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joecrowe 's review for:

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
3.0

Goblin Emperor has a neat concept but it doesn't really stick the landing. Kathryn Addison clearly has big plans in this story of a stepson rejected from his family who takes over the kingdom when everyone above him in the lineage dies. That his family are elves and he's a goblin is secondary. Courtly intrigue is the whole book, and it's executed well once all the players are on the table. There are really good parts; my favorite is the excellent emotional weight of the hero's love for his mother.

But on the way there, Addison invents a language and fantasy names for common items. I love, love that stuff usually. But "Dial it down a little," is what I thought, after the third time someone's name has an apostrophe in the middle.