The Goblin Corps

Product Information

d20, and 4E), supplements for White Wolf’s Vampire, the Masquerade, and other gaming publications, has created a fantasy novel turned inside out. It’s a wonderful way to deconstruct High Fantasy, usually by showing that the “villains” aren’t as evil as they appear. The Goblin Corps is must-read material for anyone who is a fan of Joe Abercrombie and likes seeing fantasy tropes viciously subverted. The overall story is really a series of Demon Squad adventures, tied loosely together by the pending "final" showdown between good and evil. Er rekrutiert die fiesesten, brutalsten und erbarmungslosesten Kämpfer und erteilt ihnen Sonderaufträge, die seinen Sieg sichern sollen.

The source of said hilarity are the main characters, an “elite” group of goblinesque creatures formed by the evil Charnel King for a special mission: there’s a troll, a kobold, an orc, a gremlin, a shapeshifter, an ogre, and a bugbear. There are a bunch of those stories out there, and you can find some of those elements here (the focus is, after all, on the bad guys, and some of them are likeable).

An orcish stronghold, that sprawling settlement—like its twin, Tarahk Grond, so many leagues nearer the Iron Keep—was one of the largest nonhuman cities within the Dark Lord's kingdom. Nothing knocks me out of the fantasy headspace an author is creating for me faster than having a word pop up which has no place in that world setting. I will follow behind, once these louts—" And here he took a moment to kick at a smaller orc who was gathering his gear too slowly for Berrat's taste. The gremlin drew himself up into the closest approximation of a military stance that his present condition would allow.

It was frustrating to have such vividness in a background setting, and then to have these cardboard main characters acting in front of it. Leathery flesh, only partially re-formed from the damage Ananias duMark had inflicted, was twisted into a grimace of equal parts anger, boredom, and dejection. No, the Charnel King still has a few tricks up his putrid and tattered sleeves, and the only thing that can defeat him now. Vielleicht wäre er gut beraten gewesen, aus seinen Ideen keinen Roman zu konzipieren, sondern eine zusammenhängende Kurzgeschichtensammlung, denn mir erschien „Die Horde“ ohnehin episodisch. Ich hoffte auf eine witzige, erfrischende Lektüre, die mit den Klischees des Genres selbstironisch spielt.Like Abercrombie, Marmell puts his own twist on fantasy tropes, and like Martin he is unforgiving with the lives of his characters, but though his narrative decisions resemble these two's somewhat, at the end of the day it's difficult to peg his writing down as similar to either of them. Ich bin ein großer Fan davon, die traditionell „bösen“ Völker der Fantasy in den Mittelpunkt zu stellen und sie als Helden zu inszenieren. To be clear, The Goblin Corps is no perfect book, but for the simple aims Marmell seems to have to set out for himself - namely revisiting familiar tropes with a grittier, modern outlook and a good dose - he clearly achieves his goal. Smooth read with a plot that allowed you to lose yourself in the interactions of folks from the "dark side".

The faces embossed in the marble of the throne—dozens of hideous expressions, screaming in agony—looked far more alive than he. I think I have a copy of the first Orcs book somewhere, so maybe I'll get to it someday :) Thanks for the heads up regarding The Last Ring! Over a ton of orc dashed through the trees, sending small (and not so small) animals scurrying out of their path. Even the good wizard who fights against the lich-king, the half-elf Anunias duMark, has some great scenes, but all of these characters are really sort of NPCs in the background – but they overshadow the demon squad in The Goblin Corps.The tone is light without falling into farce, and there are nods to fantasy cliches scattered throughout. Es fühlte sich an, als handle es sich bloß um die Vorgeschichte der Geschichte, die er eigentlich erzählen wollte.