Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

27 reviews

hybridtulips's review

emotional hopeful mysterious 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

Truly the fantasy court drama of my dreams. Cannot recommend this book enough!
I'm usually not a huge fan of steampunk, but the theme is light enough and handled well enough for me to actually enjoy it. A first time for everything!

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Racism, Alcoholism, Violence, Death, Child abuse, Terminal illness, and Misogyny

Minor: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Homophobia, War, and Infertility

The while book is themed around moderate to mild racism towards (darker skinned) goblins within the (lighter skinned) elven society, externally from other characters, and internalized by the main character.

michmoo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

Love my boy Maya - he deserves all of the hugs and blankets. 

100% one of my favourites for this year and quite possibly of all time. I will definitely be seeking out the companion novels to keep exploring this world.

Also, my goodness, just let him be friends with his guards! Please for the love of god, etiquette be damned, my child is lonely!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Classism, Violence, Murder, Death of parent, Child abuse, Abandonment, and Death

Minor: Racism, War, Misogyny, and Alcohol

vivivi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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 is my second time reading the book! It was a long enough gap between my first read and now that I forgot the details of the plot, but I remember loving it. Now that I've read it again, I'm so happy I didn't remember much, so that I could enjoy it again anew. 

AND THERE ARE SEQUELS NOW!! 😍 

Maia is such a cinnamon roll. He's so sweet. I love how he's a half goblin but he still became a good emperor. There are quite a lot of nods to interesting topics in the story that I didn't recognize / see during my first read, but I appreciate them very much. I love the worldbuilding, especially the societal portion of it. 

The political intrigue is excellent. We see him grow into his role. I guess this is considered a cozy fantasy. There's a murder mystery, but rather than the typical storyline where the emperor commands an investigator to look into it and you follow the case and find clues, you're looking in from the outside from the emperor's POV. Love it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Death of parent and Violence

Minor: Racism

pvbobrien'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Suicide

Moderate: Grief, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Violence, and Racism

Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Classism, Confinement, Colonisation, Infertility, Alcohol, and War

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexism

Minor: Violence, Suicide, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, and Murder

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. 

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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

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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

kitausu's review

adventurous emotional medium-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? Yes

4.5

Honestly the only reason this isn't 5 stars is because the elven names were so difficult to keep straight I had to switch to the audiobook. Otherwise, fantastic!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Sexual harassment

snowkestrel's review

adventurous lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

• 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: Suicide

Moderate: Violence and Domestic abuse

Minor: Murder, Physical abuse, Car accident, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Racism

One character's ritualistic suicide is shown openly, involves blood but is not violent.

whichwitch's review

dark funny mysterious tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Homophobia and Violence