The Hob’s Bargain by Patricia Briggs, A Review
Patricia Briggs fourth book departs from her previous Sianim series of novels and presents a stand alone tale set in a new fantasy world. Eschewing the trappings of standard fantasy, Briggs this time presents us with a world inhabited by creatures that bare a close relation to those in many real world folk tales. The result is a world that feels at once familiar and different.
When wild magic begins to re-awaken and her village is threatened both by human raiders and strange fairy creatures that the villagers don’t understand, Aren of Fallbrook asks the Hob for help. The hob, a magical humanoid creature who serves the local mountain, offers to help defend the village of Fallbrook, but there is a price and it’s a price that Aren will have to pay.
This may be the most polished of Briggs books that I’ve reviewed so far. While she has always been good about giving us central characters with depth, her secondary characters have tended to be paper thin. This time out though even the minor characters seem to have a personality and each of them has their own aims as the story progresses.
The romance here (and like her previous works this is definitely a romance book) is very subdued. While it is a central part of the plot, neither of the characters involved could be described as actively courting or flirting with each other. Instead we are presented with two people who over time come to accept and admire each other. It’s a pleasantly different approach to the usual romance plot.
While reading the book though, I couldn’t help but think that the story was just meandering along. The character of Aren is understandably directionless early in the book, but even after she finds her purpose and focus, she remains a very passive character.
While I can understand a person like that (I’m probably quite passive myself in many ways), it doesn’t make for a particularly compelling heroine. And that’s a real shame because the character is very likeable. But her passivity seems to infect the story and when I arrived at the conclusion of the book my reaction was surprise because it didn’t feel as though the story was quite finished.
The final confrontation seemed almost forced, coming out of nowhere and tidly wrapping up several plot elements all in one single encounter.
But once again, I am quibbling. The book was a thoroughly entertaining read and I suspect my biggest disappointment on reaching the end was simply that there’s wasn’t more to read.
For more about this author see Authors I Enjoy - Patricia Briggs.
Eoghann Irving is amongst other things the creator and Editor of Solar Flare. He has a life long interest in all forms of science fiction and fantasy and a pressing need to share this interest with anyone who will listen. Find out more at his personal website eoghann.com..
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