The Goblins Gift (Tales of Fayt, #2) By Conrad Mason


Joseph Grubb is the newest member of the Demon's Watch. He and his fellow watchmen protect Port Fayt, where humans live in peace alongside trolls, elves and fairies. And now the town needs them more than ever, because the almighty League of the Light has sent an armada to wipe it off the map.

Fayt's only hope is to persuade the magical merfolk to fight with them. But the merfolk won't go to war. Not unless their princess is returned to them from the clutches of the most dangerous nine-year-old in the Ebony Ocean.

It's up to Joseph and his friend Tabitha to rescue the mermaid princess . . . But a secret from Joseph's past is about to change everything. The Goblins Gift (Tales of Fayt, #2)

Right off the bat I can say that the presentation of the book h considerably improved. The way the chapters are split up, & how & when points of view are swapped, feels far more fluid & far less confusing in this book. I also liked how this book thrust the reader right into action. Instead of establishing a new status quo, like some sequel books do, this one picks up almost immediately were the first one left off on, & the move from book 1 to book 2 feels very natural, & fits the type of story that is being told in this trilogy.
But, my complaints about the characters still stand. No, they do not just stand, they have risen. Hal & Old Jon feel even less like real, fleshed out characters than in the previous book, & this time, the Bootle twins & Clagg have befallen the same fate. It still hasn't been explained to the reader why the Demon's Watch is so famed, when in this book they're even more useless than in the last, Hal in particular. A big selling point of the series, to me, was the Demo's Watch, this crime fighting organisation of really powerful fighters, & yet they all feel like a bunch of bumbling fools with no clue what they're supposed to be doing, & they hardly even feel like real characters. There is no Demon's Watch in these books, & I find that to be annoying.
But, at least, this time Joseph actually feels like the main character. He's still useless, like the rest of the Watchmen (no wonder they let him join so easily), but he actually kind of takes centre stage in this story this time. I also liked Slik & Jeb the Snitch making a come back, made them both feel less 2 dimensional. I couldn't stand Tabitha, though. In the first book she was annoying & a bit whiny, but in this book that was amped up to the max, for virtually no reason, & I was just wishing for the chapter to end soon so that I didn't have to read about her arguing with the mermaid. I can only hope she gets better in the third book.
Overall, the storytelling has gotten better, but the characters have only gotten worse. Also, the front cover is full of colour errors & I can't look at it for long, or I get mad. Why is Turnbull a redhead when she is meant to be blonde? Why is Pallione blonde when her hair was described as white every time? And why is Tabitha's right hand coloured in with the same colour as Joseph's skin? That one feels like an actual mistake, & one that's so easy to spot & correct. The Goblins Gift (Tales of Fayt, #2) Book review will be posted first on http://mrripleysenchantedbooks.blogsp...



Picking up the story from the first book (Demon's Watch) the newest recruit Joseph Grubb, and his fellow Watchmen, have their work cut out protecting Port Fayt once again. From page one onwards we are flung into a second madcap adventure as the characters set sail to Port Fayt. However, trouble is brewing from the League of Light - the Duke of Garran and his fleet of ships are trying to wipe them off the map.

The only hope for Port Fayt is to persuade the magical merfolk to fight alongside them, but the merfolk won't go to war. At least not until their princess is returned, which creates a magical split story setting. My favourite part of the story involved a nine year-old underground super villain known as The Boy King. Ruthless ruler of the Ebony Ocean, he is a crazy bully boy who loves a brutal song and a dance or two. One of his star acts includes Princess Pallione - a voice of the gods and a demon shark fighter. However it's up to Joseph and his blue-haired friend, Tabitha, to rescue the mermaid princess from the gangsters clutches.


I have to say that I was so immersed in the story from the start, that in a blink of an eye I was half-way through the book in no time. I really liked the style of writing involving the split story setting between the different characters - each immersed in their own battles and dealing with a range of encounters. In my opinion this worked really well as it certainly showed the many different angles to the story. Packed full of filling, this story incorporates lots of well thought out ideas that keeps the reader on their toes such as Joseph's secret from the past. This certainly turned part of the story onto its head and made sure that the reader took a new course of direction.

Hugely entertaining, this second book has certainly built upon the magical setting from the first book. The author has delivered another high adventure on sea and land transferring both into a well written story. All lovers of the fantasy genre will want to read this story. The bickering, fighting and waves of emotion are memorable parts of the story as well as the timely sprinkling and inclusion of wit. However, be warned, the loveable characters from the first book may not make it through to the very next book. Hopefully this isn't a cheeky spoiler from me - I don't usually make a habit of giving away such elements of insight!

Conrad wraps the book up with a whirlpool of action and plot which will keep you transfixed until the very end. It leaves you with a satisfied feeling having been led onto the subtle path that he has created for the next adventure.

This is a superbly written magical fantasy that is up there with the best. It has barrel loads of imagination, action galore, and a huge dollop of mayhem and mischief. The author has triumphantly built on the great foundations of the first book and made this one even more enjoyable. I am looking forward to the next book to be further led along the path that has been started.
The Goblins Gift (Tales of Fayt, #2) Originally posted at http://thebookplank.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-goblins-gift.html

The Goblin’s Gift dives directly into the action. Starting with a scouting trip carried out by several members of The Demon’s Watch, to assess the threat of the League of Light. The League of Light, led by the Duke of Garran hails from the Old World. They have set their minds upon only one thing, to remove all the demonspawn from the world. How they put it, bring light to the darkness. The Duke of Garran has set his mind on Port Fayt, where humans and the other humanoids that are considered demonspawn like the trolls, ogres and goblins live. With the threat of the League of Light only one alliance can make Port Fayt victorious. An alliance with the merfolk. To forge this alliance Joseph and Tabitha have to stave of many dangers and perils along the way.

I really liked how Conrad Mason directly threw me in the action. Conrad Mason doesn’t write his stories in a difficult manner; he writes them to the point, easy to get into but even harder to get out off. In the first book there was time invested into showing the workings of Port Fayt and the different characters. So there wasn’t really that much time required to recap several things and take this story further. There are however still new introductions in the book and the first were the merfolk, well actually we got to see them in the first book as well, when they were fighting in the shark pits but not how their society was build-up and what they could do. Investing some time in showing this paid of directly. The second introduction was The League of Light, like I mentioned they were briefly discussed in the first book but now you clearly see how devoted they are to their cause. By both the Duke of Garran as well by Major Turnbull, what made these two new introduction even better was that there were also paragraphs that shifted the point-of-view to their perspective and Conrad Mason also spent some time exploring their histories, giving just that little extra to the storyline.

As for a bit of good vs. bad. The perspectives in The Tales of the Fayt are, for me, quite different from what you normally see. Normally you associate light with the good side, but there are hardly any difficulties between the humans and the demonspawn in Port Fayt. It’s the hatred of The League of Light that drives them to want to rid the world of the demonspawn. As I see it the working together of the proposed demonspawn and humans couldn’t turn out better as shown in Port Fayt. I will definitely continue to root for Captain Newton and his Demon’s Watch as well as the inhabitants for Port Fayt.

I said in my review of The Demon’s Watch that is was pleased with how Conrad Mason portrayed both Tabitha and Joseph, making two great protagonists. From the start of The Goblin’s Gift, both Tabitha and Joseph do take the reins of the storyline into their hands. Tabitha this time around is again her eager, and probably too eager self, she desperately wants to seek acknowledgement and above all action. In her drive for this she sometimes goes too far… making bad comments and choices, thinking only of herself. In the beginning of it all it felt like Tabitha would turn into a selfish little girl with a narrow vision of only herself being the best. I was so hoping that it wouldn’t turn out to be and luckily Conrad Mason introduces these learning moments for her character, just as in the first book. I really liked how this was shown in the overall development of Tabitha’s character, she comes to terms that always wanting it your way and even hurting people isn’t they way to go. Where Tabitha’s character is quite dominant, Joseph’s character still has that part innocence in him. And even though he now is a member of The Demon’s Watch he still lacks the confidence to really take action, in the beginning that it. Partly by Tabitha’s dominance and snide remarks, Joseph just had enough of Tabitha and maybe it wasn’t the wisest decisions of Joseph to go his own way it is also for him filled with learning moments. I was again pleased with how Conrad Mason portrayed these characters. Adults and even the children will undoubtedly understand the hidden messages within the story of The Goblin’s Gift.

The Goblin’s Gift is even more action packed that its predecessor The Demon’s Watch, featuring sea battles, sword fighting, cannons, muskets and magic. It builds seamlessly on the world that was created in The Demon’s Watch and takes the story of The Tales of Fayt that much further by showing what else is possible in this fantastic world. Conrad Mason manages to keep the story interesting by introducing even more of the world like: The League of Light and the merfolk. I am eager to find out what other hidden treasures await in the rest of the series. What makes this story even that much better are the hidden messages that Conrad Mason introduces as the learning moments with his characters. The Goblin’s Gift has several important developments storywise for the members of the Demon’s Watch and especially for Joseph. There are now many more things waiting to be explored. The enlargement of the storyline can only deliver many more adventures for Joseph and his friends. The Goblins Gift (Tales of Fayt, #2) This is just the kind of vivid, swashbuckling, rollicking, adventurous read that you need during those dull weeks when adulting has just become too much.

In the second installment the Watch find themselves working with the governor's men to battle against the League of Light. They are vastly outnumbered, however, and King of the Merpeople offers them a proposition: rescue his daughter from the shark pits of Port Fayt, and the Merpeople will offer their support in the war.

It was immense fun, revisiting all the colourful characters from The Demon's Watch. That emphasizes the best thing about this series - the characters are so varied and memorable, and as you read you grow to become quite fond of them. My favourites include some of the less savoury characters, flaws, ridiculousness and all. It's really hard to be bored with Mason's writing - he does world-building quite effortlessly. A lot of books usually hit the pause button on the story while they attempt their world-building, but the most effective stories are the ones when both the story progression and world-building happen simultaneously. Nothing is ever sacrificed in favour of something else - characterization, plot, and setting all come to life in equally vivid degrees.

I especially appreciated the development of Joseph's character. Instead of simply being the goody-two-shoes type character he appears to be (especially next to Tabs) we get to see some of his flaws as well. He makes some questionable decisions here and there, but redeems himself in the end. His character arc, and the tug of war between what's right and what he wants, is something that I think all children would be able to appreciate. It's quite well done, without making you feel like you're being beaten over the head with preachings and themes.

I'm a little bit heart-broken that there's only one more book in this series, because, quite frankly, I could read about Port Fayt all day.


The Goblins Gift (Tales of Fayt, #2)

Conrad Mason Ï 6 review

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