Short Book Reviews: Captive of the Norse Goblins

White Stag, by Kara Barbieri (St. Martin’s)

I was done with Western European pseudo-Celtic fantasy a long time ago, so I welcomed this Norse-based setting. Instead of dangerous/intoxicating elves/fae/fairies, we have goblins. These are not the hunched-over, hook-nosed second-class orcs from Middle Earth or fairy tales; these guys are seriously bad news. Their outer forms can be just as supernally beautiful as those of Lothlorien elves but the goblins are as blood-thirsty and contentious as it comes, quickly transforming into their SuperPredator forms. In short, they’re extremely not-nice characters, they live in the Permafrost where time and physics operate differently, and every once in a while, they slaughter their king, take off after the white stag that is the king’s spiritual guide, kill it on the border with the human world, and the whole murderous shebang cycles through again.

Enter human heroine Janneke, raised in a village near the Permafrost border, trained from childhood as a hunter and tracker (and preferring the masculine form of her name rather than the feminine Janneka). Enslaved by the goblins who burned her village, she’s been subjected to a century of brutality. When, finally, she’s discarded as an insulting gift to her master’s nephew, she’s near death and not about to trust any goblin. At all. Ever.

All of this is prelude to a love story.

So how do you recover from a century of near-fatal abuse? Volumes and volumes have been written about recovery from sexual assault, but that is not the focus of this story. It’s about opening your heart after a very long time of surviving the most unspeakable and constant physical abuse in an environment where there is no safety. Anywhere.

The core of that journey is the shift from incredible-toughness-survival-at-all-costs to recognizing the humanity in another person (even if that person isn’t, strictly speaking, human). At first, Soren – Janneke’s new goblin-master – seems to her no different from her former abuser or any of the other vicious denizens of the Permafrost. Gradually, however, she begins to see him as an individual, with his smirks and his oddnesses. From there comes the recognition that he is capable of a range of emotions, not just rage. And that he consistently and quietly takes actions to make her life more bearable.

Love, as opposed to infatuation, grows by small steps. We all of us learn trust as we take tiny risks that pay off in mutual respect. Intimacy follows the hundreds of daily kindnesses that teach us we are not only cherished, we are safe with our partner. Even though White Stag is a fantasy, the lover is a goblin, and magic warps every aspect of Janneke’s life, the same principles hold true. Barbieri  hasn’t taken the easy way out with instant falling into one another’s arms and all is rainbows and sunsets. The length of the book gives time and scope for the slow unfolding of hearts, complete with missteps and spats and unbeatable action.

Verdict: superior world-building, difficult emotional issues presented with clarity and unflinching courage, skillfully managed tension, and an emotionally resonant ending. Highly recommended. Trigger warning for violence, rape, cruelty.