They say that every review helps, but some reviews help more than others. Some help a lot more.

Publishers Weekly is one of the big trade magazines, read by many -- if not most -- libraries and other book-buying professionals. When Goblin Quest first came out, I was a bit bummed that the book was ignored by PW, Library Journal, and the rest. But I wasn't too surprised. I'm still new at this, and humorous fantasy isn't exactly a top-selling genre. Goblin Hero got no love either, which made sense. Why review book two in a series when you haven't reviewed book one?

For a while now, I've been pinning my hopes on The Stepsister Scheme, hoping that the new series would get more critical attention. So you can imagine my surprise when my librarian friend Jane e-mailed to congratulate me, and asked if I needed a copy of the January issue of Publishers Weekly.

Not only did they run a review of Goblin War [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy], they ran a very good review!

From Publishers Weekly:

Hines sidesteps the main question facing elvers—WWTD, or What would Tolkien do?—with a wink and his usual snort. His goofy elves, orcs, trolls, dwarves, humans and even an evil tree conjure laughter, not screams ... Hines’s funny bone is sharp and YA-friendly.

I tell you, it brought tears to my eyes*. The YA-friendly bit is awesome, since YA is pretty hot right now. I don't know how much a PW review will boost pre-orders and library sales, but I suspect it will help. Because of their acquisitions policies, my local library couldn't even order copies of my books ... until now, thanks to this review.

I know it's only one review, but I'm still riding the high. It feels a little like that first story sale -- excitement and validation and sheer niftiness.

I'm also hoping that, having reviewed one of my books, they'll now be a bit more likely to check out the next one. But like anything else in this business, the goal keeps getting higher. What do you think the chances are of getting a starred PW review for The Stepsister Scheme? :-)

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*Anyone know what an elver is, by the way? I'm guessing they're referring to authors writing about elves, but I'm not 100% sure. Thanks to everyone who pointed out that an elver is a kind of eel. Though I'm still a bit perfuzzled why an eel would be worrying about Tolkien...