Publisher: DAW
352 pages
If you haven't read Goblin Quest, you really should do so before reading this review.
I'll wait.......good, glad you're back! ;-)
More...
The Story
Goblin Hero starts off about a year after Straum the dragon is killed. Jig is now known as Jig the Dragonslayer - there's even a song of the same name - even though he knows very well that he wasn't the one who killed Straum.
But such is the cost of fame, he figures. Because of his noteriety/heroism, Jig can afford things he couldn't before. I'm not talking Rolls Royces here, but he came up with metal frames for glasses, to combat his poor eyesight. He also heals various goblin wounds - with the help of his god, Tymolous Shadowstar.
In that year, the former chief of the goblins was killed, and another goblin has taken his place. But she feels threatened by Jig Dragonslayer; so she sends him on a journey to help out the ogres, and journey which Jig knows - just knows - is her way of getting rid of her threat (not that she doesn't have to worry about the other goblins sinking a knife into her back).
Jig dare not say no, so he goes off with Walland, an ogre who's asking for help. It seems that a lot of ogres are not only disappearing, a lot of them are ending up dead.
Along with Jig and Walland are Grell, an ancient goblin with two canes that she's not afraid to use; and Braf, a big and beefy goblin who has more brawn than brains (after all, he got one of his fangs stuck up his nose, and Jig unstuck it ::eeuw::).
Unknown to Jig, there's yet another goblin coming along for the ride, Veka. Plump and feeling full of herself, she's determined to become a Hero. Why, she even has a book (penned by someone named Josca) called The Hero's Path, which describes what a Hero should look like, what he or she can do to better attain Hero status, that sort of thing.
Think of it as a how-to book for Heroes. :-)
Veka can do her own little bits of magic; so far she's managed to do a binding spell, but her levitation spell needs work. Using a tiny bit of magic, some goblin trickery, and the blunt end of her staff, she "encourages" a hobgoblin, which she nicknames Slash, to come along with her - as her sidekick (I don't remember what page number that's on in Josca's book).
All head down to Straum's lair, where it's snowing. And pixies have taken over this part of the mountain.
How did the pixies get there? And why are they hanging around?
My Take On It
Yet another fun romp with Jig and friends. Especially fun is Veka and her obsession with becoming a hero (complete with how-to book!). What's interesting in this book is not only how Mr. Hines is upending the entire hero-myth-thing, but he makes the pixies his own, describing them as asty and only concerned for their queen.
And their queen - whoa! I won't say anything more than - she's anything but what you might be expecting.
Love and kisses,
~Nancy Beck
sometime today.