Reviews

El emperador goblin by Katherine Addison

jayrude's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

nkz21752's review against another edition

challenging hopeful slow-paced

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

3.75

beardybot's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Maia is the unwanted child of the elven emperor's nth wife. Everyone dies in an awful accident, and suddenly the untrained and uneducated half-goblin finds himself whisked to the seat of power, where he has to plot and politick and survive much more experienced people doing the same. All while investigating the deaths of his family. 

This could be difficult, and it is (assassins!), but Maia is kind, and lucky, and a good judge of character. What's more, he doesn't have the prejudices of the court-bred, and builds bridges (metaphorical and literal) that wouldn't have been possible for his predecessors, nor his challengers.

The one mark against the book is this: There's a fair bit of thee and thou and thine, which works okay for dialogue but I found especially grating when it was Maia's own thoughts. A lovely book in all though.

gorejoyous's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

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

griffdog's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

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

4.25

cluttered_mind'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? Yes

5.0

An amazing character driven book. Absolutely the best book I've read in years

ethias's review against another edition

5.0

Reread Nov 2023

Katherine Addison astounded and touched me with this book just as much as the first time I read it. I had been afraid to reread this for fear I wouldn’t love it as much as my first time, but that proved to be a worthless fear because it was just as wonderful. I love this book so so much. I love Maia. I love Csevet, Cala, Beshelar. I love seeing all the emotional growth and love and compassion, the hope and change. I just love it.

——————

This book is the embodiment of hope and compassion. I don’t think I have ever read a book with a protagonist so kind and hopeful with so much love to give. This book has come to be a part of me and has changed me as a person. I don’t think I will ever get enough of it. All I can do is thank the author for giving me something I didn’t know I needed. I will be lovingly rereading this book immediately.

bookwormali's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

mamoru's review against another edition

2.0

Maia is the kind of person I'd like to see fall down the stairs. 2 stars
I tried writing a more comprehensive review, but the more I think about this book, the lower the rating gets. So I'll just say: If you dislike the main character, you're pretty much screwed and I suggest you DNF and throw the book out the window. Someone will pick it up and the curse will transfer to them.
Also...WHY CAN'T SOME OF THOSE PEOPLE JUST BE NAMED JOHN OR BILL?
NO.

Edit: Massive trigger warning for graphic suicide