amandaterasu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Body shaming, Xenophobia, Bullying, and Misogyny
Moderate: Classism, Colonisation, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Alcoholism and War
A lot of the Content Warnings (but not all!) here are about recovering from the trauma inflicted by the content listed. This is a book about healing and moving forward after trauma.istiel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Bullying
Moderate: Child abuse, Violence, Sexism, Death, Murder, Xenophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Miscarriage, Child death, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Classism, and Homophobia
brnineworms's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Spoiler
One of the major antagonistic forces is a group of radicals – terrorists – who assassinated the previous emperor and now have their sights set on Maia. They are motivated by an ideal called “Universal Ascendance” wherein “no man holds power over any other,” which is apparently “a cloud-fancy” at odds with human nature (or elf/goblin nature, I guess). The less radical adherents of this ideology believe in the perpetual accumulation of power which thereby facilitates ascension to godhood (a real-world analogue could be capitalism, perhaps?) but of course it’s the leftists who are wicked and insane. I’m not saying they’re right to plant bombs but they are right to oppose the emperor.Considering I’ve spent so long picking apart The Goblin Emperor’s flaws and shortcomings, you may be surprised to hear that I did enjoy the book. It’s well-written, it’s compelling, and though there are some aspects which irked me, it’s a good book overall. Though the story isn’t great and the political assertions are dubious, I appreciate Maia so much I can’t bear to give this book a low rating. I probably won’t read the rest of the trilogy, but I don’t regret reading this.
Graphic: Grief, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Kidnapping, Self harm, Sexism, and Suicide
Moderate: Xenophobia, Ableism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, and Terminal illness
Minor: Fatphobia, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, War, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Incest, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment