Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

42 reviews

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: Suicide, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, 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 of parent and Death

Moderate: Physical abuse, Emotional 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, Grief, and Xenophobia

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

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

xvicesx's review against another edition

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: Abandonment and Self harm

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

Minor: Miscarriage, Death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, 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: Murder, Physical abuse, Confinement, Bullying, Grief, Racism, Death, Death of parent, and Suicide

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

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

Minor: Miscarriage, Kidnapping, and Racism

ellen_is_reading's review against another edition

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? No

5.0

This, I think, is my favourite book I have ever read. The world is convincing and full, even if we don't see very much of it. The people and politics and layers of court interactions are wonderful and engaging. Each character is lovable in their own way, and we get to deeply understand them. I love Maia more than I think I have loved any character before. I will hold this book dear to my heart for a long time . 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, Death, and Classism

jupitermond'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Death

Moderate: Racism and Physical abuse

Minor: Miscarriage

misty_kb's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death

Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia

r_gale's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.75

Enjoyed this book a lot more then I thought I would, there was alot most about the internal working of a made up government then I though I would be interested in but I struggled to put the book down. 

Touches on serious subjects in a sensitive way, (without glorifying them or them getting upsetting). 

I Loved Maia the main character and can't wait to read what he gets up to next. Want more of Vedero and Csethiro! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Sexual harassment