The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
A review of a book about a turtle being thrown to the wolves
My rating: 3.5 stars
Number of pages: 446
Genre: High Fantasy - Steampunk - Political Fantasy
Author synopsis: “The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three half brothers in line for the throne are killed in an "accident," he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.
Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.
Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the specter of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor. All the while, he is alone, and trying to find even a single friend . . . and hoping for the possibility of romance, yet also vigilant against the unseen enemies that threaten him, lest he lose his throne–or his life.”
What did I think of The Goblin Emperor?
If I were to summarize the book in one sentence, it would be about a turtle being thrown to the wolves. Maia is timid, on account of being raised by his bully and tyrant of a cousin and now that his whole family is dead, he’s got no choice but to be emperor!
I can see why people like this book, this political fantasy is wholesome in its way. I think I was just expecting more…anything. Just much much more. I would have settled for maybe a romance, or a more cut-throat political battle, or even a battle of any kind. It was just so very lacklustre and so difficult to understand because of the massively confusing vocabulary the author invented. The unpronounceable names made my head hurt and there was no map to help me understand things! Sometimes, there’d be 10 pages dedicated to a single debate and all the names and titles and villages and traditions were just thrown around, for the sake of my confusion I suppose, and I would skip to the end to see that the end resolution was so appallingly simple and wonder why the fuck I even bothered to try to decipher what the hell was going on!
That being said, I liked the main and secondary characters. They are the only reason I rate this book higher than 1.5 stars. The characters were very endearing and the relationships made were so heartwarming. The other books in the series are only 200-something pages long so I think they’d be a much easier read than this behemoth of 400-something pages. I don’t usually consider 400 pages to be a behemoth, more a novella to me really, but this book just felt like it took ages to get through.