A review by penh
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

3.0

I actually picked this book up, read a couple of chapters, then put it back down. In fairness, I am not a regular reader of fantasy novels, so perhaps that is why I had to slog through the beginning of this novel. A friend had recommended it though, so a week or so later I picked the book up again and decided to make more of an effort to bravely wade through it.

I'm glad I did.

I ended up enjoying this book quite a bit, mainly because the author made me care about the central character, Maia. I sympathized and cheered for him as he struggled to find his way through a political labyrinth, while I struggled to understand the language and mores of this steampunk elven/goblin world. I kept flipping to the "glossary" in the back of the book, but it only contained the names of people and places, so it wasn't a true glossary. The author's use of (made up?) names and words was a bit frustrating for me, because I had difficulty keeping track of the characters and their positions in the government and continually had to "best guess" my way through some unfamiliar vocabulary.

Eventually I got caught up in Katherine Addison's world and needed to read the story to its conclusion in order to make sure Maia would be okay. I liked that there were no easy answers or quick fixes. There were realistic reasons why characters did evil acts, why alliances were made hesitantly and slowly, and why the emperor can't really have "friends" in the conventional meaning of the word. All the while, Maia's character is consistent and real. He gets fatigued, frustrated and hurt. He is uncertain and makes mistakes. He gives in to temptation and lashes out. Yet he maintains a core of compassion and idealism and stays true to himself.

Yes, I'm glad I stuck it out.