Early Review: Nine Goblins

Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher

Published By: Titan Books
Publication Date: January 20, 2026
Date Read: December 7, 2025
Genre: Adult – Cosy Fantasy
Source: eARC from Netgalley and Titan Books
Format: E-Book
Pages: 160

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

A funny cosy fantasy novella, perfect for fans of Legends & Lattes and Thornhedge.

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, despite a path filled with elves, trolls, monsters, and that most terrifying of creatures…a human being.

T Kingfisher is an author that I am desperate to read more of in the coming months. I read Thornhedge last year and really enjoyed it and so I jumped at the chance to read Nine Goblins early to offer my honest thoughts on it. I wasn’t aware until I was starting this one that it was a novella. I don’t know why but I thought this one was a full length novel. However, I was excited to dive into a nice quick read.

Honestly, I don’t know what I was expecting while going into Nine Goblins, but it wasn’t this. I liked Nine Goblins, but there was just something missing for me. I’m a big fan of cosy fantasy, and so I was excited to pick this one up, but for me it was just a little bit too wacky for me to truly love. It follows a troupe of Goblins who are fighting in the Goblin war who find themselves in enemy territory and needs to find their way back to the frontline. I really appreciated the immaculate vibes of this book, but I think I just wanted something a little bit more. I just ended up being a little bit bored throughout the majority of it.

I will say that the second half of the novella was significantly better than the first half. I found it very slow to get into. I think because there were so many Goblins who were main characters I kind of lost track of them and then ended up not really caring what happened to them because I could barely tell them apart anyway. I did appreciate the concept of this book, but I think it was just a bit too cosy for me. I like a cosy fantasy with a bit of plot to be able to focus on and I just felt like this one didn’t really have it.

I’m looking forward to trying some of T Kingfisher’s full length novels to see if this author is one I will really enjoy. I do really enjoy their writing but I definitely need something a bit more. It took me forever to get through this book, which is crazy to me considering it’s only 160 pages. This is unfortunately not one I would re-read but I am so glad that I gave it a go.