The Goblin Wood
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| Author | Hilari Bell |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Eric Bowman |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Eos |
| Released | April 2003 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 304 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0-060-51371-9 (first edition, hardback) |
The Goblin Wood is a teen fantasy novel by Hilari Bell.
[edit] Synopsis
One terrible day, Makenna, a young hedgewitch, witnesses her mother's murder at the hands of their own neighbors. Stricken with grief and rage, Makenna flees the village that has been her home. In the wilds of the forest, she forms an unexpected alliance. Leading an army of clever goblins, Makenna skillfully attacks the humans, now their shared enemy.
What she doesn't realize is that the ruling Hierarchy is determined to rid the land of all magical creatures, and they believe Makenna is their ultimate threat—so they have sent a young knight named Tobin into the Goblin Wood to entrap her. Tobin, a knight who had been branded as a traitor, must choose between living on in disgrace, or going in search of the Goblin Sorceress. After agreeing to seek out the sorceress, he is caught by the goblins and forced into their small village jail. It is there that he learns how the goblins are not the fearful creatures that the priests of the church made them out to be. Soon, he becomes friends with the Goblin Sorceress, a.k.a. Makenna, and helps her to fight back against the Bright Ones (the church). In the end, the church leads a final revolt against the small goblin army and almost traps them when Makenna casts a powerful spell allowing Tobin, the goblins, and herself into a second world known only to a few powerful priests.
[edit] Overview
- Makenna's (a young hedgewitch) mother is killed when a new priest is sent to town. Makenna flees for her life, and tries to flood the town as her last act of vengeance.
- Makenna is teased in the woods by a group of goblins. Soon, she catches one goblin named Cogswhallop. She spares his life and in return and to repay his debt, he helps her out and convinces his fellow goblins to stop taunting her.
- Makenna meets a friendly trader in the woods who tells her of the events taking place around the world.
- The goblin Cogswhallop and friends ask for Makenna's aid in rescuing a small goblin family from being burned to death by a priest. Makeena aids the goblins and they form an alliance to help goblins and find a place where they can live in peace.
- Tobin, a young knight, finds his brother out late on night fleeing from the guards for helping the rebels. Tobin assists his brother but is caught himself and is branded as a traitor.
- To help save his name and family, Tobin accepts a mission to rid the northern lands of the goblins so that settlers who have lost their lands to the barbarians in the south may have a place to live. Tobin sets out alone to the far village to the north to rid the lands of the goblins and their leader, a "sorceress."
- Tobin gets to the town where he meets a priest of the Bright Ones. The priest informs him of his mission: Tobin is to seek out the goblin lair and plant an Otherworldly stone near the sorceress's headquarters so that they can spy on her through the stone.
- Tobin sets out to find the lair and is caught by the goblins. He drops the stone and is taken to their village.
- While Tobin is a hostage in the Goblin village, he is kept chained to a post in a small jail. There, he watches and learns the customs of the goblins and how they are not so different from human children. Makenna (the "sorceress") sits in with him one day and performs a spell to learn what information he might have. Makenna tells Tobin that she's only a hedegewitch.
- Tobin is released from his prison to walk around the village with the children. He meets many goblins and becomes a familiar face around the goblin village. That night, the village is raided by knights that lived in the human outpost where Tobin had met the priest. Tobin helps to fight back against the goblins but the town is soon overtaken and the goblins flee.
- Makenna sneaks into the human village as a servant and lives with a small family where she saves a seven year old from choking to death, causing the hiring family to accept her. She flees that night and meets back up with the goblins, where they plan their attack.
- The next night, Tobin and the goblins try to sneak into the village, but he is caught while trying to raid the priest's tent and steal his books of spells. Makenna then valiantly jumps in to save him and they flee with the books, in hope of leading the goblins to a new world.
- Makenna, Tobin, and the goblins are all hudled together as Makenna, using a magical wall, performs a spell that opens a portal into a whole new world. Just as the army comes over the hill, the goblins, Makenna, and Tobin disappear into the portal, never to be heard from again.
