Book Title: Goblin Fruit
Author: Laini Taylor
Date Started: June 10th 2013
Date Completed: June 23rd 2013
Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Rating: Four stars
Review:
This was a really nice novella - nice seems like the wrong word to use, but I'm using it anyway. I actually took forever to read it, because I was reading a lot of other really good main books, but actually when I did read it, it was very easy to slip back into the story.
Goblin Fruit is set in the same world as Laini Taylor's bestselling Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It tells of how Kizzy, having grown up in a family famous for their superstitious beliefs in ghosts and goblins etc, yearns for the love of someone - anyone. So when a beautiful new boy turns up at school, Kizzy overlooks the warnings for her dead grandmother and allows herself to be tempted into the dangerous world of goblins - goblins who lust for girls just like Kizzy...
Taylor's writing style is as brilliant as always. I didn't fall in love with the characters or places as much as I did with Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but that's probably more to do with the fact that I didn't have the time to get to know them that well.
Her writing made her characters perfectly believable, and I'm always impressed by how well she can integrate modern language and behaviour into such an old, timeless theme.
I felt like the story could have gone on a bit longer, so that a little more could have happened; the plot wasn't really resolved, almost like it's the first part of a story that has yet to be finished.
I did like the building up of the relationship between the two characters though: it wasn't rushed, yet it still happened fairly naturally in a short space of time.
I like Kizzy - not much more than that to say. Because we don't have much time with her, it's hard to fully understand her or feel something about her character. Having said that, you do get the impression that she's not the brightest girl - since she allows herself to be tempted, which endangers her even further - yet I found myself agreeing with a lot of her actions and admitting I probably would have done the same.
Jack was good - not the typical love interest, but he still managed to get the audience's approval and work effectively. I feel he should probably have been more sinister, but it didn't effect the story too much.
The pace was quite slow throughout the whole thing, even near the end when we were getting to the climax.
The backstory of Kizzy's grandmother was a key part in the story that I really liked. Although it's only giving the reader background information, it's actually really important, and was very well presented; I didn't get bored.
The pictures at the beginning were also really, really good. I love the illustration style and it managed to tell the first parts of the story so well I already knew what was going on by the time I actually started reading. And the last picture was perfect to say what eventually happened in the end too (although I wish there was a little more detail of how). I was hauntingly good.
Looking over what I've written it seems like I didn't really like this short story, but I really did. I suppose because Taylor has written such an explosive series I'm partly comparing the two, when they don't need to be compared. But I really did like it, and I think it was very well written and planned.
I would recommend this to any who likes short stories about fantasy and romance. The plot of this novella is short and sweet, but the haunting story stays with you for quite a while afterwards.
Image Source: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VBVwa13MjAU/UH2uQnKv5WI/
AAAAAAAAEpM/IgIkaF2O_uE/s1600/Goblin+Fruit.jpg
This was a really nice novella - nice seems like the wrong word to use, but I'm using it anyway. I actually took forever to read it, because I was reading a lot of other really good main books, but actually when I did read it, it was very easy to slip back into the story.
Goblin Fruit is set in the same world as Laini Taylor's bestselling Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It tells of how Kizzy, having grown up in a family famous for their superstitious beliefs in ghosts and goblins etc, yearns for the love of someone - anyone. So when a beautiful new boy turns up at school, Kizzy overlooks the warnings for her dead grandmother and allows herself to be tempted into the dangerous world of goblins - goblins who lust for girls just like Kizzy...
Taylor's writing style is as brilliant as always. I didn't fall in love with the characters or places as much as I did with Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but that's probably more to do with the fact that I didn't have the time to get to know them that well.
Her writing made her characters perfectly believable, and I'm always impressed by how well she can integrate modern language and behaviour into such an old, timeless theme.
I felt like the story could have gone on a bit longer, so that a little more could have happened; the plot wasn't really resolved, almost like it's the first part of a story that has yet to be finished.
I did like the building up of the relationship between the two characters though: it wasn't rushed, yet it still happened fairly naturally in a short space of time.
I like Kizzy - not much more than that to say. Because we don't have much time with her, it's hard to fully understand her or feel something about her character. Having said that, you do get the impression that she's not the brightest girl - since she allows herself to be tempted, which endangers her even further - yet I found myself agreeing with a lot of her actions and admitting I probably would have done the same.
Jack was good - not the typical love interest, but he still managed to get the audience's approval and work effectively. I feel he should probably have been more sinister, but it didn't effect the story too much.
The pace was quite slow throughout the whole thing, even near the end when we were getting to the climax.
The backstory of Kizzy's grandmother was a key part in the story that I really liked. Although it's only giving the reader background information, it's actually really important, and was very well presented; I didn't get bored.
The pictures at the beginning were also really, really good. I love the illustration style and it managed to tell the first parts of the story so well I already knew what was going on by the time I actually started reading. And the last picture was perfect to say what eventually happened in the end too (although I wish there was a little more detail of how). I was hauntingly good.
Looking over what I've written it seems like I didn't really like this short story, but I really did. I suppose because Taylor has written such an explosive series I'm partly comparing the two, when they don't need to be compared. But I really did like it, and I think it was very well written and planned.
I would recommend this to any who likes short stories about fantasy and romance. The plot of this novella is short and sweet, but the haunting story stays with you for quite a while afterwards.
Image Source: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VBVwa13MjAU/UH2uQnKv5WI/
AAAAAAAAEpM/IgIkaF2O_uE/s1600/Goblin+Fruit.jpg
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