Goblin War

Jig the Goblin #3

by Jim C. Hines

If you think it's hard being a hobgoblin or a human, try living a goblin's life for a while. In fact, try imagining what it's like to be the runtiest goblin in the caves, the lone worshiper of a god who's been forgotten for a good reason, and the target everyone points to at the first hint of trouble. Try picturing yourself as Jig Dragonslayer, and see how you like it. Despite impossible odds, Jig was still alive. He'd survived an adventurer's quest against a dragon and a necromancer, a pixie invasion that had ogres and trolls dropping like flies, and, most frightening of all, the threat of being made chief of the goblins. He wasn't sure how much more he could stand. Naturally, he was about to find out. War was brewing in the world outside the Mountain, and when the goblin's lair was invaded by human warriors in search of the Rod of Creation, Jig knew it was just the start of another really bad day.

Genres: Fantasy, Humor, Fiction, Young Adult, High Fantasy, Magic, Science Fiction Fantasy

352 pages, ebook

First published March 4, 2008

About the author

Jim C. Hines began his writing career with a trilogy about the irrepressible Jig the goblin, which actor and author Wil Wheaton described as "too f***ing cool for words." He went on to deconstruct fairy tales in his four-book Princess series, made all the world's literature a grimoire in the Magic ex Libris series, and explored the heroic side of spacecraft sanitation in his Janitors of the Post Apocalypse trilogy. His short fiction has appeared in more than fifty magazines and anthologies. Jim has been outspoken about topics like sexism and harassment, and was the editor of the Invisible series—three collections of personal essays about representation in sf/f. He received the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2012. Jim currently lives in mid-Michigan.

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read Jim Hines' comments on his blog about "what makes a good review", it left me somewhat worried. I don't do summaries - read the blurbs if you want plot overviews, but this often leaves me feeling like I've not told enough. Especially about the books I like. I always wonder if I've written a good enough review, and, despite my best efforts, I often fear that I've failed.

But I think I can tell you what's special about this book - and the entire goblin series that Jim's written.

You know those days where nothing's going right? When everyone's out to get you - or worse, laughing at you - while the Universe seems to have a huge vendetta against you? That things are too big, too massive for your puny self to ever make a difference?

This book - these books - help make all that go away.

(Oh, and they're good stories, with engaging characters and an amazingly tight plot. All three books can stand as character novels, humor novels, or fantasy novels on their own right. That each book - including Goblin War - does all three simultaneously is simply wonderful. Goblin War is written so that it can be read as a standalone book, but is best enjoyed as the endcap of the trilogy. And some roast hobgoblin, seasoned to taste.)

This whole series is one of my favorites - it starts strong and gets stronger. This book wraps up all the loose ends naturally - but surprisingly. Do yourself a favor and read these books.

[Kati · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the last book in Hines' Goblin trilogy. It's still quirky but not as funny as the previous ones. Actually, it's even sad in some places. The ending was, at least for me, rather bittersweet because what I liked best about these books, was the relationship between Jig and Shadowstar. But it did look like Shadowstar got what he wanted and Jig, well, Jig got definitely more than he wanted, though his character matured nicely throughout the books so in the end, I think that he was up to the new role that he was persuaded to play :)

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final volume of the Jig trilogy was not quite up to the previous two for me: a solid three stars, rather than the three and a fraction I felt about the others.

The connection between Jig and his god was as good as ever, but I felt that the backstory seemed a little forced. Sure, it's nice to know exactly why he was a Forgotten God, but shoehorning Tymalous AutumnShadowstar into Jig's pre-godding days just didn't work for me.

There were any number of sly references and shoutouts that made me giggle or groan, depending, but the biggest markdown for this is for the ending. It was logical, made sense, yet was deeply unsatisfying. On the plus side, Darnak the dwarf was back, and he's always fun.

[Blodeuedd Finland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor Jig, he sure does not have it easy. He just wants to stay in his mountain and live in peace. No stupid humans, elves or dwarves around there. No stupid adventures making things hard.

Jig is such an unlikely hero. He just does things, and sometimes they go right. Mostly they go right cos he has a god on his side and he has managed to have good followers. He does not want to fight, to deal with things, but he does have a brain. Very strange for a goblin.

In this book, they get taken when invaders come. There will be battles, danger and arguing. It's an amusing book, and it was an amusing series. You never had to take anything too seriously.

[Erin-Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Still funny and different, but characters seemed based off previous characters, story line wasn't as interesting or satisfying.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Generally speaking there is a law of dininishing returns with sequels. To be fair this trilogy comes early in Jim Hines career and that probably explains the improvement with each book.
Here, in the last of the series the author has hit his stride and this is as good as anything he's written. He deftly manages humour in the dialogue and narrative, the situational comedy is better and funnier and, as with all good comedy, he manages to bring some genuine tension and emotion to engage the reader.
In my view the crown of what is actualy a pretty good series.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, Jig, I shall miss you. Another fun read, not sure if this was my favorite or Goblin Quest (#1).

[Dorothea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goblin War seems to be less of a satire than the previous two books. Instead, it's a more serious attempt to deal with the political problems set up in Goblin Quest and Goblin Hero.

At the end of Goblin Quest, Jig knew that it was possible that the goblins would be attacked someday by the humans, seeking to regain the Rod of Creation and to revenge the deaths of two princes who had been seeking the Rod. Jig used the Rod to seal off the entrance to the mountain.

Goblin Hero explored the interior of the mountain and the relationships between the goblins, hobgoblins, and other creatures who live in the tunnels. At the end of the book, Tymalous Shadowstar persuades Jig to unseal the mountain so that the goblins aren't isolated from the rest of the world any longer.

In Goblin War, the humans attack and Jig and other goblins are forced out of the mountain and into the middle of a war involving all kinds of creatures, plus gods. If this story is meant to satirize anything, it could be tabletop gaming -- the characters actually refer strategically to maps with carved and painted miniatures -- but while there are many little jokes, the overall situation is quite serious.

The entire trilogy has drummed into the reader's head that by the standard rules of fantasy adventure, goblins will always be defeated by humans and their allies. In Goblin War, we learn that the human king considers the mountain where the goblins live to be part of his kingdom. Furthermore, because of the death of his two sons, the king has decided to exterminate all goblins in his kingdom.

An army led by an ogre is attacking the human kingdom, and Jig decides that the only way to save the goblins is to join this army. Then he learns that the ogre leader is obeying a god with a terrible plan that will destroy both sides.

The story of how Jig solves this problem is a really good one. I'm not quite so satisfied by how Hines solves the problem of the goblins living in a world in which they're overpowered and hated by humans. The mountain becomes a barony within the kingdom, with Jig as the baron. The human king will be succeeded eventually by his daughter, who seems to like Jig. This outcome is much better than the only apparent alternative -- the king carrying out his original plan -- but now that the goblins are officially under human rule (and most humans haven't changed how they feel about goblins), what will happen?

At the end of the war, Jig is going into danger and entrusts his pet fire-spider, Smudge, to Darnak the dwarf. Darnak is loyal to the king but sympathetic to Jig. When Darnak returns Smudge to Jig, he also gives him a tiny cage to keep Smudge in. Previously Smudge has hidden in Jig's pockets, or has been tied in a special leather pouch in case of danger. The new cage seems safe for Smudge and it's pretty cute, but Smudge can't come and go freely as he used to. That's kind of how the goblins' treaty with the human kingdom seems to me.

At the end of Goblin Quest, Jig uses the Rod of Creation to turn the two princes, who have crashed into the mountain, killed many of its inhabitants, and bullied and threatened to kill Jig, into fish, which the goblins then eat. I loved this ending. It surprised me, because I'm so used to the heroes of this kind of story showing mercy when it's not deserved. But, damnit, the princes didn't deserve anything better than to be eaten, and finally I was reading about someone who wasn't that kind of hero.

I'm not sure I wanted Goblin War to end with all the humans being eaten. Now there's an entire kingdom of them, that would be difficult. Probably, there isn't really a good solution to this problem -- or at least, not one that could be written about while still being so funny.

[Spuddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Third and final entry in the “Jig the Goblin” light fantasy series in which Jig heads off to war. Goblins, hobgoblins, humans, a tangled mix of political and personal grievances to be sorted out and settled, a cranky old female chief for Jig to please, not to mention trying to figure out the wishes and motives of his God, Tymalous Shadowstar. Poor Jig! All he wants to do is retire peacefully to his corner of the mountain with Smudge, his fire spider, with enough to eat and an extra loincloth or two. Instead he’s thrust into the midst of war with his busted-up knife, dwindling healing powers and a rag-tag group of what passes for loyal followers, which isn’t saying much among the goblins. And there he goes, headed towards the ultimate battle in which the goblins attempt to secure their little corner of the mountain.

I really enjoyed this series; it’s not your typical fantasy at all, more humorous and lighter in tone, yet with some underlying deeper messages, too. I’ll miss Jig now that his adventures appear to be done, but will definitely be looking for more from this author. A.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the last book in the Golbin triolgy. For some reason, I don't think it meshed as well as the first two. It didn't seem as funny. Maybe it's because I read it right after No. 2.

Hines explores both Shadowstar and Jig's origins in this book, so in some ways it feels like one of those comic books or adventure novels that Hines draws form. Part of the problem, however, is that there is one character (outside of Jig, Shadowstar, and Smudge) who is central to the story who appeared in the earlier books. While characters from book 2 get cameos or are mentioned, by and large they are not present. This is somewhat disappointing. I would have liked to see more Slash and Veka. I want to know more about thier stories.

However, Hines continues to mock and play with the standard conventions of fantasy. While his humor is different than Pratchett, he seems to look at fantasy the same way. Both of Hines series, the Jig and Princess books, are well worth reading.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was nice to see Jig get out of the caves a bit. I also loved the mythology related to the forgotten gods. A nice evolution, even if I thought the humor felt lighter and the fantasy tropes heavier in this one.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started out enjoying this book but by the time I was two-thirds through it the book started to drag for me and I had to force myself to finish it.

[Sarah Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plot 5 / 5
Full of adventure and action, a healthy dose of comedy, and a dash of gobliny drama, the story did a good job of maintaining my attention all throughout. There was never a moment I felt was too slow or rushed. My favorite aspect of Jig's books is simply that they take place from the unusual viewpoint of a goblin. A viewpoint that is both unique and believable. All the goblins behave exactly as you would expect goblins to behave, so it's interesting to see the various ways that the unlikely hero manages to come out on top, partly through luck and divine intervention, but also partly through his own resourcefulness and determination to survive.

Characters 5 / 5
Jig is certainly a memorable hero, but he doesn't completely overshadow the rest of the cast. Each of the characters has their own likeable traits as well as flaws, so that I often found myself unsure of who I wanted to route for. I prefer stories where the characters morality are more grayed and less clear cut black and white. And even though the stories includes the use of divine intervention, I feel it was nicely balanced so that neither opposing side felt overpowered. It kept the story from being predictable, keeping me in suspense from beginning to end. I especially enjoy the banter between Jig and his god. The casual friendliness of their relationship is as touching as it is unusual.

Setting 3 / 5
My only real complaint is I would've liked to see a bit more attention placed on the setting and background lore. While they did touch a little bit on the world's history and gods, I feel like the scenery could've been a little more detailed. Most of the story seemed to focus on the characters and their actions based on the present situation/problems, but it would've been nice if the author had explored and delved a little deeper into their fantasy setting, as it is very interesting and I think they missed a lot of opportunities to present the world from the goblins' perspective. While Jig's world gets the job done, serving its purpose of a backdrop, it's no where near as memorable or colorful as the characters that fill it.

Overall 5 / 5
I would highly recommend all three Jig The Goblin novels to any fantasy fan with a healthy sense of humor. It presents lovable characters with unique ways of looking at life and morality, while also serving as a fun adventure I won't soon forget. Goblin War in particular does a good job of tying up all the loose ends, which I feel the first couple novels left unaddressed. I think it was a satisfying ending to a delightful trilogy, though—as all good tales—that never stops me from wishing there was more!

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review originally posted at BooksOfMyHeart.net.

4.5 stars

I can’t believe I’m on my last Jig story. This has been a really fun fantasy series. It follows Jig the goblin, who is a runt and half blind. He isn’t looked highly upon by his fellow goblins. Jig has learned how to hide and to be cunning it when it comes to dealing with his brutish brethren. He has even outwitted humans, hobgoblins, necromancers, and more. He is now known as “Jig the Dragonslayer”.

So in these stories, Jig becomes a unlikely hero. He is a great leader, though getting people to listen to a half-blind runt of a goblin isn’t easy. Especially when you’re dealing with humans who have egos the size of a continent.

In this last of the trilogy, we finally learn a lot more about Tymalous Shadowstar, the god that has been helping Jig along the way. We also learn more about the other gods, and of course they are all related and are the ones mucking things up in the real world.

I really loved the ragtag crew of people that help Jig on this one last quest. Jig also has a pet fire spider who has been with him since the beginning, named Smudge. I really liked Smudge, even though he is just a normal pet and doesn’t talk or anything special. He just seems to be there when Jig needs support the others aren’t giving him.

I’m not going to go too much into the plot of the story. It is a typical fantasy quest style story. But, if you like fantasy stories and unlikely heroes, this is a great series for you. There is plenty of humor to keep you entertained as well. I will miss Jig, Smudge and the different groups that have been with Jig in each book. I will also miss Tymalous Shadowstar and his snide remarks.

Last, isn’t that cover so cute??

[Lora Shouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the final installment of the Goblin Series – at least for now. This is a great escapist fantasy series, and it has goblins in it, so how can you go wrong?

Oh no! Once again the mountain lair where Jig the goblin and his friends live is invaded by adventurers. And this time they know just where to go to get the Rod of Creation. And they are looking for Jig Dragonslayer. To top it all off, they drag Jig into a war.

It turns out that these adventurers are the younger siblings of Barius and Ryslind, the previous set of adventurers who had come questing for the Rod of Creation in the first book of the series. One of them, Genevieve, is a princess. The other is her brother Theodore. They are the last remaining children of King Wendell. They once again have the dwarf, Darnak with them.

Eventually, Jig and some of his friends manage to escape the clutches of the humans and meet up with the leader of the army the humans are expecting to attack their village. This person is a female orc (this appears to be a universe where orcs and goblins are different species) by the name of Billa the Bloody. Though this is a scary experience, Jig finds he is right at home with the other goblins in Billa’s army. But Jig eventually discovers he must aid the humans after all.

In this book, we finally find out the backstory of Tymalous Shadowstar, the god who has been lending Jig his healing powers since the end of the first book. It turns out that Billa has been chosen as the champion of Isa, the Goddess of the Winter Winds. She was once Tymalous Shadowstar’s wife. The story of how her plan to kill the Death God Noc is foiled is full of adventures, and Jig and the goblins are right in the middle of all of it.

[Ahw · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and the series and Jig.
I might have bumped it up to 5 stars because I've read a lot of not that great books lately.
Jig is still falling from one adventure to another with humor and grace ... okay, not much grace.
A person should definitely read the previous two books before reading this one. The characters grow and relationships changes and events in the previous books impact the current one.
Assuming you've enjoyed the first two this one is just as good.

I'll have to point out the criticisms. Much of Jig's adorableness derives from his fear and the general goblin defeatism. The frequent refrain of "well, I guess if X kills me I won't have to face Y" has grown a little tired. It was still enjoyable but you could see it and remember it from the last dozen times it was used. It also looks like the author went way out of his way to make "strong female characters" and "stupid male characters" .... I guess that's fine if you have a bunch of Social Justice Warriors whining at you ... but frankly the only thing female about the characters is that they have the pronoun "she" appended to them. There is at least one male characteristic associated with the male characters... they're stupidly self confident... So at least the author knows something about males.
But I'm fine with using a random pronoun for the characters. The genders have nothing to do with the story. It's a good story with fun characters. It works as a humorous tale and an adventure tale with interesting world building. It's very hard to find a slightly humorous story that is also a good *story* with believable characters.

[astaliegurec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jim C. Hines' 2008 novel "Goblin War (Goblin Series Book 3)" has a similar tone to the previous book ("Goblin Hero (Goblin Series Book 2)"), but is better. Specifically, it's almost all Jig, and all the characters are well done. I especially liked Tymalous Shadowstar's (nee Autumnstar's) back story that Hines included. Really, the whole thing ties up really nicely with the first book ("Goblin Quest (Goblin Series Book 1)"). It's really surprising that a satirical/farcical trilogy about a goblin could have such a well-designed and well-done set of plots. I'm rating this one at a Very Good 4 stars out of 5.

[Panda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last book of the Goblin's trilogy. Unlike the other two this one isn't a satire of the genre. Instead we Have Jig dealing with the political ramifications of the past two books. I.E. why you shouldn't kill two of the princes of the realm , anger a god and play host to another one!

Less humor and more plot/story here as well as some character development. It was a fun ride so that's fine by me.

The pacing had issues in some portion, like the recruit/infiltrate part seemed drown out at times but it wasn't too bad.

My one issue is that the book didn't end so much as leave on a "might be continued?" note.

[Grits Helme · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an excellent conclusion to the story of Jig Dragonslayer. This book brings more of a typical fantasy plot, with war between the humans, elves, and orcs coming to the goblins' mountain home and dragging poor Jig out to meet it against his will. I really felt like Jim Hines truly hit his stride writing this series, and as much as I loved the first book this one blew it out of the water. I can't think of anything I would change, except to wipe my memory of it so I could read it all over again.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jig has come a long way since the first book in the series to become the epitome of the reluctant hero: scrawny, cowardly, but smart and not TOO principled. He mainly wants to be left alone in peace and quite. Too bad the humans, other goblins and the rest of the monsters, not to mention the gods, have other ideals. 3 1/2 stars really. Not quite four. More Smudge might have gotten it four, but I suppose there only so much you can do with a fire-spider.

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

"You're turning me into a fire spider?!"

The best scenes in this whole series had to be with Smudge, the fire spider. The audiobook is what helped me get through the series and the pet fire spider is the sole reason for my three-star rating. When Jig gave Smudge to Darnak to take care of, I wanted to cry! Overall it was an okay series, but Smudge was by far the best character, especially when he gets drunk.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not know why it took me over 3.5 years to read this book, surely it is not all because of the book, which I found readable enough! .... but also I have finished many other books in this time..... The little fire spider remains my favorite character and also the last chapter was the best chapter! So that was a pleasant surprise. I would recommend starting with later books by this author, which I enjoyed much more.

[Sam Criswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its been a while since I have read a book just for fun and I enjoyed Jig and his friends. I like how the author continues with questions unanswered in this novel. I hope to read more about Jig, but overall I feel this a good conclusion to the series.

[Andrew Guerreiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect conclusion to the trilogy. Jig gets sent on another adventure full of really unique and interesting details, the world building in this series, especially this book is great same with the characters. Jig has really come into his own as a still reluctant hero!

[Brandon Mehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mountain, sealed by the Rod of Creation, is opened, and our goblin begins a one goblin campaign against both an evil horde and the humans, or it's fairer to say gets bounced around between the two until he manages to get them both pretty beaten down.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, why not, I'll go ahead and give this one four stars as I enjoyed it more than the first two. We learn a bit more about Tymalous Shadowstar and his pantheon, which is fun. The story itself still isn't mind-boggling or anything, but I did enjoy it.

[Jess Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need more Jig the Dragonslayer. Jim C Hines wrapped up this trilogy well. I liked getting to see more into Shadowstar and the role he played in getting the goblins where they were. It did have a bit of a bittersweet ending but very good

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ending to the series. Nice light, funny read. Not great literature, but hey it's fun.

[Bibliobabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great wrap up to the series. I'm going to miss Jig!

[Bram Slaats · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great conclusion to a great story.
I really like how all the stories are stand alone but still fit into the series.