A review by marie_thereadingotter
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

 

I think the hype got to me on this one. It was good, I didn't hate it, but it was just fine. I know one thing that hindered my enjoyment was the character names. For the life of me I can't remember anybody's name beyond Maia, the main character. The terms and titles for everything was really hard to follow and remember. I first tried to read this as an ebook, but I decided to switch to the audiobook hoping it would help. It did to a degree, as I didn't have to guess how to pronounce anything, but it was still hard to follow who was who by the end. The narrator/voice actor did a great job, it's just that the names are so complicated that they didn't stick with me. 

 

The overall plot and seeing Maia gain courage to do what he felt was right, in any other setting would feel more generic, but with the wold building, and the kind of character Maia is, the unwanted half-goblin child of the elf emperor, it added a layer to the story that isn't in a lot of other books with a similar plot.

One of the main things that kept this book from me loving it as much as I had hoped was the feeling that I was drowning in the character names and the world building I did feel like I was missing some of the nuance. I appreciate the in-depth world building done in this book, but I also feel like I was just thrown in the deep end of the pool and expected to swim. There was an extenisve glossary at the start of the book explaining all of that, but it's only in the physical and the ebook versions not in the audiobook. I don't think it would've helped, I wouldn't want to keep referencing the glossary whenever a new character was introduced. 

I am undecided if I want to read the other books in this world. They follow other characters, and since I can't remember who was who, I don't know if I will care or not about their story. I would prefer to read more of Maia. He had finally come fully into his own at the end of the book, and I'd like to read more of him being the emperor over other characters lives.