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A review by mafiabadgers
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
emotional
hopeful
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
First read 05/2024, reread 01/2025
The first time I read The Goblin Emperor, I finished it in a day. I thought that, with this being a reread, I could take my time, get some work done. Unfortunately it's clocked in at under 24 hours and no work has been accomplished. Damn.
You could read it as a political fantasy, in the vein of stories like The Prisoner of Zenda, wherein a person of good character comes to a position of immense power and procedes to do an incredible job, much better than the person who was meant to hold that position. It is a dream of competent, caring political leadership. This, perhaps, is the fantasy element, more than the elves and the magics, and I daresay it is no coincidence that the ascension is usually the result of a rather improbable string of events. (TGE is towards the more plausible end, whena Duke's assassination plot is accelerated without his knowledge by one of the workers he's corrupted, whose own political convictions run counter to the Duke's. )
The book, more than anything else, is about Maia as a character and his development into a bold and confident ruler. Not that he reaches that point (nor should he, given the timescale of the book, which covers—I think—less than a year), but the groundwork has clearly been laid for a long and successful reign. If you tried to list off plot events, you'd struggle to come up with much, but Addison does such a tremendous job of overwhelming Maia with issues that need to be tended to that it feels a very busy book. Some of the most notable events come with no real lead-up, since efforts have been made to conceal them from Maia, and they don't come with as much drama as you'd expect from a novel of political intrigue; this is very much a book about the everyday business of ruling, not about alliances and assassinations.
Since one of the major themes (perhaps the biggest) has to do with the distance between the emperor and those who serve him, it doesn't allow any of the other characters to take up a lot of space. But in a way, the whole thrust of the book is about encouraging Maia to look through the layers of protocol and tradition to see the very real affection that people have for him and each other. The book is inviting us to look at the intriguing little character sketches and fill in details about what they're like, what they're thinking and feeling. It's a very elegant mode of storytelling. Csethiro Ceredin takes up only about a page of the novel, if you put all her little moments together, and yet I like her an awful lot.
And there are a lot of fleeting characters, with names usually preceded by the honorific ([Dach']Os)Min/Mer(rem), to denote gender and degree of rank and marriage status (if female). Fortunately the book opens with a guide to pronunciation and significance, followed by a twelve page glossary. Standard fantasy novel shenanigans. No map, though, as the book is almost entirely situated within the walls of the Untheileneise Court. The linguistic elements are deftly executed, but not spectacular.
Is it designed to tug on the heartstrings? Very much so. Is it sweet and good-natured to the point of excess? Also true. Does it seem to have acquired a special place in my heart? Looks that way. I can't quite bring myself to give it that coveted five star rating, but no doubt I'll be reading it again.
The first time I read The Goblin Emperor, I finished it in a day. I thought that, with this being a reread, I could take my time, get some work done. Unfortunately it's clocked in at under 24 hours and no work has been accomplished. Damn.
You could read it as a political fantasy, in the vein of stories like The Prisoner of Zenda, wherein a person of good character comes to a position of immense power and procedes to do an incredible job, much better than the person who was meant to hold that position. It is a dream of competent, caring political leadership. This, perhaps, is the fantasy element, more than the elves and the magics, and I daresay it is no coincidence that the ascension is usually the result of a rather improbable string of events. (TGE is towards the more plausible end, when
The book, more than anything else, is about Maia as a character and his development into a bold and confident ruler. Not that he reaches that point (nor should he, given the timescale of the book, which covers—I think—less than a year), but the groundwork has clearly been laid for a long and successful reign. If you tried to list off plot events, you'd struggle to come up with much, but Addison does such a tremendous job of overwhelming Maia with issues that need to be tended to that it feels a very busy book. Some of the most notable events come with no real lead-up, since efforts have been made to conceal them from Maia, and they don't come with as much drama as you'd expect from a novel of political intrigue; this is very much a book about the everyday business of ruling, not about alliances and assassinations.
Since one of the major themes (perhaps the biggest) has to do with the distance between the emperor and those who serve him, it doesn't allow any of the other characters to take up a lot of space. But in a way, the whole thrust of the book is about encouraging Maia to look through the layers of protocol and tradition to see the very real affection that people have for him and each other. The book is inviting us to look at the intriguing little character sketches and fill in details about what they're like, what they're thinking and feeling. It's a very elegant mode of storytelling. Csethiro Ceredin takes up only about a page of the novel, if you put all her little moments together, and yet I like her an awful lot.
And there are a lot of fleeting characters, with names usually preceded by the honorific ([Dach']Os)Min/Mer(rem), to denote gender and degree of rank and marriage status (if female). Fortunately the book opens with a guide to pronunciation and significance, followed by a twelve page glossary. Standard fantasy novel shenanigans. No map, though, as the book is almost entirely situated within the walls of the Untheileneise Court. The linguistic elements are deftly executed, but not spectacular.
Is it designed to tug on the heartstrings? Very much so. Is it sweet and good-natured to the point of excess? Also true. Does it seem to have acquired a special place in my heart? Looks that way. I can't quite bring myself to give it that coveted five star rating, but no doubt I'll be reading it again.
My Chronicles of Osreth reviews:
The Goblin Emperor
The Goblin Emperor