Book Log #46: Goblin War, by Jim C. Hines

‘s third Jig the Goblin book, Goblin War rounds out the trilogy quite nicely. In this final installment, we’ve got a strong callback to book one as Princess Genevieve, the sister of the princes who’d hunted the Rod of Creation, has been ordered by her father to recover that artifact herself. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Brilla the Bloody, an orc general, has organized the orcs and goblins of the realm to go up against the human armies–and she’s doing a damn fine job of it. Since Jig’s home lair is been invaded by the humans and he and several of his people are captured by Genevieve’s troops, he’s ready and raring to escape and join Brilla’s forces…

Until he learns from his god, Tymalous Shadowstar, that Brilla’s got a divine connection of her own. And that divine connection is none other than the winter goddess who used to be Shadowstar’s own wife.

And, yeah. There’s a great deal of fun with the backstory here on Shadowstar and how he became one of the Forgotten Gods, as well as more of the same wry humor that made the first two books of this trilogy so much fun. The bit with the horse was especially snickerworthy, and I’ll say no more because of spoilers. I will say though that I was especially charmed that this time around, we even got a hint of something like a romance as one of Jig’s devoted new followers, the goblin Relka, was partial to him to a degree poor Jig didn’t really get for the longest time. Even goblins need love!

All in all, a delightful conclusion to the trilogy and not to be missed. Four stars.