Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Goblin Emperor

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

19 reviews

literarylottie's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-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

5.0

After years of having this book recommended to me, I finally picked this up after learning the author was releasing a sequel this year. I'm so glad I did. This book instantly rocketed into my top five favorite books of all time. Yes, it's that good.

I think I should note the context of in which I first read this book: I picked up the Goblin Emperor in January of 2021, wanting a comforting read after a year of increasingly scary news. What I didn't expect was how timely this book - at its heart about a fundamentally decent person trying their best in difficult circumstances - would be, or how quietly revolutionary it would feel. If you're bitter or burnt out after the past two years of horror, I can't recommend a better salve of a story.

Maia Drazhar is the fourth, neglected son of the Emperor, Varenechibel IV. Exiled after the death of his mother ten years before, the eighteen year old understands that he is not likely to regain his father's favor. But an airship crash which kills his father and older brothers prompts a sudden reversal of fortune as the formerly ill-starred son becomes the most viable heir to the throne. Bustled off to the imperial court, Maia finds himself contending with a hornet's nest of shifting political alliances, shadowy conspiracies, and a grieving family who has little love for him.

Maia is unprepared, but determined to do his best for the people he now rules. Yet it's his insistence on egalitarianism and concern for those less fortunate - rather than concern for his rich courtiers - that get him into trouble, as he eventually faces

not one but two different coup attempts

. But Maia has allies too, and watching his relationships with his guards, Cala and Beshelar, his secretary Csevet, and fiancé Csethiro - along with various family members - develop is one of the principle pleasures of this novel. Another pleasure is watching Maia always resist the cruel and callous path, no matter how expedient, or how deserving those on the receiving end may be. Maia always chooses kindness, which not only makes him an easy character to root for, but sets him apart in a genre saturated by antiheroes and grimdark stories. But The Goblin Emperor is never saccharine - there are real, deadly consequences in this world, and Maia is not so naïve as to not understand that one wrong move may cost him his life. The stakes become even higher when Maia learns that the crash which killed his father and brothers was no accident, but instead sabotage, leaving him with the burning question: is he next?

One thing to note is the focus on prejudice and racism in the story. Maia is the son of the elvish Emperor, and a Barizhan - or goblin - princess, hence the book's title. Maia knows that his parents' marriage was due to a political treaty, and that his father never cared for his mother or for him, even despising them for their goblin blood. Maia faces both external racism from members of the court who feel he is unfit to rule due to being half-goblin, as well as his own internalized shame of not meeting elven standards of beauty. He also despairs at knowing little about his heritage or the language and customs of his mother's people. While there is enough difference between human and elven/goblin cultures for this to not fall into a tiresome allegory for real-life racism, there were one or two moments which gave me pause and which I would be interested in hearing a BIPOC reader's perspective on. But for the most part I thought this storyline was handled well; I found the scenes where Maia first comes to court and is secretly thrilled to finally be meeting other Barizhan and biracial individuals for the first time to be particularly poignant. The author definitely nailed what it feels like to exist as a minority within a space that is inherently hostile to you.

The storyline that I found most affecting was Maia overcoming his trauma after being physically and emotionally abused by his guardian, Setheris, from age eight onwards. While never maudlin, the author writes realistically about the effects of abuse on a person. We see Maia's history of abuse and codependence reflected in his avoidance of conflict, his reflexive self-doubt and fear of being disliked. We see him cope with anxiety and struggle to stand up for himself against Setheris; it's a pleasure to watch him grow more assertive - while never becoming cruel - throughout the novel. More than anything, I appreciated the message that it's okay to be angry with those who have harmed you, and to want them to face consequences - that it doesn't make you a bad person. I feel like the traditional narrative with abuse in SFF is either a redemptive arc for the abuser, or a vengeance arc for their victim, but the story doesn't go in either of these directions, instead delivering a far more nuanced resolution. As a survivor of abuse myself, I found it truly affecting, and it made me wish that more authors were able to write about the subject with the same compassion and grace.

I should note that while this book features magic, elves, and goblins, it's not exactly a swords and sorcery fantasy. The story is grounded in court politics (themselves modeled on real life historical courts; just try to tell me that Maia's father isn't based on Henry VIII), and focuses on the backroom dealings of political alliances and deadly conspiracies. I never found it slow or academic, but the focus on Maia's courtship and political fortunes may put off those hoping for swashbuckling adventure. There's also substantial focus on the worldbuilding, but while I found the pages-long glossary of characters at the front of the book intimidating, the narrative never left me feeling lost, or like I needed to refer to front material. If you love the court intrigue of Game of Thrones, or the Zen Cho novel Sorcerer to the Crown, this book is for you.

Honestly, there's so much more I could say about The Goblin Emperor, but if I haven't convinced you to read it by now I don't know what else could. This books is easily one of the best I've read in the past decade, and one I'm sure I'll return to time and again (I've already reread it twice). I'm looking forward to the author's follow-up set in the same world, though I will admit that Celehar - whom the sequel focuses on - was probably the least interesting character to me. But I'll read it just to spend more time with other characters, and more time in the world of The Goblin Emperor.

Content Warnings

kingcrookback's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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

I desperately didn't want this book to end. The satisfaction in watching Maia's journey go from reviled, forgotten son to a young man who's (mostly) found his footing and knows his worth is akin to properly caring for a wound, watching it knit back together, and seeing it finally fade. There's a gentleness and a sweetness to this story that doesn't seem very common in contemporary fantasy stories that purport to veer toward realism. Often, it seems as though "realism" goes hand-in-hand with "gritty" and therefore necessitates graphic physical violence and great emotional tumult. (George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, which I'm also a fan of, comes to mind.) But I think The Goblin Emperor is also fairly realistic in its depiction of monarchy ~~even if in real life I have a generally unfavorable opinion of monarchies~~. The bureaucracy is tedious, dealing with the egos of the individuals involved is confusing and exhausting, and the unfortunate fact that what one symbolizes takes precedence over who one is, is disheartening. Such is Maia's case. However, this story is far from bleak. The small, everyday acts of kindness and decency aren't any less important for their smallness. In fact, in an environment that discourages and discredits them, such acts feel like something of an active rebellion, real change on a small level.

Maia's efforts in suppressing the impulse to behave like his abusive cousin pay off; by the end, he is no longer alone. He has built bridges. He cares and is cared for. One might even imagine that he may be truly loved, at some point in his near future.

Like other readers, I had some difficulty getting used to the way Addison constructed the world's naming conventions and terms of address. I do think that the confusing nature had a purpose, though (outside of worldbuilding). I feel like my sort of floundering at the beginning regarding names, for places as well as people, not only mirrored Maia's feeling of being unmoored when he first arrives at the Untheileineise court, it fostered my attachment to him. Maia is also a fish out of water, but Addison constructed him in such a way that I didn't mind letting him guide the both of us through this new world. He's endearing, and so I liked him enough to sit through the dry minutiae of administration and politics. He's trustworthy and fundamentally honest, and so I trusted that the information filtered through him as a lens was relevant. By the time I'd begun to get a grasp on how the world works, so had he. There's a sweetness to this story that I hadn't anticipated, and I adore it for that.

Content Warnings

creadstoomuc's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

My favorite book of all time, and I do not say that lightly. Maia is the fourth, forgotten son of the emperor and never expects to be on the throne. A tragedy changes that and throws Maia headfirst into a world of Court. My favorite aspect of this book is the kindness that Maia clings to despite the difficulty of his circumstances.

Also, yes, there are way too many names and they all look the same but there is a very thorough list of persons in the beginning and the rest of the book more than makes up for it.

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thevampiremars's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

I suppose I’ll start with a note on this book’s use of language: I found the grammar easy to understand, but the vocabulary not so much – unwieldy words like “Nazhmorhathvereise” and “Untheileneise’meire” disrupted my reading, and there are a lot of characters with confusingly similar names. The worldbuilding could have done with a little more depth, I think, though I do appreciate the steampunk flavour (clocks are a recurrent motif, and airships are prominent too). The story is largely confined to imperial palaces, so we don’t get to see the intricacies of everyday life in the Ethuveraz – rather, we learn about court etiquette and the inner workings of the government, which isn’t for everyone.

Maia, the protagonist, is by far the most fleshed-out character. He doesn’t have a lot of influence on the direction of the plot but, at the same time, his thoughts and feelings are the focus of the story. This book is something of a Maia character study.

I’ve seen other reviewers both fawningly and disparagingly call Maia a cinnamon roll who can do no wrong, but I don’t read him that way at all. In fact, Maia can be pretty awful at times. He crashes a funeral to make a point, with little to no regard for the mourners he’s intruding on. He bullies a messenger boy and then feels bad about it, not because he hurt the boy’s feelings but because doing so made him look bad. He has absolutely zero sympathy for a girl who, in his words, “let herself be bullied” and actually punishes her for it. Truly awful. But, in a way, these flaws make him a more compelling character. Maia is a young man struggling not only with unexpected responsibilities, but also with his past. For years he had been the victim of severe abuse, but now he has a great deal of power and doesn’t know what to do with it. The instincts he developed in order to survive and cope aren’t fit for this new situation he finds himself in, and so he ends up lashing out simply because he can, and fretting over others’ opinions of him because he fears their judgement. He straddles the line between being likeable and unlikeable, but I can’t say he isn’t sympathetic.

And while I’m discussing Maia’s moral failings, I would be remiss not to mention the fact that he’s an emperor with dozens of servants tending to his every need while, in the background, children die in workhouses. Which brings me to this book’s politics.

Here we see that common fantasy trope that all the world needs is a Good Monarch™ to set things straight, unlike those Bad Monarchs who do evil. The good are good and the bad are bad, and power in the hands of a good man can only be a good thing. Blah blah blah. I don’t buy it. And there are characters in the book who don’t buy it either.

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.

Towards the end of the book the threat is declared over simply because it’s time to wrap things up. It’s a pretty clumsy conclusion that doesn’t make any sense in-universe. But I suppose it’s not important. Like I said, this is an exploration of Maia’s character more than anything else. The plot (if you can call it that) is secondary.

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.

Content Warnings

sealfeathers's review against another edition

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lighthearted slow-paced

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

2.0

The hero is rather boring and the story keeps getting cut off when it might start going somewhere interesting. Don't believe the genre tag, it's barely LGBT+ - there's some side characters (one confirmed, one only implied) - if you go into it expecting any more than that you'll be disappointed.

Content Warnings