Looks like I’m back on my T. Kingfisher kick. This author is becoming somewhat ‘old-reliable’ when it comes to having a good audiobook for a long drive.
I went into this one pretty much blind. I’m not sure I even bothered to read the description. I just took one look at the cover, and the number of hours it would take to listen to (between 4-5) and hit the download button. Two long-ish drives later, I’ve decided to put off writing reviews on two other extremely good novellas, so I can get this one written before the memory fades too much. That’s how much I enjoyed Nine Goblins.
Of the works of T. Kingfisher I’ve read so far, this one feels the most blatantly comedic. I’ve mentioned in my reviews of What Feasts At Night and Jackalope Wives that there were many elements of Kingfisher’s style that reminded me of Terry Pratchett. Readers don’t have to dig very deep to see that same influence in Nine Goblins, it’s right there on the surface. Aside from the fact that it’s not set on the Discworld, I could almost believe this was a City Watch book. As such I think I actually laughed out loud a few times while on the road.
I think a few important choices allow this sort of standard orcs-vs-humans setting (I thought immediately of the videogame series Warcraft) to really bloom into a unique story all its own. First, focusing the main thrust of the story around a group of Goblins reframes the story as a kind of anti-colonial tale, in which humans and elves are (to start) painted as unrelenting expansionists.
Goblins as villainous demons or tricksters is pretty deeply engrained in our mythology and lore, so I was fascinated by all the ways Kingfisher found to make them sympathetic. Mainly this is accomplished through quirks and point of view. The funniest quirk (to me) was the goblin Blanchett, who doesn’t speak unless to express the speech of a teddy bear he carries with him. I think at some point the teddy bear gets promoted for of valor (to describe it in the Wayward Children parlance, this is a high nonsense world lol).
We also see the goblins being quite heroic in their own goblin-y ways. They’re generous with praise, though it comes in the form of an insult, and despite their villainous portrayal in other media, these goblins spend a lot of time finding reasons not to kill but to spare and even save what are by rights their enemies (somewhat tangent but related to this point: one goblin even adopts a kitten mid adventure (which gets named wiggles)).
By giving us this point of view from the Goblin’s perspective, these mythic creatures which are typically cast as side-characters or villains take center stage, the effect being ironically humanizing. I can’t really think of any other Fantasy media which takes on this point of view. And I feel you would be hard pressed to do it so well as Kingfisher does here.
Equally important to the story’s success, is its second POV, through the eyes of the elf Sings-To-Trees. He is a kind of veterinarian who specializes in the care of magical creatures which often just appear at his doorstep when they need help. Somewhat reminiscent of Radagast from Lord of the Rings — pre nervous breakdown — in occupation and function, Kingfisher takes an alternate tac on the Friend-to-All-Living-Things trope, requiring Sings-To-Trees to care for and love the ugliest and prickliest animals as well as the cute and cuddly ones.
This means that Sings-to-Trees has some of the silliest and most hilarious encounters in the book. In particular I’m thinking about pretty much any scene during which he must talk with trolls, who pretty much just repeat the same syllable over and over again with barely different inflections, yet still manage to get their meaning across. I’m not sure if this would be quite as funny in print, but it was absolutely hysterical on audio.
Give ‘Nine Goblins‘ a Read?
Oh yeah! It’s short, it’s funny, and in my opinion a great take on a classic and often taken for granted feature of Fantasy fiction: Goblins.
Whether it’s the baffling conversation between a clumsy, messy elf (Sings-to-Trees is really the opposite of everything we think of as high fantasy elves), and monosyllabic trolls, or the inverted correlation between real intelligence / competence and military rank, Nine Goblins is absolutely brimming with laughs.
But as is often the case, just because it’s funny does not mean it is devoid of depth or nuance. In particular, Kingfisher takes aim at colonialism, giving us the story from the view of the colonized, and maybe a bit of hope that coexistence is possible.
That’s all I have for this week! Has anyone read this story before? What did you like best? Can you think of any other stories which take on the POV of Goblins? What other fantasy main-stays would you like to see given this treatment?
As always please leave your thoughts in the comments section! Am really looking forward to discussing this one!
alligators and aneurysms! 