In the scale of things fantasy, goblins since the age of Tolkien (and before actually) have tended to have a bit of a bad reputation. Seen as smelly, violent, greedy, selfish, grumpy, lazy and well, a bit dim, they’re not the first choice for literary inspiration.
To this we then have T. Kingfisher’s latest novella – although it is actually the first printing by a mainstream publisher of Kingfisher’s first (and self-published) work. (Kingfisher’s recent slew of Award nominations and wins may have prompted this.)
To some degree, it tries to make goblins seem nice – or at least bearable. They do have some redeeming features, and Kingfisher writes of them in such a way that you should think better of them by the end of this novella.
The story is pretty straightforward. A group of nine goblins are taken from their battlefield in the Goblin War with humans through a portal to a wood deep behind enemy lines where things seem rather too quiet. As well as meeting wayward elf Sings-to-Trees, they discover the cause of this mysterious silence and find that they have to put things back to normality.
Within this tale we have a lot of the sort of humour that Kingfisher has more recently become known for. One of the goblins keeps sticking his finger where he shouldn’t, another will only talk to the other goblins through his battered teddy bear… it is a rag-tag bunch loosely kept together by their taciturn yet benevolent (relatively speaking, for a goblin) Sergeant Nessilka. It has a generally friendly prose that will quickly endear the troop to you.
There’s a fair bit of gore in places as well – another Kingfisher trademark, perhaps. These goblins are not those found in children’s fairy tales.
But overall, this is a nicely-done tale, perfectly formed and rather agreeable. Although it could be seen as an early work, it has many of the traits regular readers may recognise from Kingfisher’s other works, and that may be all readers have to know. It’s a good introduction to Kingfisher’s work and one which will pass an hour or so very nicely. I’m pretty sure that if you like this, you’ll want to read more of Kingfisher’s work.
I’d also suggest Mary Gentle’s Grunts! and Stan Nicholl’s Orcs trilogy if you want to read more stories in a similar vein.
© 2026 Mark Yon
Hardback | Titan Books (e-book also available)
NINE GOBLINS by T. Kingfisher
January 2026 | 160 pages
ISBN: 978-183 541 655
