Customer Reviews

The Goblin Wood

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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 :)

"...As I returned across the fields I'd known
I recognized the walls that I once made
I had to stop in my tracks for fear
Of 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 a whole, these goblins all possess just enough "humanity" to allow us to readily identify with them, while, at the same time, they are different in sufficient ways to prevent them from ever being human.

But why, Tobin ponders, do the goblins follow the girl?

"Was it possible the girl really was a common hedgewitch? If it was, then how had she defeated all the forces that had been sent against her? A small force could defeat a stronger one, but only if the leader of the small force was a very good tactician. To defeat stronger forces again and again, the leader had to be not merely a good tactician, but a truly great one. A general, in fact. Tobin scowled. A seventeen-year-old peasant girl? He couldn't believe it. But he found it no easier to believe that she was a mighty sorceress."

The crown jewel of the story is Makenna, a young woman whose heart is torn between recalling the lessons of tolerance and charity her mother taught by example, and her fierce urge to protect the goblins and seek revenge upon those responsible for her mother's demise. Not an especially quick learner, nor a character whose actions we always agree with, her complexities and contradictions compel us to think, and are prime reasons why THE GOBLIN WOOD is a superb fantasy tale that deserves to be read and discussed.

Richie Partington...

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.

I say "surprisingly" because I've read A LOT of fantasy books over the past three decades, and I've become a bit cynical about them. But this one was refreshing, easy to read, and engaging. It avoided cliches, it had a strong, intelligent but not overdone heroine (this is NOT Xena Warrior Princess), and the hero was not your usual Brad Pitt in shining armor. And the fact that it portrayed teenagers as deeply loyal, capable, family-loving, and intelligent -- not just shallow, sex-driven dimwits out to get in trouble -- I'd like to see a lot more of that in the media and popular fiction.

I picked it up because I was hoping to find a book suitable for my 4th grade daughter, who is a very advanced reader but not old enough for the mature themes found in some young adult books. I read it first, myself, mainly to judge the level of sex/violence/adult themes before letting her read it. But I soon found myself eagerly turning pages. I finished it within two days and would love to see a movie version!

For fellow parents: There's no sex at all, not even hints of it. The "romance" in the book is very understated and subtle. It's more about two people fighting for their respective causes and really getting to know each other, and not about fleeting sexual attraction. That was refreshing. The violence wasn't excessive, in my opinion, though others might disagree. Some characters fight, there are swords, deaths and wounds occur, but as essential parts of the plot, and not in any great detail.

I thought this was a wonderful book, but if you don't like moral ambiguity (good characters are not all good, bad characters are not all bad), and if you don't agree that sometimes people do a lot of evil in the name of good, then you won't like this. The exploration of what really defines good and evil is central to the story, and worth thinking about in real life, as well.

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.

Hilari Bell creates a story line that no other writer(of which I have read) has explored! This was one of my favorite books for 2003 and I hope to read more of Bell's work! I was, however, not too impressed with the writing in it...that's why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.

This book opens with a story most fantasy readers have heard before: magic users are being persecuted by the local religious leaders who are bent on turning the people away from the "old ways" of magic and toward the new ordered world of the religious leaders. In this story, the religious users are actually magic-users themselves, but the gist of the story is the same. Makenna is a local hedgewitch whose mother was murdered by the religious leaders and who has since fled into the Goblin Wood. There she teams up with a band of goblins and leads a guerrilla war against the religious leaders attempting to move into the Goblin Wood.

The alternative viewpoint is told through the narration of Tobin, a knight fallen from grace after he took the blame for his brother's involvement in a plot to overthrow the current leaders. As part of his penance, Tobin is tasked with planting a device in the Goblin Wood that would allow the leaders to break Makenna's stronghold. Tobin sets out willingly, but as he gets to know Makenna and the goblins and learns of their plight, Tobin's loyalties begin to waver.

What makes The Goblin Wood stand out from all of the other similarly plotted tales is the fact that no character is all good or all bad. The religious leaders are not skulking and power-mad villains. Their motives are as legitimate as Makenna's. Likewise, the actions taken on both sides are equally good and bad. There are no clear cut villains or heroes in this story, though Tobin is the closest to a pure hero as his actions are the closest to being morally right and consistent.

While the morally ambiguous characters are interesting, they are less easy to like. I found Makenna irritating and the least sympathetic character in the book. Her personality was derived almost completely from bitter anger and self-loathing, which made for a very two-dimensional character. Outside of her anger, who is she? This isn't a critique of the author, for the character is created fully, but rather that type of person. While the religious leader was consumed by his goal, you got the impression that he was a fully developed person before he became obsessed. Makenna, on the other hand, never really had the chance to develop a personality of her own before her task consumed her. Tobin was a much fuller character and was much easier to like. The goblins stole the show with their pluck and determination.

The action of the story is well-paced and keeps reader interest high. There are numerous scenes of guerrilla attacks that are exciting to read, and the reader is kept at the edge of their seat wondering what choices the characters will make. The resolution was convenient, but satisfying and not entirely expected. The door was left open for a sequel, which seems to be set for release in the fall of 2010. Though some descriptions mention romance, there was almost none. Instead, the author developed a more realistic growing appreciation between Makenna and Tobin that will likely continue to grow into a romance in the sequel. This slower approach is appreciated, especially when so many YA romances seem to spring out of no where with the characters meeting and then are suddenly desperately in love before they even really know one another. This is my first introduction to Hilari Bell, and while I wasn't completely blown away, I have added the sequel and a few of her other books to my TBR list.

I love, love, love this book! I picked it up at a book sale a few years ago and I've read it about 10 times since then! I'm not quite sure what makes it so appealing, but it's just amazing. If you love any type of fantasy, I can guarantee that you'll at least enjoy reading it once. The main character choices and character development are very interesting and crucial to the story line and I am impressed with the major dynamic characters in Hilari Bell's, The Goblin Wood. Although the ending is kind of sad and heart-wrenching, especially if you're attached to the characters in this book, I love the whole plot-line and everything!
Even though the book may seem a little bit childish, (the age range is a little too young for me!), if you look for symbolisms and the similarities between history and the story, the book will become much more interesting. Anyway, this book is exceptional and I especially love the open-for-one's-own-speculation ending, even though I am usually not a big fan of those, because the story really could continue in too many ways to consider! I strongly recommend this book to any fantasy lovers out there!

The Gobin Wood has 371 pages and I recommend children in grades 6 and up because even though it was a really good book, it is difficult to read sometimes. This book's genre is fantasy and I compared it to the Harry Potter series because there are magical creatures in both books and there is magic casting.

The Goblin Wood is about a young hedgewitch named Makenna who fled her village the day her mother was murdered by the priests for practicing magic. She goes into the Goblin Wood where goblins live and forms an unexpected alliance with them, and together they resolve to fight back against the humans and the cruel Decree of Bright Magic. But as Makenna grows more successful and her goblin army becomes stronger, her existence threatens the ruling Hierarchy's plans for the country. She evades ever trap the set, until a young knight named Tobin comes to the Goblin Wood hoping to regain his lost honor. And each of them finds something else instead.

The problem is that Preacher Erebus thinks that Makenna is a powerful sorceress and wants to kill her, but she is actully a commen hedgewitch. My favorite part was when Makenna set up a truth spell to question Tobin when they caught him and one of the goblins asked her if she was sure it was going to work and Makenna had replied yes and there was a bell which rang when someone told a lie, and the bell rang when Makenna had said yes. I liked this book because I love fantasy books and when I heard this book had magic and goblins in it, I was trilled. I defiantly want this book to be awarded with the Nutmeg award.