Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

46 reviews

elizas's review against another edition

challenging inspiring mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Death

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racism, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Classism

kylieqrada's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Obsessed does not begin to describe it. I will be reading everything Katherine Addison has ever written or ever will write. Csevet supremacy forever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, and Racism

Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

seforaflorian's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

blewballoon's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

My boyfriend read this book to me at night to help me fall asleep, and it's great for that. If you need an example of a fantasy book with excessively convoluted names, this is the book for you. If want a painfully slow and dry story with a vague sense of political intrigue but nothing too intriguing, this book is an excellent choice. How much you enjoy this book will depend on how much you enjoy the main character. I personally thought he was.. fine? Not a bad person, but not an exceptional one either in the grand scheme of things. I was much more interested in his close staff, such as his personal assistant who arguably did the most, his rotating bodyguards, and even his royal dressers who picked out his clothes. (Notice how I'm avoiding using anyone's name because I have absolutely no hope of trying to spell them.) I think this book would have been vastly improved by having more perspectives, like the staff members I mentioned, and a female character perspective would have been great as well. The emperor arguably does the bare minimum in terms of treating women decently, at least from a modern viewpoint. I am glad this is a book where

"Good" people have good things happen to them and "bad" people don't get away with doing a lot of bad stuff for very long.

If this were a more pessimistic book, I think the snail's pace and difficult to grasp world-building would have been even harder to wade through. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Racism

gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition

The names of the elves and goblins were very complicated to learn, and there was a lot of characters, people to know, political entities, religious figures etc. 

While it is written very well line by line, I think it was a bit too dry for my tastes. I don’t think I could make it through more of the book, because I’d be lost. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Xenophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Alcohol, and War

xvicesx's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was a recommendation from Mr B's Reading Spa, which came my way by the wonderful Rhian. It was an altogether deeply enjoyable book in ways that were quite surprising. Maia was an interesting lead character, with a whole load of baggage and a mind set on not letting it guide his way as an Emperor. It made him deeply appealing, and much relatable, in the way that any of us would feel about coming into a position of great power and being unwilling to abuse it. 

I enjoyed Maia's commitment to being a good Emperor, his willingness to admit his faults and his clever way with people. While he obviously comes into the story as an unexperienced ruler, he has all the hallmarks of a good ruler, and his difficult journey and embarrassments make it all the more relatable. Some very quotable scenes are owed entirely to his diamond of a fiancée, who deserves much credit for her brilliant turns of phrase!

Highly recommended.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Sexism, Xenophobia, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

h4ppycupcake's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I found the protagonist very endearing and was so pumped every time he figured out how to solve a problem. Maia deserves all the cookies in the world. Highly recommend if you can stand complicated character names and honorifics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

ladythana's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Dementia, and Car accident

Minor: Miscarriage, Racism, and Kidnapping