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Stuart Thaman

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The Goblin Wars Part One: Siege of Talonrend: (Epic Fantasy; Book One of the Goblin Wars Series) Kindle Edition

by Stuart Thaman (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

3.9 167 ratings

Book 1 of 3: The Goblin Wars

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The Goblin Wars: Siege of Talonrend

Lady Scrapple lurks in the depths of Kanebullar Mountain, building her army of mindless slaves and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. As the final pieces are about to fall into place and secure her victory, an anomaly is born. One of her goblins, an incredibly powerful shaman, stands free of Lady Scrapple's iron-clad hive mind.

A few miles west of Kanebullar Mountain, the frontier city of Talonrend perches dangerously on the edge of anarchy. King Lucius Firesbane has disappeared without an heir and left the city leaderless.

In the face of chaos, a disgruntled paladin sets out to find his king.

Books 2 and 3 now available! Check out The Goblin Wars Part Two: Death of a King and The Goblin Wars Part Three: Rebirth of a God now! An epic fantasy adventure unlike anything you've ever read before!

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, international best-selling author Stuart Thaman graduated from Hillsdale College and Chase College of Law with degrees in politics, German, and law, and has since sworn off life in the frozen marches of Michigan. Now comfortably settled in Kentucky, he lives with his lovely wife and four cats who probably hate him. When not writing, he enjoys smoking cigars, acquiring bruises in mosh pits, collecting tattoos, and preparing for the end of the world.

Check out all of Stuart Thaman's exciting worlds of epic fantasy and LitRPG at www.stuartthamanbooks.com and www.nefhousepublishing.com

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

"I really wanted to approach the question of, "Why would goblins continue to attack humans if they always end up dying?"
What if the goblin leader knows exactly what she is doing? What if every failed raid and every goblin massacre was a carefully crafted maneuver in order to make the humans fear them less? Then, when the real goblin invasion begins, the humans won't take them seriously.
That's the main idea I like to explore. Also, my goblins are a hive mind, so they only value the collective and place no value on the lives of the individual. With that structure, I get to play with degrees of freedom, the illusion of free will, and what would happen if a goblin was born disconnected from the hive mind."-- Excerpt from an AMA on reddit.com/r/fantasy

About the Author

Follow @stuartthaman on Twitter for giveaways, free promotions, and a trove of witty wisdom. Sign up for the newsletter at stuartthamanbooks.com to stay up to date with all the latest promotions and releases, including free samples of SHADOWLITH, the latest fantasy blockbuster from Stuart Thaman and Hydra Publications!

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00H9Y47LS
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Nef House Publishing; 4th edition (December 10, 2013)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 10, 2013
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 921 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 368 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,228,483 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #14,121 in Sword & Sorcery Fantasy eBooks
- #15,269 in Epic Fantasy (Kindle Store)
- #16,789 in Sword & Sorcery Fantasy (Books)

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3.9 167 ratings

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Stuart Thaman

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Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Stuart Thaman graduated from Hillsdale College and Chase College of Law with degrees in politics, philosophy, German, and law. Now settled in Kentucky, he practices medical malpractice law, writes LitRPG and epic fantasy, and plays 7-string guitar in a metal band.

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3.9 out of 5

167 global ratings

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LJ

Steadily Paced and Awesome Characters!

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2017

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This was the first book I have read based on goblins. I have spent a lifetime playing board games that involve goblins, so I'm not sure why I never decided, until now, to pick up a book that revolves around goblins. The cover of this book caught my attention, so I decided to download it and give it a read.

What I really like about the book is the way the action seems to increase in pace as you go along, almost as if it was the author's deliberate attempt to use this writing device to grip the reader and keep them excited about what was taking place. It worked in a big way, and I found myself wanting to know what would happen next and how the war would play out. The characters in this book, furthermore, were very well developed and highly interesting and entertaining.

Stuart Thaman is definitely an author I will be following on Amazon, and I look forward to getting to Part 2 this weekend.

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Fun but missing... something

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2017

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It was a fun read with interesting and creative uses of magic. I especially enjoyed the various enchantments on weapons. The story, however, lacked in pacing as well as development. The whole thing felt rushed. If the writer had given more content for motivation and character development I could easily see myself adding a star or two to my rating.

One person found this helpful

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M. T. Miller

A fun, light read

Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2016

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I was conflicted after reading this. My gut told me to just slap it a rating and leave it alone. Perhaps that might actually be for the best.

But I’m not one to shy away from a challenge. There was a lot to both like and dislike here. In pointing those things out, I hope to both give feedback to Mr. Thaman and grow as a writer myself.

Spoiler warning: I will give everything away without a shred of mercy or tact!

Still here? Great! Let’s dive into them tunnels and start digging!

The first part of the Gobllin Wars series offers exactly what it says. In any other case, that’d probably be very bad thing. Goblins were, are, and will stay an overused fantasy race. A Tolkinistic atavism. Luckily, Mr. Thaman has put his particular twist on these little buggers, giving them a mistress reminiscent of the good old Overmind. This, in my opinion, worked marvelously. Especially later, when her control over the creatures starts to fizzle out. Different individuals deal with their newfound freedom in their own different ways, which was fascinating to see. To me, this was likely the most interesting part of the book.

On the other hand, we learn of the aforementioned Lady Scrapple through lengthy exposition, which significantly dulls her impact. In fact, I think that if the prologue were to be omitted entirely, the scene of her dramatic rage near the end would have given her at least twice the punch.

I found the city of Talonrend a lovely place. I really liked everything about it. Its backstory is mysterious and tickles the imagination about what might be happening behind the scenes. The architecture is marvelous, its defensive systems are imaginative, and I’d have been saddened to read about its winged spires getting plucked and broken. Great work on the city there.

Mr. Thaman seems to have a knack for the grandiose in general. The war at the end of the book was very, very well described, especially from the perspective of the human prince. It was a pleasure to read.

On the other hand, while I found myself invested in Talonrend itself, I could barely get into most if the book’s characters. Gravlox was good. So was Vorst, most of the time. Why most of the time, you ask? Because pieces.... or rather chunks of her character development just seemed to happen. She falls in love with Gravlox practically offscreen. They kind of win a fight, and the next we see them they are making out as part of some healing magic. Why? I’m not saying this has no sense, but I’d liked to have seen at least a hint of why this was happening. The goblin commander was also very well done, no complaints about him at all. An effectively conceived and executed semi-tragic villain right there.

Speaking about villains, I found them disappointing. Well, not immediately. The scheming lady Keturah was intriguing right from her introduction. She had the air of someone with a plan; someone who was playing with fire yet knew exactly what she was doing... only to die from overcommiting to a proxy battle. I found that not only anticlimactic but damaging to the nature of the character. Jan, the other villain and de facto main antagonist of the book is pretty much a card-carrying bad guy. He seemed competent as well... until the point he pretty much destroyed his own plan in a single fit of rage. The goblin army he and his sister planned on unleashing onto Talonrend? He killed it himself.

And then there was Herod. Herod was a likeable guy through and through. Up to the point where he flat out refuses magical treatment from a goblin after pretty much acknowledging they’ve saved his city. Granted, he might be going delirious from the fever. Or maybe it’s something that would be resolved in the next book. But damn, it is a strange transition for a likeable character, and it occurs literally within a single scene.

Given what I’ve written, one would think that I hate this book. But I don’t. Not at all.

This is a fun, light read that plays with fantasy tropes in a way I’ve never seen before. This, I think, gives it power. And it’s not only that, but there is a lot of soul to be found within these pages. The language might be rough in some places, but the message gets through. The author really seems to enjoy writing this, and that translates to the reader. Or at least it did to me.

So in conclusion, I give this work 3.5 stars, rounded up. And I thank Mr. Thaman for making goblins cool. So the rest of us don’t have to.

4 people found this helpful

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Joseph Mackay

Yes, 5 stars and here's why...

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2019

Verified Purchase

Amazing value! It's free, and it's worth reading. Some of the other reviews make a good point about the content of this story.

The world is interesting and this story could be twice as long on world building alone. It's good and begs for more depth in this book (I'm sure the rest of the trilogy will offer more).

The characters are interesting and this story would be so much better if their development happened over a longer arch.

That is how I knew it was good, because I wanted it to be twice as long. That said, it's an easy, fun read.

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BillB

Could have been a lot better

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2017

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The basic story was good. Surprisingly, the editing was perfect. There were parts I skipped over because of repetitious explanations or descriptions. The plot was convoluted and the jumping from one place and set of characters without warning or notice got annoying. If you read Tom Clancy he uses a date/time/ place line to let you know. Other good authors do the same like James Michener. I will forgo the dubious task of book two. I don't care about any of the characters. Sorry.

5 people found this helpful

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Andrew

Extremely Imaginative Fantasy

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2014

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This book is very fast-paced and entertaining.

The storytelling is reminiscent of George R.R. Martin, as is the character development, which can only be a good thing. It was hard for me to tell which characters to root for - all of them were engrossing with realistic flaws, which really brought them to life.

The author's ideas were unique (especially those having to do with the goblins' way of life) and very refreshing in a genre that can sometimes seem stale. Can't wait for the second installment in the series.

3 people found this helpful

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sls4ak

Good beginning!

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2017

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I received the first book for free and kept checking back to see when that next book would be available. A good hook and memorable characters make this worth reading. Checkout the omnibus edition if still available, to avoid cliffhangers and have a good binge read.

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Mikea

Goblins are more than miners of precious metals.

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2015

Verified Purchase

I remember goblins from fairy tales. But in “The Goblin Wars” I was brought into their world even more than in the stories by J. R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling. I learned something about their culture, how they think and how they work, how they came to be, albeit from Thaman’s point of view. He clearly has a creative mind that he employs to weave an interesting story. Even the War, which does not occur until late in the book, has some very clever twists. Besides goblins the book has many of the typical subjects in a fantasy novel such as a warrior who has fantastic power but as always also has a weakness, a wizard, a love story and a murder plot. Overall this book is an easy read and very engaging.

2 people found this helpful

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D Stanley

Old tropes done in a new way -- high fantasy done right

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2016

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The problem with fantasy is that a lot of it feels familiar. Often worlds have elements that we've seen a hundred times, or characters feel like we've met them before. I think this is true of fantasy more than it is in any other genre. That is not the case here, though. Stuart Thaman has created an original world with fresh ideas, written using a tight, clear style. Although he uses lots of tropes of the genre he does them in his own way. Goblins, for example, have been used in countless books before, but I've never seen them this way.

Similarly, it's no coincidence either that all the best fantasy centres around interesting characters. The Siege of Talonrend is no different: the characters have their own unique voice. What struck me most about them -- sticking with the fantasy-comparison thing I have going on here -- is that they had a degree of complexity to their motivations that I find, unfortunately, lacking elsewhere sometimes. Gravlox and Vorst especially interested me here.

The story is interesting and develops well, with excellent pacing that builds until it moves a hundred miles an hour at the end. I won't spoil any part of it, but I will say that the end, the last few chapters, were -- to me -- the best part of the book. They were quick, they were exciting, and, having read them, I couldn't wait to read the next book. And that's exactly what I will do.

One person found this helpful

Tony L. Duxbury

Magic and Goblins

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 23, 2017

Verified Purchase

It's good to see someone take an interest in this neglected magical race. Full of dark villainy and black magic. Talonrend is the target of two dark sorcerers who wish to see it and and it's people destroyed. Allied with the Goblin Queen, Lady Scrabble, they try to do just that. The King is missing and the regent, his brother is in despair. Something is amiss, but nobody knows what. A human paladin and two Goblins are sent out from either side. War engulfs the nations. The Goblins rebel against their mistress, the paladin fights a monster from the Abyss. All good stuff. Plenty of weird, wild magic and betrayal. Battles on an epic scale. Lots of heroes and villains.

One person found this helpful

Craftycat

Bloody

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book will appeal to people who like very descriptive portrails of bodies being torn apart.
On the whole I liked the characters but the violence portrayed reminded me of the games my 16 year olds played on their PS2s.
So whilst I won't bother with the next book if you love gory films/games set in a fantasy world this is the book for you.

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The Goblin Wars Part One: Siege of Talonrend: (Epic Fantasy; Book One of the Goblin Wars Series) Kindle Edition

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