The Goblin Wood

Good book

I've had this book for years and years, and by now I'm really too old to be reading it, but I don't care. This book is an amazing fantasy epic, featuring all of Hilari Bell's strong points when it comes to crafting fiction: loyalty, right and wrong, friendship, and sacrifice. Makenna and Tobin are wonderfully created characters, each with subtleties and weaknesses as well as strengths. The unlikely pair join forces to fight injustice in this fantasy/adventure romp. The pesky little goblins are great, too! Unlike your run-of-the-mill tween fantasy, this novel is sure to provoke some serious philosophical questions as well as entertain the reader. And when you get to the ending, don't be too disappointed. Yes, it is bittersweet, but according to Ms. Bell's website, she's planning on two sequels to THE GOBLIN WOOD, to be released by 2010. By then I'll be in college, but make no mistake: I'll still be first in line at the bookstore to pick up Ms. Bell's latest story.

Hillari Bell is a master of character twists. By that I mean that her characters aren't obvious - good people can be bad guys, it just depends on your perspective. "The Goblin Wood" is a good example of perspective and how it depends on where you stand to justify what you believe. At first glance, it doesn't seem right that the humans are trying to eradicate the goblins from the forest... But when you get the bigger picture, you understand the reasons why, even if you don't agree with the method to get there. I suppose a simpler, happy ending to the story would have been if everyone could have come to some sort of peaceful compromise... but then again, people who are different from each other don't always stop to chat first, do they? I have to wonder, from the ending of the book, if Bell plans on doing a sequel. It fairly screams, "What happens next?" Overall, a great book that will linger in your mind long after you've finished it.

I can not say what exactly makes this book different from any fantasy I've ever read. The description was vivid, even the tiniest details of reaction/thought which are usually not mentioned in this kind of story, can take you back to reality but somehow managed to keep your environment with the goblins which sound a bit odd to you maybe but it happened to me. Maybe the way Ms. Bell building her character and situation that was easily accepted and consistent throughout the book. The politics reasons in conflict with the goblins' was so well developed that you can not just say right or wrong about each side. This book really show you how it was like to have something in the middle, when everything has its own right and wrong. Yet all was told in not-so-flourish language. Although I think the way out for the ending was a bit too coincidental (because I feel it was too simple but again maybe I wouldn't like it better any other way) , the last chapter brought a lot more feeling to the whole story. My eyes just soaked a bit with a big smile on my face after reading the last word. What a gem. I simply love it :)

I was a little put off by this book at first. Fantasy is not my favorite genre, and I especially don't like stories where problems are conveniently resolved with magic spells. But the characters in this wonderful book soon grabbed ahold of me. The author did an amazing job of maintaining my interest. There was literally never a dull moment.

"...As I returned across the fields I'd knownI recognized the walls that I once madeI had to stop in my tracks for fearOf walking on the mines I'd laid..."--Sting Tobin, though innocent, has pled guilty to treason, sacrificing his own honor and future in order to protect the life of his little brother. Disinherited and disgraced, Tobin is offered an opportunity for regaining his good name and, at the same time, saving the people of the Realm: " 'If I bring down their leader, what will the goblins do?'" 'If they were human, they'd probably thank you. But goblins are completely mercenary--they never do anything except for payment, or to avoid punishment. Once her hold over them is broken, they'll probably just run off...'"Tobin drew a deep breath, his gaze wandering over the map, chest, stone, and charm. 'Isn't there any other way?'"Master Lazur shook his head. 'The barbarians are coming. We have no place to go except north. They have no place to come except here. There is nothing in this world I would not sacrifice to get the Bright Realm behind the goblin wall in time. How high do you weigh the life of a sorceress, one who has killed again and again, against the survival of this whole realm?'"Tobin's finger traced the river curve that marked his home. He couldn't imagine living in the woodlands, but he'd seen the barbarian armies for himself. Master Lazer was silent, letting him figure it out. Tobin didn't like it, but surely the priest was right. How many knights, men Tobin knew and respected, had already died? If it would end the war, save the whole realm, then the life of one sorceress was a cheap price to pay." But we know that "sorceress" whom he's being asked to "eliminate" is the young hedgewitch Makenna. She has pursued a relentless outlaw lifestyle since the priests enacted new rules of intolerance that destroyed a long-standing coexistence with the goblins and resulted in the slaughter of Makenna's mother. What will Tobin, a principled young man, do when he learns what we know about Makenna? How will he reconcile his training that the goblins are merely vermin with the reality of meeting, talking, and seeing the real qualities that goblins possess? Why was Tobin's brother plotting against the Hierarch, the leadership of the Realm? And who is right and who is wrong when climactic changes trigger a widespread crisis, forcing a desperate and starving people to encroach upon the lands of a neighboring civilization? THE GOBLIN WOOD begs comparison to analogous intercultural/international situations in the real world. It is also a captivating story of scheming and blundering, spells and slapstick, powers and paybacks. " 'And you're human, whatever else you are.'" 'Insults,' she snapped, 'will get you nowhere.' " In addition to the human characters, Hilari Bell does a stellar job of creating the various groups of goblins--the bookeries, the stoners, the charmers, the trackers, and so on. She similarly succeeds at drawing individual goblins. As