A review by anallambias
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

2.0

Ok, so I’ve been torn about the rating for this book. Part of me wanted to give it 3 stars because of the complexity of the lexicon, grammar, and syntax, but ultimately I have to go with 2 for the following reasons. The protagonist did have character development, but the book felt slow for first two-thirds of it. He often had these mini tantrums but would otherwise display really low self-esteem, which totally made sense at the beginning but not later on. I do understand that the focus of the narrative was the court politics, but it could have been more dynamic and I feel like the good stuff was saved for the end. I found myself only enjoying the last third of the book because the beginning was just him sitting and having boring conversations with people whose names were simply wild. I also found myself craving a bit more from the romance and about the “epic journey” that a character such as this should have - at least in my opinion. I also didn’t really appreciate how the goblin race was described. I found it somewhat racist and I didn’t like how they were often perceived as “ugly.” Overall, I just felt like I wanted to like it a lot more than I actually did. I’m somewhat disappointed. I know this is a standalone that is part of a series, but I do not think I’ll read any subsequent books.