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septimusbrown 's review for:
The Goblin Emperor
by Katherine Addison
What the hell did I just read? And how did I manage to get to the end?
Okay, so I'll have a look at some of the positive reviews after I finish writing this, and then maybe I'll have an answer to my second question. I enjoyed *something* about this book, but I really can't say what. The writing doesn't suck, so I guess there's that. And I suppose Addison's world-building is good--this feels like a setting crafted by a hardcore academic nerdly expert in medieval politics and life at court. But... the story? The characters? I'm having trouble finding a positive thing to say.
Boring. That's my primary complaint. Boring and yet unnecessarily complicated. They are so damned many characters, and they all have crazy names, and there's nothing much to distinguish many of them, and most of them don't even do anything, or are very sideline.
Yes, and crazy names--holy feces. Every goddamn character has a name built of title and family, plus their secret informal name. And every job has it's own invented fantasy-world title plus jargon. And every room and area of the castle on top of that. I don't mind a complicated book--I don't mind having to pay attention. BUT FOR WHAT? WHAT THE SHAT EVEN HAPPENS? NOTHING!! THERE'S IS PRETTY MUCH NOTHING AT STAKE! EVER!!
The unwanted emperor whines about how he has no friends? But he can't? People don't like him and conspire against him, but not very well? He's super keen on a steam-punkish engineering project? That's seriously the entirety of the novel, sans spoilers. Nothing else is going on here. The first half is better than the second, much better, because the reader might still be under the illusion that something interesting will eventually happen. (Nope.)
The characters..... omfg the characters. Pretty much all built on one dimension. The emperor is endearing, I guess, but his lack of confidence gets really tedious. Yeah yeah he stands up for his ideals once in awhile, but most of the time he's just pressured into letting other boring characters push the plot forward. And what's his weakness or flaw? (Except that he's unbearably dull.) He gets slightly angry once in awhile, almost raises his voice, and then immediately apologizes? Piss off.
Yeah.... so.... if you like fantasy books where there is no point to the world being fantasy, where nothing happens and no one is interesting? Check it out. Otherwise........... go read The Fifth Season or some Ursula le Guin.
Okay, so I'll have a look at some of the positive reviews after I finish writing this, and then maybe I'll have an answer to my second question. I enjoyed *something* about this book, but I really can't say what. The writing doesn't suck, so I guess there's that. And I suppose Addison's world-building is good--this feels like a setting crafted by a hardcore academic nerdly expert in medieval politics and life at court. But... the story? The characters? I'm having trouble finding a positive thing to say.
Boring. That's my primary complaint. Boring and yet unnecessarily complicated. They are so damned many characters, and they all have crazy names, and there's nothing much to distinguish many of them, and most of them don't even do anything, or are very sideline.
Yes, and crazy names--holy feces. Every goddamn character has a name built of title and family, plus their secret informal name. And every job has it's own invented fantasy-world title plus jargon. And every room and area of the castle on top of that. I don't mind a complicated book--I don't mind having to pay attention. BUT FOR WHAT? WHAT THE SHAT EVEN HAPPENS? NOTHING!! THERE'S IS PRETTY MUCH NOTHING AT STAKE! EVER!!
The unwanted emperor whines about how he has no friends? But he can't? People don't like him and conspire against him, but not very well? He's super keen on a steam-punkish engineering project? That's seriously the entirety of the novel, sans spoilers. Nothing else is going on here. The first half is better than the second, much better, because the reader might still be under the illusion that something interesting will eventually happen. (Nope.)
The characters..... omfg the characters. Pretty much all built on one dimension. The emperor is endearing, I guess, but his lack of confidence gets really tedious. Yeah yeah he stands up for his ideals once in awhile, but most of the time he's just pressured into letting other boring characters push the plot forward. And what's his weakness or flaw? (Except that he's unbearably dull.) He gets slightly angry once in awhile, almost raises his voice, and then immediately apologizes? Piss off.
Yeah.... so.... if you like fantasy books where there is no point to the world being fantasy, where nothing happens and no one is interesting? Check it out. Otherwise........... go read The Fifth Season or some Ursula le Guin.