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The second Jig the Goblin book by does what any good second book of a fantasy trilogy ought to do: it shows you what’s happened to your protagonist as a result of Book 1’s events, and upped the stakes this time around to get him in even more trouble. In this particular installment’s case, it does an excellent job as well of taking traditional fantasy tropes and subverting them.

Now that Jig’s become “Jig Dragonslayer”, if anything, he’s almost more miserable than he was before. It is nifty that he’s gotten the ability to heal his fellow goblins of their injuries, but oi, the singing they’re doing about him! Not to mention how he’s coming perilously close to being chosen as chief. One goblin, though, is convinced that Jig’s not all he’s cracked up to be: Veka, who’s adamant that SHE is far better hero material, and who is bound and determined to win the acclaim that ought to be hers. Jig would quite cheerfully let her do her thing–only their lair is threatened by a pixie invasion, and it becomes the job of Jig Dragonslayer to go do something about it. Even if he’d much rather run the other way.

All in all this was a lovely followup to Book 1. I very much liked the character of Veka, her almost-a-romance with the hobgoblin nicknamed “Slash”, her struggle to master magic–and ultimately, even though she’s not about to admit it, to live up to Jig’s example and become a true hero. She gets significant point-of-view time, making her plotline as important as Jig’s all throughout the book, and her character arc does not disappoint.

Other high points of the book are Jig’s developing relationship with his god Tymalous Shadowstar, and the “duh OF COURSE” giggle-worthy way Jig finally wins the day. Four stars.

If you’re tired of the common tropes of the traditional fantasy genre, you can’t do much better than turning to Jim Hines’ books about Jig the Goblin. This has been hands down one of the more entertaining fantasy trilogies I’ve read in some time.

Jig is the smallest, scrawniest, runtiest goblin in the entire goblin lair–and he’s nearsighted to boot. He’s constantly harassed by the bigger and stronger goblins, and made to do all the worst chores. So it just goes to figure that he’s the one who winds up getting captured by a party of adventurers, two human princes, a dwarf cleric, and a young elven thief, all of whom are looking for the fabled Rod of Creation. Jig’s fast-thinking claim that he could guide them deeper into the caverns keeps him from getting killed on the spot by the arrogant prince leading the party, and he has to spend the rest of the book frantically trying to find a way to keep from getting killed by not only the adventurers, but everything else they encounter and fight along the way. He’s even desperate enough to commit to following one of the Forgotten Gods, if that’ll keep him alive. And to his surprise, that Forgotten God is in fact listening.

This is pretty much a D&D adventure from the goblin’s point of view, and it’s quite charming. I especially liked Jig’s forming a tentative… if not friendship, really, than at least less hostile alliance… with the young thief who’s just as much a captive of the adventurers as he is. His partnership with the Forgotten God Tymalous Shadowstar’s also a highlight, since Shadowstar’s so desperate for worshippers that he’ll even take on a goblin, the lowliest of the low. And overall, the goblin society is just hysterical, refreshingly straightforward in all its backstabbing, cowardly chaos. Four stars.

ETA: Correcting the first sentence, since I’d said “can’t do much worse” when what I really meant was “can’t do much better”. PhrasingFail! Thanks to for the catch.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect going into this novella, Doranna Durgin’s shortest installment in her Sentinels paranormal romance series. The description of the story makes it sound like it’s erotica, since the main character, Tayla Garrett, must be initiated by another Sentinel before she can gain full command of her abilities. And by “initiated”, I mean “she needs to have sex with another Sentinel”.

In this case, that other Sentinel is Mark Burton, after whom she’s been pining for ages. Burton is pretty much ordered point-blank to initiate Tayla by none other than Nick Carter, the male lead from Wolf Hunt. Cue the obligatory “wait you’re only having sex with me because you were ordered to” angst on Tayla’s part.

However, the story is more than just that, happily. Yes, these bits are there–but as is the case with all of Durgin’s writing, it’s nicely low-key. And there’s a larger plot in play as well, one which relies upon Tayla’s specific abilities as well as on the fact that Mark is a rare Sentinel who does not in fact change shape. (Something I liked about him, in fact; he was described a lot with leonine imagery, despite the fact that he’s not a shifter at all.)

Plus, the short length of the story, a mere four chapters, meant that what angst there is here just doesn’t have time to get too drawn out and therefore overbearing. Instead, it blows over very quickly, letting the story get on with it. Very much appreciated, that. Three stars.