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A review by shanaqui
The Orb of Cairado by Katherine Addison
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The Orb of Cairado is another addition to the world Katherine Addison began in The Goblin Emperor, set at around the same time as that book, though the events overlap very little -- a character dies "off-screen" in the same accident that kills Maia's father, which precipitates the events of this book... but mostly it's about Ulcetha, his disgrace, and this work to solve the mystery and finally dig himself back out of the disgrace.
Like the books focusing on Thara Celehar, this novella gives us another different angle of the world, this one a scholar's angle. We see a bit of that in Celehar's interactions with scholars in The Grief of Stones, but it's not his world. It's always fascinating to see more of this world because there's clearly so much of it to explore, and Addison's been careful to mind that people like Ulcetha don't speak like the Emperor must, that different classes have their own troubles, preoccupations, etc.
The storyline itself is also fun, since it involves exploration of ancient ruins, a formerly respectable scholar sneaking around like a thief (for the greater good), and of course, treasure. In the space of the novella I didn't get terribly attached to Ulcetha per se; I wouldn't object to reading more about him, but I was more interested in the expansion of the world.
Like the books focusing on Thara Celehar, this novella gives us another different angle of the world, this one a scholar's angle. We see a bit of that in Celehar's interactions with scholars in The Grief of Stones, but it's not his world. It's always fascinating to see more of this world because there's clearly so much of it to explore, and Addison's been careful to mind that people like Ulcetha don't speak like the Emperor must, that different classes have their own troubles, preoccupations, etc.
The storyline itself is also fun, since it involves exploration of ancient ruins, a formerly respectable scholar sneaking around like a thief (for the greater good), and of course, treasure. In the space of the novella I didn't get terribly attached to Ulcetha per se; I wouldn't object to reading more about him, but I was more interested in the expansion of the world.