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talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- 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
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
ladythana's review against another edition
- 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
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
izzywoo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Racism, Grief, Violence, Kidnapping, and Panic attacks/disorders
pearrots's review
- 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
3.5
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Abandonment
hannan_'s review
- 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
Overall, nice and slow story — there isn’t too much action, and any action is very very curt.
Katherine Addisons main strength comes in her characterization. Maia is such a complex, empathetic character. The way he thinks about other characters also brings them to life. Maia’s longing for companionship, working through his trauma, his developing emotional intelligence, and overall kindness was a delight to read. The most unrealistic part of this story? The fact that he’s a teenage boy (18, but still…).
I do think that there were some themes that were introduced that I felt could have been explored a bit more. For example, I felt that the prejudice that goblins felt in the elven court (including Maia) was hinted at but never fully resolved. (Which, now thinking about it, might have been intentional on the author bc can racism be solved overnight?) another aspect is that Maia learns of a fortress built on top of a sacred indigenous burial ground, and feels bad about it— but this conflict was brought up and never resolved (maybe in a future novella?)
This is often recommended as a “cozy” fantasy. While 80% is cozy, I’d recommend checking content warnings for the other 20%, because they are quite grim, to the extent that I wouldn’t recommend this as a cozy fantasy.
I think that the pacing was nice and slow, and the beginning was super interesting. There was a middle book slump, but a really engaging payoff in the last 150ish pages. The book just takes a while to set up this complex net of a political machination.
The world building was complex. It presented this small slice of this larger world, alluding to but not fully developing the world beyond the court.
I think my biggest problem is that for the first time in my life, I’ve had trouble juggling characters in my head. There were so many, and each of them had multiple names and titles based on an imaginary and unnecessarily complex naming system. There were so many similar names, from people who weren’t related, making it even worse. Addison needed to realize, that naming 10 people in a paragraph— some multiple times with different titles and different honorifics— made it impossible to read. I’d understand if the naming system was based off of an already established culture, but you had terms 20+ characters long, and a 30 page glossary which took up alot of time to get through and really broke immersion in the story.
Thankfully, there were parts where I realized I didn’t necessarily need to recall who a person was. But there were also multiple parts in the story where I had to put the book down to take a breather because the book was throwing alot of information at you at once.
Graphic: Xenophobia, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Grief, and Death of parent
birdofalltrades's review
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Violence, Bullying, Classism, Grief, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Murder, Blood, and Sexism
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, and Alcoholism
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Infertility
ethuiliel's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
Moderate: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Colonisation, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Misogyny and Racism
philamot's review
- 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
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and War
gooseturnover's review
- 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
Graphic: Suicide and Kidnapping
mal_eficent's review
- 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
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%.
Graphic: Kidnapping, Grief, Xenophobia, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Classism, Sexism, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship