Nine Goblins
No one knows exactly how the Goblin War began, but folks will tell you that goblins are stinking, slinking, filthy, sheep-stealing, henhouse-raiding, obnoxious, rude, and violent. Goblins would actually agree with all this, and might throw in “cowardly” and “lazy” too for good measure. But goblins don't go around killing people for fun, no matter what the propaganda posters say. And when a confrontation with an evil wizard lands a troop of nine goblins deep behind enemy lines, goblin sergeant Nessilka must figure out how to keep her hapless band together and get them home in one piece. Unfortunately, between them and safety lies a forest full of elves, trolls, monsters, and that most terrifying of creatures…a human being.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Nine Goblins
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Sergeant Nessilka and her squad of goblin soldiers are caught in a wizard's spell and dropped behind enemy lines among the much-feared elves. They link up with an unhappy elf vet and try to find a way home.
Nine Goblins was written by T. Kingfisher (the pen name Ursula Vernon uses for adult and YA work) and published in 2014. T. Kingfisher is also the author of Nettle and Bone, A House with Good Bones, and many others.
Nine Goblins is a standalone novel, though it shares some thematic territory with T. Kingfisher's other irreverent fantasy works. Each of her novels is independent.
Nine Goblins is 176 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Nine Goblins takes most readers 3 to 4 hours to finish.
Nine Goblins is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.