The Hob's Bargain by Patricia Briggs

Hob's Bargain is a of the fantasy novel that Patricia Briggs wrote before the success of the Moon-Called Series. This book is short, and easy to read. This novel could fall into the young adult category as it has no sex or violence. It has some nice main characters, but a fairly simple plot.

Aren lives in world that once had magic. Any person that has magic is found, taken and turned into an bloodmage. Bloodmages eventually become evil and insane due to the nature of the blood magic. Therefore, many people with magic kill themselves in order to escape this fate including Aren's brother. Now everyone knows that women don't have magic which is why Aren with her magical precognition ability has gone unnoted throughout her life. Only the world is changing. The magic is coming back and the wild magic things are returning. First, there is an earthquake that cuts off Aren's town from everywhere else. This also traps a pack of bandits in the town's vicinity. These bandits are particularly vicious and have already killed Aren's husband and her father while they were farming out in the field. The farming community must now deal with unearthly creatures as well as the bandits. But they are just farmers, so they need help and need it fast if they are going to survive. The village people are weary of magic even to the point of making Aren an outcast even though all she has done is help them. So Aren makes a deal with a Hob (which is a magical creature belonging to the mountain). If the Hob helps her village survive the monsters and the bandits, she must become his wife. Is she willing to make this sacrifice for a village that hates her for what she is? You will have to read the book and find out.

As always what makes Brigg's books special is her characters. Aren is a strong woman that deals with a lot of things, her new magical ability (cause it grows as magic returns), the loss of her husband and father to the bandits, and the idea of marrying the Hob--he is not so pretty looking and not at all human. She must also deal with the people in town and what they think of her. She is a very complex and deep character. I also like the Hob, never heard of a hob before, but evidently in mythology it is a house spirit sort of like a brownie. I guess Briggs mixes up the mythos a bit. She also brings in a bunch of other nifty spirits throughout the book as well.

The plot is a bit simplistic. It basically consists of Aren dealing with the Hob, her new abilities, and the defense of the town. The book is kind of short at only 281 pages. This book could be considered to be a young adult novel as there is no graphic sex or violence in the book. Patricia Briggs has a very nice writing style. Her novels are also easy to read and move very well. I have enjoyed every one her books that I have read.

This book moved well and was a very easy, fanciful read. Would be a great in the bathtub or on the beach read. If you like fantasy stories with magic and a lot of fun supernatural beings then you should like this novel. Of course if you like Patricia Brigg's other novels, then you should like this one as well.