Book Review: The Goblin and the Dancer

The Goblin and the Dancer by Allison Tebo

Fairytale Retelling. 182 Pages. 4 Stars

Synopsis:

Grik the goblin spends his days as a janitor cleaning the Metropolitan Dance Hall, drawn to the Elvish world and tired of the darkness of his underground home. He secretly pines for the ballet company’s lead dancer, Rosanna, but his own ugliness and shyness stands in the way of confessing his love.

When a handsome rival appears on the scene, Grik’s jealousy bubbles over and he commits the unthinkable, plunging the threesome into a river and down into the depths of the earth.

Determined to redeem himself, Grik leads Rosanna and Paul through the place he calls home: but even a goblin can’t be prepared for everything that is found underground. Trapped in the dark, nightmares both within and without rise to the surface, threatening to destroy them all.

A magical and heartfelt retelling of The Steadfast Tin Soldier about finding your worth.

The Goblin and the Dancer is one of twelve short novels in A Villain’s Ever After, a collection of stand-alone stories featuring villainous twists on some of your favorite classic fairy tales. Read the series in any order for magical adventures . . . and fall in love with villains as you’ve never seen them before. Who said villains can’t have happily-ever-afters?

My Review:

Okay! I think I’m finally ready to pick this little series back up and finish the Villain’s Ever After novellas. Things have been a little crazy, so I put the series on pause, but I wanted to read this one in time to vote for it for a Realm Award! And now I’m excited to continue the series again.

First, I simply must comment on the cover. It’s beautiful!! I love the colors and the twirl and all of it! It fits within the context of the rest of the series and yet it’s easily one of my favorite covers in the series. Simple, but still eye catching.

Surprisingly, I was actually unfamiliar with this fairy tale. I’ve not heard of The Steadfast Tin Soldier before, but now I’m intrigued and I kind of want to go and find it to see the original version. So, that said, I’m not actually sure what of this is Tebo’s twist and what of it is the original tale, but I enjoyed the comparison of cultures. The division of the elves and goblins intrigued me. It’s only a novella, so there wasn’t a ton of room for worldbuilding, but I liked the light and dark contrasts and the underground tunnel systems were really neat. I also enjoyed the way each obstacle the characters faced came naturally. It didn’t feel repetitive, which I could imagine a plot like this might since they’re trying so hard to escape a dark maze.

I’m also a total sucker for anything ballet-related. I love dancing and I love that a ballerina was one of the MCs. (Again, not sure if that was a Tebo twist or if this is actually a ballet somewhere…) The dancing didn’t really have anything to do with the plot, but it was a fun addition anyway. Also, made for an epic cover.

Our three main characters are Grik, Rosanna, and Paul. Not going to lie, I was kind of rooting for Paul the whole time XD I loved the limping soldier and really loved the subtle pieces of his character. I’d read a whole book about just him. He wasn’t the POV character, so I didn’t get inside his head, but I still loved seeing how he stepped so wonderfully into his role. And watching both he and Grik learn more about the other’s culture and mettle was probably my favorite part of the book. Someone in another review said something along the lines of this not really being a romance but a bromance. I totally second that. The book felt much more about these two growing than it really did about Rosanna.

Rosanna had a quiet strength and a cheerful disposition. She was kind, so I liked her well enough. I did want to see a little more depth and development in her. But I also really understand how difficult it is to flesh everything out properly in a novella. Some of the time, she really just felt like she was there. And other times, she felt like the bridge between Grik and Paul. I will say this (no spoilers), I was absolutely not expecting the ship to go the way it did. I mean, looking back, I maybe shouldn’t be so surprised, but it felt a little out of the blue to me. I had a hard time buying it and feeling like the romance was believable. Almost like Rosanna’s choice was just thrown in there a little bit. And her underground dance, while cool, also felt a little abrupt. I did like the internal struggles she wrestled with, though. If this had been a novel, I imagine both she and Paul would have had a little more room to dig deeper, a little more development.

And Grik. Grik. Grik. Grik. This poor goblin. In some ways, this story and these characters are so simple, and there’s a beauty to that simplicity. Grik dealt with a few rash decisions, but it was really fun to see him respond to what he’d done. I felt like that showed a deeper part of his character, which I enjoyed. He wrestled with wanting the approval of others so badly, wanting to fit in and find acceptance. I could relate to that struggle. But he had almost no sense of self-worth and he beat himself up to the point that I got tired of hearing him. He clearly dealt with guilt and fear and insecurity, but it was explicitly stated so many times that I got the point very quickly and was ready to move on. I liked that he was a goblin and I liked how he got them into the mess and worked so hard to get them out. I liked the leadership struggle between him and Paul and I liked how they each had to come to terms with one another’s strengths, weaknesses, and pre-conceived notions. And I really liked the ending.

I’m conflicted about how I feel about the themes of this story. On one hand, they’re beautiful truths and we need more books like this! We need books that uplift and encourage. Books that look at the hard choices and mistakes we make and show us the hope on the other side. We need fiction that shows truth. And Grik’s struggle is such a relatable one, on many levels. But I also really didn’t love having the thematic point stated outright over and over. I wanted to experience a story, draw my own conclusions, cheer and root for the character growth. And some of this growth just felt predictable because I saw exactly where the thematic point was going. A noble cause, but not the most effective implementation in my opinion.

It’s a quick read, an easy one. It has a fun little plot with some funny and relatable characters, even if a little underdeveloped. Thematically, it has a beautiful, wholesome message. I enjoyed the book, despite some of the disappointments. I’d be curious to see how the author handles a longer story and if some of these issues were just due to the difficulty of writing a novella-length project.

The story is squeaky clean. No foul language, and a very little fantasy violence, nothing graphic. In terms of the romance, the main character does pine for a girl and compete for her attention, but it’s clean. Nothing more than a kiss. Thematically, the point is really uplifting and kind, but the main character does beat himself up quite a bit and think very, very poorly of himself through a large portion of the book and he does make a few not so selfless decisions. It could present opportunities for conversations, but honestly, I’d be fine giving this book to just about any reader. Maybe 10+

Note: a sweet friend of mine won this in a giveaway from the author and gifted it to me because I was so excited about it and she already had a copy. So, thank you to my sweet friend <3 You’re the best! And to the author for both the giveaway and allowing my friend to give it to me instead.

A Villain’s Ever After Book 1 is The Beast and the Enchantress (3 Stars)

Book 2 is The Sultan and the Storyteller (4 Stars)

Book 3 is Bluebeard and the Outlaw (5 Stars)

Book 4 is The Stepsister and the Slipper (4 Stars)

Book 5 is The Goblin and the Dancer (4 Stars)

Book 6 is Hansel and the Gingerbread Queen (5 Stars)

Book 7 is The Dark King and the Eternal Dance (4 Stars)

Book 8 is Gothel and the Maiden Prince (4 Stars)

Book 9 is The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess (3 Stars)

Book 10 is The Baker and the Wolf (4 Stars)

Book 11 is The Prince and the Sea Witch (5 Stars)

Book 12 is Carabosse and the Spindle Spell (5 Stars)