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The goblins of Clovenstone Keep are a bloodthirsty lot. They love fighting, looting and eating. And more fighting.
But Skarper is different. He is clever and cunning. Only he understands that the old magic trapped beneath Clovenstone is rising again. He's about to be flung headfirst into the wildest adventure in all of goblin history.
Paperback.
Product reviews...
Goblins is a spectacular book filled with mythical creatures and magic. Philip Reeve has used incredible writing techniques to create this masterpiece. A novel one could sit with for hours on end unravelling its complex plot and absorbing a more than fair share of excitement and magic. The book depicts a fictional medieval city where magic remains. I hope that there will be future books in this series. I love how complex the plot is and how it is layered upon layered into something delightfully tricky and deceiving. There are so many surprises in this book that its a wonder it actually makes sense!
The book has a whole host of major/medium characters and has a bestiary to match. Danger also lurks in this book injecting excitement into any reader. This book has lots of in-depth language and simple sentences. This book is a recount of a trio's journey across the Ruined fortress of Clovenstone, a journey encountering mythical creatures and awakening magic. I think that this book has a few similarities with The Chronicles of Narnia in that it is a bit old fashioned, has recounts of journeys but still being funny and a bit informal.
I think that my favorite parts of the story when unpredictable things happened and strange twists and turns made this book particularly interesting to read. The basic plot is rather predictable except for the strange events that take place where they weren't intended. In this story the text is sometimes old fashioned using older words like smite and slay. Words not often used verbally today. It also has complex modern language in it so the book is an intriguing version of both. The cover is a bright and conspicuous color and I think that it enhances the book a lot. Near to the end of the book there is a bit of violence so I wouldn't recommend it to a person younger than 10. Overall this is a great book and a pleasure to read.
I've just finished reading Goblins by Phillip Reeve and I'm very impressed. The first thing you'll notice about this book, is that the cover is VERY bright green. On the upside anytime I put my book down last week I was sure to find it again. It could not be missed!
Set in a fantasy world of goblins, humans (or softlings), trolls, giants, heroes and damsels. This is familiar setting for all good fantasy book fans. Reeve has a wonderful talent for describing the landscape and what is going on on each page.
However, unlike some other fantasy writers the action and adventure in Reeve's book comes thick and fast. Characters are built through their actions and some flashback scenes. These don't feel forced at all, and flow really well.
We get to sit inside the head of several characters along the way. I liked this as it gave you different perspectives of the same events. It also meant we could leave a character behind but stay with the action.
This book is pretty funny too. It kinda reminded me of Terry Pratchett. Not quite as funny, but still amusing. For example early on Skarper the main goblin character is introduced to books in a library. But the goblins refer to the place as the bumwipe pile. The humour comes pretty naturally from there. A great read!
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