And so the mighty ballad of Jig comes to a close. A tale of high fantasy and drama. Of mystical creatures and magic swords and ferocious battles between elves and humans and goblins and orcs. Of an epic hero who stands up for what he believes in--even if his beliefs involve running away from said battles, magic swords, and mystical creatures.
Okay, reality check: calling the hero of Goblin War "epic" is probably an abuse of the very epicness of that epic word. But then Goblin War, the final book in Jim C. Hines's Goblin Trilogy, isn't your standard fantasy. After all, the hero is a goblin. And as every fantasy reader knows--or anyone who has seen just a few minutes of the Lord of the Rings movie adaptations--goblins are about as low on the fantasy pecking order as one can go.
In the first two books of Hines's trilogy, Goblin Quest and Goblin Hero, readers were introduced to Jig, a near-sighted goblin runt whose job is to light the muck candles in the goblin lair and serve as a punching bag for every goblin bigger than himself. To say that Jig got the short end of the stick in life is an understatement; in fact, Jig's only been lucky enough to get the short end of a stick when some bigger monster beats him with it.
Unfortunately for our hero, in Goblin Quest he's kidnapped by a band of adventurers during their search for a hidden magical treasure. Every fantasy reader is familiar with these types of adventurers, who comprise your typical Tolkienesque brotherhood of a human prince, a magician, an elf, and a dwarf. But where Hines diverges from fantasy dogma is in having Jig and his pet fire spider Smudge become the characters readers actually care about. Yes, we laugh at Jig's almost endless misfortunes and close squeaks with death. Yes, we chuckle at seeing a high-fantasy world through the eyes of a lowly and despised goblin. But we also root for this plucky little guy who quickly worms his way into every readers' heart (never mind that Jig probably wound up there while hiding from something scary).
Now Jig returns in Goblin War. Yet again, Jig is a reluctant hero. But this time he's forced into a war between those grubbing humans, who like nothing better than to skewer goblins, and an army of monsters led by Billa the Bloody, a murderous orc who likes nothing better than to skewer goblins. Needless to say, Jig's in a tight spot. Throw in some forgotten gods and a magic god-killing sword, and you have enough excitement for a dozen regular fantasy novels.
But while there's plenty of adventure and drama in Goblin War, the novel is also laugh-out-loud funny. I couldn't begin to list all the passages which made me laugh so hard I had to put the book down and catch my breath before going back to reread the passage, at which point I again laughed out loud, put the book down . . . er, you get the picture. But while the trademark of Hines's entire series is his offbeat humor, he also showcases his true strength as a writer by never letting his readers stop caring for Jig. As a result, Goblin War is a top-notch finish to Hines's trilogy and highly recommended for all fantasy readers (although people who haven't read the first two books should do so to familiarize themselves with the characters and events).
In today's literary world, it sometimes feels like too many fantasies focus exclusively on hyper-serious action and stomach-churning angst, which can easily numb readers and make them forget why they turned to the fantasy genre in the first place. But Jim Hines hasn't forgotten that the most important rule of fantasies is that the stories are supposed to be fun. And it's because Hines remembers this vital rule that his Goblin Trilogy is such a great joy to read.
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