The Goblin gate by Hilari Bell (Sequel to The Goblin Wood)

Source: Library copy

My summary:

Jeriah started this terrible mess that led to his brother going to the Otherworld with the hedgewitch, Makenna. He has to fix it. But fixing it is impossible. No one will help him. The Priest who could open the gate is more interesting in relocating the realm and doesn’t care that Jeriah bother Tobin will die in the Otherworld. He watches Jeriah and prevents his every effort to help his brother. Jeriah’s father believes him useless and considers Tobins death to be inevitable. Jeriah’s mother is scheming but it’s no good. The goblins will only help for trades that Jeriah doesn’t have the power to make. At every turn, time is running out. The Otherworld drains the magic for beings and slowly kills those without magic. There seems to be no help for Jeriah or hope for Tobin. Will Tobin die? Is the relocation necessary? Who is to be trusted in this twisted mess?

My thoughts:




4 stars- a great read

The first book in this series, The Goblin Wood, created a great world for this book to feed from. I love the simplicity of this fantasy. There are not so many creatures to keep track of or keep straight. It’s a perfect mix of creatures and magic in an old world setting. The world building never overpowers the telling of the story. I loved that about the first book and this one is the same. Great world!

The characters are the same with a few additions but the focus is different. In book one, we learned about Makenna and Tobin. Jeriah was a secondary character. In this book, Jeriah takes center stage. We still get bits of Makenna and Tobin, just enough to keep us interested in them. I enjoyed getting to know Jeriah. He is not quite what I expected and I loved how he grew throughout the book. He is a second son in a time when first sons are the important ones. He has only ever wanted to be the hero, the honored knight. I love that the goblins call him hero, though he certainly doesn’t feel like one. The mistakes he made in book one are so far behind him. I was proud of him.

As for the plot, well it was a waiting game. Every effort was thwarted but Jeriah kept going. Because it was a waiting game, it was action packed with effort after effort creating mini plots. I read it in about a day, maybe 6 hours total of reading time. I was eager to keep reading and struggled to put it down. As for the ending, I’m so grateful that Harper Teen has sent me the ARC of The Goblin War. It just moved up to next in line. If you enjoy fantasy, this is great read.

The paperback edition of The Goblin Gate releases September 13th just in time to pick it up before the third book releases in October.  Check out the links below to find it.

Hilari Bell | Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository