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mal_eficent's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
If you enjoy stories that just follow a character through their life in a fantasy world, whether it's full of adventure or not, this will scratch that itch for you in the most satisfying way. I wouldn't consider this a character driven story (Maia doesn't quite have enough agency for his choices to be driving the plot) but it's almost entirely character focussed. Which means unless you're really into the details, this might feel like it the story is slow and meandering–especially as the writing is slightly formal to match the expectations of court life. The narrative warms as Maia finds his place, and if the coldness of the beginning puts you off I'd recommend sticking with it to see the change.
What plot there is isn't hugely complicated or action filled–even when it gets fully into the politics–but it is thorough look. Every aspect of life as an Emperor is considered and addressed, and Maia is the perspective we learn everything about this world through. The world building is excellently paced and explained. Information is there precisely when the story needs it without overwhelming the narrative.
Except the information at the beginning of the book. There's a couple of pages explaining the naming systems, court addresses, and pronunciation (presented as an in world travel guide). Since I started with the audiobook I didn't realise it was there, and was a little confused for the earlier part of the narrative as it introduced a ton of characters with 'the same name' but never explained why. Turns out I was confusing the 'Sir and Madam' of this world for names. So, bear in mind if you're starting audio first you'll be missing some information - and about five pages of chapter 30, which are just missing. The pay off is that the narrator, Kyle McCarley, is fantastic. His accent and cadence suits the formal setting of the world immeasurably, and the voices he gives each character makes them come alive off the page. Even Maia's speaking voice or direct thoughts sound slightly different to plain narration.
If you enjoy works like Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy, Tamora Pierce's Tortall books, Chris Bunch's Dragon Master series, or even Game of Thrones (though this is much 'simpler'), then I'd recommend Goblin Emperor 100%.
What plot there is isn't hugely complicated or action filled–even when it gets fully into the politics–but it is thorough look. Every aspect of life as an Emperor is considered and addressed, and Maia is the perspective we learn everything about this world through. The world building is excellently paced and explained. Information is there precisely when the story needs it without overwhelming the narrative.
Except the information at the beginning of the book. There's a couple of pages explaining the naming systems, court addresses, and pronunciation (presented as an in world travel guide). Since I started with the audiobook I didn't realise it was there, and was a little confused for the earlier part of the narrative as it introduced a ton of characters with 'the same name' but never explained why. Turns out I was confusing the 'Sir and Madam' of this world for names. So, bear in mind if you're starting audio first you'll be missing some information - and about five pages of chapter 30, which are just missing. The pay off is that the narrator, Kyle McCarley, is fantastic. His accent and cadence suits the formal setting of the world immeasurably, and the voices he gives each character makes them come alive off the page. Even Maia's speaking voice or direct thoughts sound slightly different to plain narration.
If you enjoy works like Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy, Tamora Pierce's Tortall books, Chris Bunch's Dragon Master series, or even Game of Thrones (though this is much 'simpler'), then I'd recommend Goblin Emperor 100%.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Grief, Xenophobia, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Classism, Sexism, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
walkie_check's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, and Suicide
Moderate: Kidnapping, Abandonment, Child abuse, Bullying, Racism, Classism, and Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Abandonment, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Classism, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and Death
maecave15's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Car accident, Death of parent, Bullying, Classism, and Grief
Minor: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, and Physical abuse
onironic's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
tense
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? No
5.0
I listened to this with a mid-quality screen-reader and I had no problems following it, except for some confusion between who was who in a couple minor characters with similar sounding names. Nothing that caused any major problems understanding what was happening, though. I'll admit though, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it when the very first thing I heard was a five minute list of names, but I am SO glad I stuck it out. I feel like any way I could talk about this book wouldn't do it justice. On the surface, it maybe doesn't sound like it should be as interesting as it is. It's very politics-heavy and takes place nearly entirely in just a few rooms. The story is in the intricacies of the court and politics, and the world-building, all fleshed out by the amazing cast of characters and the slightly unorthodox found family plot that builds throughout the book. Very, very dark things happen, but the purpose of the book isn't to be edgy or to ride realism straight into the ground. It's about people being people, in the worst and best ways. It's hopeful. It's about how important it is to be kind, even when it's hard, and to listen, and to care. I don't regret reading this book at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Suicide, Classism, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Alcohol
Minor: Homophobia, Sexual harassment, and Violence
istiel's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
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
booksthatburn's review against another edition
It begins with an ableist and classist comment which was wholly unnecessary, and then didn’t manage to hook me after.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent, Child death, Death, Racism, Classism, and Ableism
kingcrookback's review against another edition
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.
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
Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Classism
starlit_pathways's review
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Child abuse, Xenophobia, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, War, and Classism
Minor: Torture and Suicide
brnineworms's review against another edition
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
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
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