Review--Greta and the Goblin King by Chloe Jacobs

While trying to save her brother from a witch’s fire four years ago, Greta was thrown in herself, falling through a portal to Mylena, a dangerous world where humans are the enemy and every ogre, ghoul, and goblin has a dark side that comes out with the eclipse.

To survive, Greta has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter—and she’s good at what she does. So good, she’s caught the attention of Mylena’s young goblin king, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her will to escape.

But Greta’s not the only one looking to get out of Mylena. An ancient evil knows she’s the key to opening the portal, and with the next eclipse mere days away, every bloodthirsty creature in the realm is after her—including Isaac. If Greta fails, she and the lost boys of Mylena will die. If she succeeds, no world will be safe from what follows her back...

Chloe Jacobs' Greta and the Goblin King sounded like a spin on the movie The Labyrinth if you asked me. And I LOOOOVED that movie growing up as a kid (yeah so we got Jaws, The Princess Bride and The Labyrinth among most watched childhood movies!)! And I was quite surprised by this one! I definitely got a sort of Labyrinth feel to it from the cover description but was taken aback by how different the storyline still was and I have to say that I absolutely LOVED it!! May even have to buy the paperback version as this was on my Kindle!

Four years ago, while traipsing through a forest in Germany while on summer vacation, Greta did a very brave thing and pushed her brother out of the way of a magic portal opened by a witch. By saving her brother from a fate unimaginable, she doomed herself in his place. She finds herself in a world called Mylena that is ruled by goblins, faery, gnomes and all other relatives of the fae. She is taken in by a goblin--he might actually have been another creature, but for the life of me I cannot remember what it was. The bane of starting a read on a Friday!--and he raised her for the next four years. Training her to fight the creatures of Mylena and protect herself. For humans are most hated by all in this land, and for the most part there aren't too many of them around.

Greta hides her appearance with a simple hairstyle, that way no one notices her rounded human ears. She has come to accept her existence in Mylena, but cannot help but wish for a way home. Then when she discovers her guardian, Luke, has been murdered she is determined to find who did it and kill them. But Luke's last words to her were an ominous warning, the creature that killed him, was really after Greta and where she could be found. Luke, obviously, never spoke a word. While on her quest to discover the meaning behind his warning and find his killer, she comes across a misfit group of boys, human boys.

I was so totally sucked into this story! Isaac, the goblin king, appears to be a teenager around Greta's age and has sort of been a thorn in her side lately. He has the ability to enter her dreams and shape them to his amusement. And it's the main way of communication between them for most of the book. He was quite the character. I couldn't help but see a little bit of Jareth in him! But I think in some ways, he was definitely a kinder sort. He cares for Greta and it becomes clear in his actions and ways. Although, there is still that lingering doubt that he might be trying to mislead Greta into a false sense of security.

Then there's Wyatt, the leader of the human boys she comes across. Greta sees in him everything she could have if she were to live a normal life in the normal world. He reminds her of that world as well. There's some attraction brewing between them too, and even as I thought it was because Wyatt hasn't seen a human girl in years, he points out reasons why that's not true. So points to Wyatt for that!

Thus begins a difficult kind of love triangle and even after finishing the book, I am still not 100% certain if there is a love triangle or not. Greta definitely has some decisions to make and whatnot and even afterward I am still not certain if she's made her final choice. But I'll get to the ending in a bit.

The pacing to this one was well thought out. It's told in third person point of view, but we stick within the realm of Greta's mind. We learn throughout the story of how Greta came to be here, her hardships and what her life is like now. How she met Isaac and all the juicy details. And at the same time, the story is moving forward with Greta on a new kind of mission with the new human boys she stumbled upon or vice versa has the case may be! 

The romance was minimal, but intense at the same time! During the dream sequences between Greta and Isaac we got to see some of Isaac's true colors. He's definitely the mysterious type and has his own set of secrets that he keeps from Greta, as she keeps her true identity secret from him. The moments Greta has with Wyatt were sweet. I wasn't really sure who she would end up with. I had who I wanted her to be with thought out, but the actual answer still took me by surprise!

The ending was pretty epic! A good ol showdown with the nefarious villain. We learn details about him scattered throughout the middle part of the book. And a pretty big secret about him is revealed! And as I said for the ending it was freaking awesome! More fighting and action that made for one helluva ending!! I am sooooo looking forward to reading more of this series. So next book please! :)


Overall Rating 5/5 stars

This read was read for the Clean Out Your E-Reader Challenge