Customer Reviews

The Hob's Bargain

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I couldn't believe some of the bad reviews this book got. They made me wonder, was I reading the same book as the other reviewers were? A lot of people seemed to miss the point completely, or misquoted facts, or didn't understand the storyline. Look, this isn't a perfect book, but it doesn't have most of the so-called flaws that some of the other reviewers pointed out. I think perhaps many of the flaws were with the readers, not with the book. This book isn't the best book I've ever read, not by any means. But it is pretty damned good, and I must confess, by the time I got to the second half of it I was so hooked that I couldn't put it down. It was like sugar laced with MSG, it was so addictive!

I think the real problem people have with this book is that it doesn't spoonfeed you. All the details aren't presented to you on a platter right on page one. You actually have to do a bit of THINKING, and piece a few things together for yourself. The writer occasionally skimmed over a few details in the story, and took her time explaining a few other things, but I think maybe that was so the readers could fill in their own details or work things out for themselves. Personally, I quite liked that. I liked reading a story that made me think, and left a few things open to my own interpretation. I also didn't mind that most of the action was set in just one valley. Some people complain that there isn't enough world building, that the story doesn't go to enough places, geographically speaking. Au contraire, I actually liked the psychological drama of knowing that these people were trapped with their enemies and their problems in this small valley. The seige mentality just added to the drama for me (like in the classic 'Day of the Triffids', where the characters are stuck in a small farm surrounded by deadly triffids.) The characters couldn't run away from their problems, because there was nowhere else to run to, so they had to stand and face them. That was powerful stuff...when flight isn't an option, you have to fight, or perhaps work out an alternative to fighting.

I also quite liked the characters of Aren and the Hob. They were realistic for me, and I believed in them. Some people say that the characters didn't FEEL enough, that they lacked emotion. But then, this is set in medieval-type times, where life was brutal. People then were rather more accustomed to violence and loss than us. They probably dealt with it more readily and expediently than we do. Although I don't think Aren was unfeeling, not at all. She nearly went mad with grief. She couldn't bear to go back to her parents' farm for a long time. She dreamed of vengeance, and had heartbreaking flashbacks to happier times. I think she then tried to cut herself off from those memories and move on as a means of self preservation. A lot of men who come back from war refuse to talk about, or try not to think about, the horrors they've been through. It's typical of how quite a number of people cope with loss or grief. But she was never unfeeling, not by a long shot.

Some reviewers complain about how awful the villagers were. But while I agree that the villagers were initially mean, in the end, the villagers showed themselves capable of redemption and evolution. And I think that's a powerful and wonderful message. People under pressure, who fear for their lives, sometimes do bad things. But that doesn't mean that they can't go on to admit their mistakes and try to make things better, like these villagers did. Bravo to them! I ended up quite liking most of them, nearly as much as I liked this book. They, like it, really grew on me.

Look, all I can say is, if you're an intelligent reader who likes something a bit different, especially in the fantasy genre, ignore the bad reviews and give this book a try. I quite enjoyed it, and I am personally rather angry that I almost didn't give this book a go because of some of the bad reviews I read here. I'm glad I took a risk and didn't miss out on the chance to read such a compelling, articulate book.

I'm surprised by some of the bad reviews, because I enjoyed this book quite a bit. But of course, everyone likes different things.

For me, the characters in this book were complex and interesting. I loved the fact that the heroine was not beautiful, sexy, and strong -- something different. I loved the character of the Hob, and actually got pretty caught up in what happened to all the characters. I found myself caring if they lived or died, which isn't true with all stories. And I especially liked the author's point that many of the "evil" characters and creatures were also victims themselves. I found the characters more three-dimensional than usual.

Another minor point but enjoyable for me. I also loved the fact that the horses in the story were not black stallions named "Satan" or white mares named "Wind Spirit" or such some thing. They were normal horses with entertaining personalities of their own. The author's experience with real horses definitely comes through.

People have mentioned that this isn't the author's best book. In that case, I am more than inspired to read her other books to see what happens when she improves, since I think this book is pretty darn good. I would probably give it 4.5 stars.

Recommended.

I came across Briggs because of my fascination with Modern Paranormal novels. Her Moon Called (Mercy 1) and even better Blood Bound (Mercy 2) are amongst the best available in this genre. After reading these 2 books I decided get some of her older books and my first read is The Hob's Bargain. This is apparently her only stand alone book which is why I went to this first. Although an obvious early book in her career, it is still very creative and fun to read. The 2 central characters are Caefawn, a hob who serves the mountain spirit of Hob's Mountain, and Aren, a middle aged woman whose brother was selected by the bloodmages to become an apprentice because of his magical abilities and instead chose death. Aren has just been widowed on the day after her wedding when a band of raiders attack her farm killing all of her immediate family. On a mission to find survivers of a neighboring village Aren meets Caefawn, who puts her under his wing on orders from the mountain. He will teach her how to control her magic, unite her village and the raiders who start the story, and prepare her to fight an experienced bloodmage coming to town.

Why I like Patricia is that she creates well thought out worlds with logical rules and regulations. We meet a lot of the fey, mostly dark, get to know Caefawn, the last hob, real well and, find ourselves cheering for Aren as she fights all around her for survival and peace. In this book, and why it is only a 3, characterization is weak, even Aren and Caefawn are a little too 2-dimensional and not the fully fledged out 3-dimensional characters that they demand. Everyone else is way to 1-dimensional. The reason I recommend this book is that the story is superb, the pacing is well done, and the twists and turns are completely unpredictable. The climactic battle is very tense and dramatic and well executed. If you like Patricia's other books, I think you will like this. If you haven't read her then get Moon Called (5 star). If you like stories about the fey then get this book.

There is a type of story that has become more and more common in mass-market fantasy -- the "noble-folk-magic-vs.-evil/stupid-monotheist-church" story. (Mercedes Lackey is a particularly prominent practitioner.)

This book takes off from that situation, and elements of it walk throughout the text, but it's not *too* heavy-handedly applied.

I rather like the manner in which Briggs limits the scope of her action, thus giving herself a nicely-sized cast with a limited number of spear-carriers for author and reader to keep track of, but still conveying to the reader the manner in which the sort of society she has visualised depends on every member to get through the seasons.

Quick summary -- in a mountain valley in a world where the Church has banned magic, and the wild magic has been bound away, leaving only evil bloodmages able to practise magic, Aren, just married after having resigned herself to spinsterhood, has been hiding ther "taint" of being mage-born all her life.

Suddenly some event in a war going on somewhere else releases the binding on the wild magic, which begins to return; events attendant isolate the valley where Aren lives, trapping the locals and a troop of renegade mercenaries and preventing their contact with the Outside.

And Aren, suddenly widowed, begins to feel her gift come to life.

The story isn't complex, but it has some nice twists and turns in its development to what is, after all, pretty obviously inevitable relatively early in the book; i congratulate Briggs on managing to make if look as if Aren isn't, essentially, single-handedly saving the situation when, to a great extent, she *is*... While the other characters are generally at least interesting, and well-sketched, and brave and (many) skilled, if not for Aren and her banned-by-the-Church magical gifts (and the magical help they enable her to summon), the whole story would be shorter and less pleasant.

Actually, my favourite parts of the book, in general, were the varied "wildings" (magical beings who gradually return to the land after its magic is unbound at the beginning of the book) that Aren encounters and must learn how to either co-exist with, control, or defeat/banish, as she learns more about her abilities and as those abilities grow.

The wildings range from the will'o'the wisp and such, up through more powerful beings (ghosts and fetches and such), some friendly, some inimical, and some neutral.

And among the rather more powerful, and *probably* friendly, is the hob of Hob's Mountain, the last of his kind, who befriends Aren, offers to train her and to aid the villagers in their parallel struggles with raiders and bad wildings... for a price.

The price shouldn't be all *that* hard to guess.

The hob's sometimes sardonic, sometimes acid, sometimes gentle tongue and his general attitude that it may be a life-or-death situation but that doesn't mean you can't have *fun* rather reminded me of Emma Bull's poukha, which is a *good* thing to be reminded of.

((In fact, if you enjoy "The Hob's Bargain" and you haven't yet read Bull's "War for the Oaks", i recommend you seek out "War for the Oaks" immediately, a fantasy with a somewhat more-intense take on similar themes to this one, with a modern urban setting.))

Hobb's Bargain is a light, pleasant, but ultimately forgettable tale. A cleanser for your palate, if you will, before you take a deep drink of some doorstopper fantasy. It has a satisfyingly plucky heroine named Aren, a little action, a litle romance and some fey. I appreciated that Briggs borrowed some traditional Celtic fey, but didn't feel compelled to adhere slavishly to convention in how they looked or acted. The Hob was mysterious and had a sense of humor and his tail was definately his best feature!

Unfortunately his 'bargain' wasn't all that horrible or difficult . I also found the world -building and magical systems development adequate but nothing to write home about. Obviously in a short novel like this you can't expect the same depth as you might get in a 600 page one, still a little more thought and creativity would have gone a long ways towards improving the book. I was also confused on a few points, including what the whole deal was with Kith and the boodmages. As nasty villains go, the bloodmages were rather ho-hum,standard evil fare without any distinguishing features.

Despite all this, Briggs is short if nothing else, and her writing is certainly competent, which can't be said of everyone selling fantasy/sci-fi out there. For some reason Doranna Durgin came to mind when I was reading this, perhaps the mountain-community setting. For the reviewers recommending War for the Oaks by Emma Bull, I highly second their opinion. Really interesting fey with an attitude and if you like the somewhat mischievous Hob, you'll love the phouka!

I loved this book.

As with all of Ms. Briggs stories, "The Hob's Bargain" is not simply a fantasy novel that has different "wildling" creatures. She explores how prejudice and hatred can damage a community. Also, she is one of the few writers that uses romance so deftly that you don't always recognize that it started with the gentle wordplay among the characters.

Ms. Briggs does not glorify the power of evil. Instead, she names it for what it is and with her writing forces the reader to acknowledge that evil, although powerful, should be destroyed.

It would be easy to say this book is a simple fantasy, yet there are aspects of the book that speak to the world that we live in today. The Hob's Bargain is a joy to read, yet a closer inspection of the book reveals there are lessons in it for us to learn.

Hobb's Bargin was a good fantasy read. The heroine deals with the hardship of losing her loved ones and then being out cast for having her magical powers. The bloodmages(evil magic users)have bound the magic of the land. Using the Church, the blood mages control all the magic and either ... any child with magic ability or take them away to be used as a blood mage.
She must make a bargin with the Hobb ( magical creature that is the last of his kind)to save her people. It has elements of beauty and the beast but is quite original.
Patricia Briggs is a nice change for the formula fantasy that is clogging our book stores. She keeps the story moving and incorparates romance with out it seeming overly romantic.

I like Patricia Briggs' fantasy novels (published as PBO's by Ace) and recently lucked into her latest -- Hob's Bargain. Her books tend to have a satisfying combination of action and emotion.

In this fantasy magic creatures (wildlings) were bound by Bloodmages who receive their power from death and suffering. However this also brings madness and one day the binding is released by an insane bloodmage causing both physical upheaval of the landscape and social upheaval.

The heroine is mage born which means that she has some limited ability to see the future before the unbinding. Afterwards the presence of magic in the earth increases the scope of her powers. Had she been discovered before the unbinding she would have been either killed by the Bloodmages in search of power or killed by fanatical anti-mage elements in her village. Afterwards, because of the circumstances the villagers find themeselves in, she is grudgingly accepted.

Within the first chapter her life is turned upside down by raiders. She sets out on a quest for vengeance and to save her people.

One of the wildlings that has reappeared is the Hob, the last of his kind, who has the ability to help the villagers, if he could find some one of them who would be willing to accept the Hob's Bargain.

The lessons the heroine (and others) learn along the way are not preachy but sincere. There is a good dollop of humor and a nice touch of romance.

Briggs is definitely growing as a fantasy author. She deserves a wider audience-- and more publicity (hear me, Ace?) In fact I enjoy her books more than I have enjoyed more ballyhooed books by some of the bigger names in fantasy. Let's have some more, soon.

Recently I discovered this author and downloaded all of her books that were available for download. "The Hob's Bargain" was not then possible to get that way, but I enjoyed the others so I ordered it in paperback. Her stories are inovative and the nagic involved is not sterotyped. Her tales tend to have a hint of horror but not to excess. I found it a good read. By the by, some people may consider her to be a "young adult" author but I don't believe in passing up a good story written since I was the "right" age (I am sixty-three.)

The Hob's Bargain opens the door to a world that I hope Patricia Briggs returns to again and again. Aren, the main character must deal with heartbreaking challenges and find the courage to face obstacles she never could imagine. After finally marrying and escaping spinsterhood she loses her husband and family and life itself changes forever. She must face her worst fears, reveal her darkest secrets and discover the darker aspects of herself. In the end the Hob's Bargain is anticlimatic and almost a relief.

I enjoyed the small glimpse Ms. Briggs gave her readers in to Aren's world. The Wild Magic returns and with it creatures of all kind including the Hobb. The Hobb is an interesting character that I wish was explored more. His lack of memory is frustrating. I especially enjoyed the way Aren learns to use her magic. Her encounters with ghost are interesting.

I found the tale enjoyable, refreshing and hope to see more adventures if not with the same characters with others in the same environment. The themes may be familiar but the story is fresh and has its own surprises. Here's to more adventures