The Goblin War: By Hilari Bell

THE GOBLIN WAR

SUMMARY

Tobin has finally crossed back from the Otherworld, where he was trapped in mortal peril for months—only to be captured by the dreaded, bloodthirsty barbarians the moment he enters his own Realm. Meanwhile, the pretty hedgewitch Makenna and her legion of goblins are still trying to find a way out of the Otherworld before it fatally drains their magic and life force. To escape, they will need help from the spirits that live there—but that aid will not come freely.

Now the barbarians are out to take over the Realm, and only Makenna, Tobin, and his younger brother, Jeriah, know what is needed to stop them. They’ll need to work together—and with the goblins—to formulate a plan. The answer lies with the Otherworld spirits and also with the blood amulets that give infinite power to the barbarians. The question is: Can they band together and save the Realm in time?

REVIEW

Around this time last year, I mentioned that I was both surprised and giddy by the fact that Hilari Bell had revisited an old stand alone novel that I absolutely loved, The Goblin Wood.

The Goblin Wood is one of those books that sticks with you when you read it. Its characters, (especially Tobin and Makenna the protagonists) are fantastic, realistic, and fun to read about. The plot is engaging and fast paced. And the writing captivating, and just plain well written.

It's follow-up, The Goblin Gate, was just as enthralling as The Goblin Wood, but focused on (Jeriah and Cogswhallop), smaller characters in The Goblin Wood. The action packed follows up with the aftermath of the war and escape of Makenna and the Goblins, and introduces entire new aspects of the story readers were not aware of in the previous book. Of course like The Goblin Wood, The Goblin Gate is captivating, fun, and well written. But unfortunately it does contain the curse of the second book in a trilogy, as it leaves readers on the edge of their seats, wondering what will happen next.

And now we finally get to The Goblin War. The Goblin War takes all the pieces of the first two books and puts them together. All of the main characters are given signifigant time to shine and Bell does a fantastic job tying together and weaving these two stories into an exciting and action packed ending.

The story focuses on the issue of the invading barbarians presented at the end of The Goblin Gate. Each of the characters takes a substantial role in the outcome of the issue, each contributing in their own unique way. By the end of the book readers will feel both sad at the ending of the series, and satisfied with the resolution reached.

Like its predecessors, The Goblin War contains fantastic dialog, wonderful characters, fun magic, good writing, and a fast paced plot. If you haven't read Bell's previous books in the series, make sure that you do, for while you would probably be able to follow along (Bell does a good job reminding and explaining certain circumstances that characters are in, because of the large time gap between the books), these books are wonderful and need to be read in sequence to get the utmost enjoyment out of them. All in all, I loved this series and am sad to see it end. Bel does a fantastic job and I'd certainly recommend them to anyone looking for a good book.

RATING

10 out of 10

INFO

Publisher: HarperTeen

Published: October 11, 2011

Price: $17.99