The Goblin Market
Fairytale, Folklore
Ace
October 20, 2026
Being a changeling is hard enough, but Toast was older than most changeling children when her goblin parents stole her back from her human family and returned her to the harsh, bustling world of the Goblin Market, where anything from your fondest dream to your strongest talent can be bought—or sold. Nearly a decade later, Toast has grudgingly cobbled together a life there as the Market’s guide for mortal visitors. But when the next arrival is her long-lost sister and the ancient beast whose magic the Market depends on disappears under strange circumstances, everything starts falling apart. Now the Market itself is dying. With the Summer Court of noble fey plotting to claim the weakened Market for themselves, Toast, her friends, and an infuriatingly charming fey knight with an agenda of her own must negotiate their differences to make the trade of a lifetime and win back the Market's future. To do so, Toast will have to decide what home--and the flawed community within--is ultimately worth.
The most interesting character, aside from Toast, is the Goblin Market itself.
The Goblin Market is an ever changing environment that is practically a living being. Throughout the story, it chooses whether to stay predictable, or to wildly change the scene on Toast as she’s navigating its rooms, halls, doors, and alleys. Toast is the guardian of the door to the moody Goblin Market, tasked with greeting the unsuspecting guests that find its entry door. Everything starts to go wrong once she sees her long-lost sister enter the market.
Toast is facing one impossible task after another.
Toast is no longer the human girl that her sister is looking for, so how does Toast help her and protect her? She doesn’t realize that seeing the sister that she has missed for the last ten years is only the first loop she’ll be thrown. Not long after, the guardian of the market is gone. Somehow, Toast is the key to saving The Goblin Market. Not that she believes it. What follows is a humble journey with her old family, and her new found family.
I loved the mystery of where Toast and her friends would find them selves each time they took a turn, or entered a door in the market. It was its own unpredictable character in the story, and an insightful view of A.J. Hackwith’s creativity. She’s very imaginative, and has a way of giving you the warm fuzzy connections with her characters.
I look forward to the next adventure that A.J. Hackwith writes!
Kristin lives in the PNW with her husband, and three kids. She loves to read YA fiction, fantasy, and romance. She enjoys a few side-hustles, including creating bookreels/booktoks for authors. The only shows she watches are re-runs, and if she’s not reading a book, she’s listening to one.
