Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher – Review

Published: January 20, 2026

Publisher: Tordotcom

Series: N/A

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 160 (Hardcover)

My Rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis:
From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes Nine Goblins, a tale of low fantasy and high mischief.

No one knows exactly how the Goblin War began, but folks will tell you that goblins are stinking, slinking, filthy, sheep-stealing, henhouse-raiding, obnoxious, rude, and violent. Goblins would actually agree with all this, and might throw in “cowardly” and “lazy” too for good measure.

But goblins don’t go around killing people for fun, no matter what the propaganda posters say. And when a confrontation with an evil wizard lands a troop of nine goblins deep behind enemy lines, goblin sergeant Nessilka must figure out how to keep her hapless band together and get them home in one piece.

Unfortunately, between them and safety lies a forest full of elves, trolls, monsters, and that most terrifying of creatures…a human being.

I had such a good time with this little novella! It begins by introducing us to the goblins then abruptly switches to the point of view of an elf that does wildlife rehab. At first it’s a bit jarring, though still very interesting because some of his patients are magical creatures. Then the plot progresses to the point where these two disparate plot threads begin to weave together.

The goblins are at war because the humans and elves have displaced them from their lands, though it’s unclear how it actually started. Goblins are mostly just grumpy, not war-like. This particular troop of misfits gets teleported behind enemy lines when chasing down a magician and now they must make their way home. On the way they run into our rehabber elf and they all work together to deal with another rogue magician.

I found this to have the usual Kingfisher charm and humor that I’ve come to expect from all her work. I loved the troop of goblins, particularly the competent and rather put upon sergeant Nessilka. Though I’m terrible at remembering names, particularly from an audiobook, I’ll also shout out the goblin that has a teddy bear on his head that seems to be doing all the thinking for the pair of them. It was hilarious and adorable all at once. The slight level of disturbing creepiness is also highlighted by the mere nature of magicians, who are often rather abnormal thanks to their powerful and often terrifying magic. For instance, the magician the goblin troop is chasing down shoots blue from his mouth and disintegrates people AND he can open up portals.

Nine Goblins was a fun novella that has its darker moments hiding beneath the levity of tone, which is precisely what I expect from T. Kingfisher. The audiobook narration was well done and honestly, I wouldn’t mind more goblin books!