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er50d 's review for:
The Goblin Emperor
by Katherine Addison
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I enjoyed this book. I thought Maia was a great main character - I liked how he was an unexpected leader but not presented as a "hero" per se - just an unprepared goblin trying his best in strange circumstances - and how we got to see how other people viewed him in different ways. Similarly I liked how there was a real range of characters - it didn't feel super stereotypical or like it was another copy and paste your fantasy cast book.
I found the fantasy names confusing though. The mix of titles/genders/relations/given names/chosen names was hard to keep track of, but I enjoyed it much more when I just stopped worrying too much who exactly they were talking about - usually it became clear pretty quickly. There is a glossary, but the sheer volume of names made it hard to keep checking, especially on kindle. I did think it was impressive to have written a book with such a complex system though, and I like how this contributed to overall the world not feeling like our own (and even where it did it didn't feel Eurocentric).
I found the fantasy names confusing though. The mix of titles/genders/relations/given names/chosen names was hard to keep track of, but I enjoyed it much more when I just stopped worrying too much who exactly they were talking about - usually it became clear pretty quickly. There is a glossary, but the sheer volume of names made it hard to keep checking, especially on kindle. I did think it was impressive to have written a book with such a complex system though, and I like how this contributed to overall the world not feeling like our own (and even where it did it didn't feel Eurocentric).