"The Goblin Wood: by Hilari Bell

Book Details:
Title: The Goblin Wood
Author: Hilari Bell
Published: 2004 by HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 0-06-051373-X
Pages: 371 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5 of 5
Read In: 6 days

My Review:
In what turned out to be an addicting fantasy novel, Hilari Bell shows love and compassion for goblins, a race often seen in a negative light in fantasy novels.

Betrayed by her own human race, Makenna, a young hedgewitch, flees her village after her mother's execution and finds herself in the company of goblins. With a decree demanding all independent magic wielders are in league with dark forces, a crime demanding execution, she finds refuge among these magical creatures and becomes their leader in the fight to keep humans from settling in their land. Flash forward five years and we're introduced to Tobin, a dishonored knight offered a chance to regain his post, if he can help rid the Northern woods of it's goblin inhabitants to make way for human migration. Captured by Makenna and her goblin army, Tobin is forced to see them as the peaceful, victimized beings they are, dividing his loyalties. Now, it's all-out war, and Tobin has to pick a side. To side with the goblins would be the "right" thing to do, but his friends, family, and a comfortable life as a lord await him should he help the humans exterminate the goblins.

I thoroughly loved this novel! The characters are all very liable and complex, and the society the author created for the goblins is just as magical as the creatures themselves. She gives them a myriad of abilities, creating sub-cultures to complicate a normally cut-and-dried fantasy species.

I found the ending aggravating, though appropriate to allow for a sequel. Told from both Makenna and Tobin in alternating chapters, the reader can appreciate the internal conflicts for both main characters, and sympathize with their struggles. I gave this book a full five of five stars and plan to read the sequel!

"The Loch" by Steve Alten

Book Details:
Title: The Loch
Author: Steve Alten
Published: 2005 by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
ISBN: 978-0-7653-6302-2
Pages: 541 pages
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 5 of 5
Read In: 6 days

My Review:
Steve Alten combines two of history's greatest mysteries in this novel: the Templar Knights and the Loch Ness monster. The Loch shows extensive research into the geography and history of Loch Ness, as well as marine biology and creatures of the deep.

Zachary Wallace left the village of Drumnadrochit, Scotland at nine years old, following the divorce of his parents. Now, at twenty-six, he returns at the prompting of this father, who is facing murder charges. Having lost his fiance and his job as a marine biologist after a near fatal run-in with a giant squid and another mysterious deep-sea creature. Unable to go near the water, Zack begins recovering memories of nearly drowning in Loch Ness as a child, leading him to remember more than he would like. Joined by childhood friends True and Brandy, Zachary must overcome his hydrophobia and uncover the mystery of what is living in Loch Ness and killing anyone too near the water, meanwhile proving his father's innocence.

This novel is incredibly smart and suspenseful. Incorporating excerpts from real Nessie sightings at the start of each chapter, Alten reminds the reader that Nessie may not be fictional at all. Along with fictional journal entries from Zack Wallace's ancestor Adam Wallace in the year 1330, the author creatively tells another story within this one- the story of how Nessie came to live in the lake.

I gave this book five out of five stars and would gladly reread it. Anyone interested in history or the legend of the Loch Ness monster will greatly enjoy this novel.