shmaddog 's review for:

The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard
5.0

Honestly, I went into the first few chapters thinking ‘Oh! What and interesting way to talk about your world’ which broadened into ‘There really is an entire world with competing political countries in here’ with the perfect amount of nuance within the relationships that Kip engages in to make this story wholly believable in every way.

I also did not expect to be so completely called-out by Cliopher’s situation with his family, with his career, his accomplishments. Outside of the obvious, we have very little between us that is dissimilar, and realizing it took his entire adult life to come to these conclusions was quite the eye-opener.

I am now off to promptly read every other story Goddard has graced us with within this world.