Review: I laughed, I cried (from laughter), I got back in line ...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 3, 2014
I was sorry when it ended so I read it again, immediately. A terrific mix of humor, military reality (well, Goblin military reality), and the gritty, smelly truth about veterinary medicine, this wonderful little novella had me smiling the whole way through when I wasn't laughing out loud & annoying the family. It's in the fine tradition of fantasy/SF humor, á la John Ford ("How Much for Just the Plant" for TOS Trekkers) and the early Terry Pratchett as just about everyone has pointed out. Tolkien too, if he'd had much humor in him. 'Nine Goblins' is a great example of non-contrived, realistic fantasy humor...the army is the army pretty much everywhere, as are animals. I can't wait to read some of the author's other work!Edited to say that this fine work is apparently by Ursula Vernon whoseDigger: The Complete Omnibus Editionmay well be the best Spec Fic graphic novel ever, thus its having won the Hugo. A quote to pique your 'Digger' interest: "I hit a patch of bad earth at some point ... where there's gases and old pockets of dead air. It bubbles up through the dirt and sends you loopy ... Other than the fact that I thought I was a small stone named Edward for some time, I got off lightly."