sort of god would have him as a worshiper? He also had a cowardly fire-spider for a pet, a creature that was likely to est your hair on fire if it got into a panic

Made to stand tunnel watch by the goblin bullies who'd been assigned the job, it was just Jig's luck to be taken captive by a group of adventurers--with the usual complement of a dwarf warrior, a prince out to prove himself, his mad wizard brother, and an elfin thief. Forced to guide this ill-0fated party on their search for the Rod of Creation--though Jig had no more idea how to find it than they did--he soon had them stumbling into every peril anyone had ever faced in the fantasy realms. And they hadn't even found the Necromancer or the Dragon yet!

My Rating-D+

I tried very hard to enjoy this book. I even made it less than 80 pages from the end. It took me almost a month, but I did get that far.
All in all, it's not a horrible awful book. That's why, though a low one, I still gave it a grade instead of just a did not finish.

Before I tear into the bad stuff, I think the story is cute, and Jig, the main character is pretty cool. So is the name Smudge and the idea of a fire spider.

Now, here's what I disliked about the book:
The characters felt flat to me. I didn't really care what happened to them. Well, maybe the fire-spider. He was nifty.
The writing style wasn't remarkable. I seemed to be lost a lot. Not on where the story was going, but on where the characters physically were. Much of the book is set in underground tunnels, so every thing seemed very much the same, and I wasn't able to discern when the party had moved on.
I was often confused on why the characters took certain actions, I thought maybe there were better courses but, apparently they didn't.

As I said before, I really wanted to enjoy this book, and in many ways I did, or else I wouldn't have gotten so far. But, apparently I just didn't like it enough. I do recommend that if available, authors who like funny fantasy, such as Peirs Anthony, get it from the library and try it out. You may have a better experience than I did.

2 comments:

  1. A friend of mine really liked this one and so I picked up a copy on his say so. I still haven't gotten around to it, but I was glad to come across your review for another take on the book. I still plan to read it, but I'll lower my expectations when I do manage to get to it.

    I love your new blog, by the way!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey! I just noticed your comment. Sorry. I didn't have my blog set up to email me when some one commented. Fixed that right away.

    Anyway. I really wanted to enjoy this book. Please let me know what you think about it when you're done. Another friend of mine wanted to give it a try when I was done and I gave her my copy. A week later, she gave it right back. Said she didn't get very far.
    But Mr. Hines has a lot of loyal fans out there, so there must be something for them that we're missing.

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