Goblins Vs Dwarves by Philip Reeve

Philip becomes my first encore author.

I have enjoyed every one of Philip’s books, and the Goblins series is no exception.

Goblins Vs Dwarves is the second book in the Trilogy and the one I enjoyed most. From the cover you’d expect this to be a funny, fantasy story, which it definitely is. It also contains a passage which Is for me one of the most genuinely affecting I have ever read.

Thats what Phillip’s books do to you. The make you laugh with a fantastic British sense of humour. Then they tear your heart out, stamp on it and break you.

No spoilers but here is an extract from page 280 in the original British paperback:

“It seemed to her that she owed it to her ghosts to leave then in that afterworld, beneath the green hill at Clovenstone, where they could taste and smell and touch.”

It’s a thought had by one of the new characters in this book, Zeewa, a hunter who carries the ghost of every kill with her. The descriptions of her ghosts and their characters are drawn beautifully. This scene beautifully foreshadows the death that will occur in the books final battle, though of course things wont go quite as expected. I keep a bookmark on that page with a picture of my kids on it. It one of of the most compelling examples of character I have ever read. And this all comes from a kids series whose main character is a Goblin called Scarper.

In the first book we meet Scarper in a precarious position, and then are quickly introduced to a wonderful location, The Bumwipe Heaps. Its the old Library of the castle and of course the Goblins see no use for books, other than as bumwipe’s.

You have to love a series that can combines such disparate ideas.

The first book is great fun, and the second takes things a little darker and more complex, and of course more emotional.

I had followed the process of Philip writing these books over a couple of years on his old blog, as they had started out as a story he told his son Sam at bedtime. If I remember correctly Philip had intended them to be a little more Tolkienesque, and that much was inspired by the rocks and fields of Dartmoor. I think Phillip posted lost of drawings and photos he had taken as inspiration along the way. I am also sure I found my copy of Goblins Vs Dwarves in WHSmiths in Glasgow airport, and that I read it on the flight back, but I could be wrong.
I will always remember reading the chapter ‘The Bumwipe Heaps’ to my son, who was very young at the time. He laughed, and so did I.

You have to make people laugh first, because thats how they start to care for the characters.