From the Bookshelf of The Alternative Worlds…

The Goblin Emperor (The Chronicles of Osreth, #1)

Katherine Addison

Start date: January 1, 2015

Finish date: January 31, 2015

Discussion: Now Discussing: Works,Topics

Discussion leader: Nicky

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Dec 05, 2014 Nicky rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, fantasy

When I finished The Goblin Emperor, I was sad there wasn’t more of it. Is there higher praise?

The things other people have critiqued do make sense: the fact that is very much character-driven rather than plot driven; the plethora of names and titles to get used to; the language stuff which may superficially appear just gimmicky and faux-archaic; the fact that Maia is often reacting rather than being proactive. Me, though, I loved it, for all of those things and more. For example, the thee/thou s When I finished The Goblin Emperor, I was sad there wasn’t more of it. Is there higher praise?

The things other people have critiqued do make sense: the fact that is very much character-driven rather than plot driven; the plethora of names and titles to get used to; the language stuff which may superficially appear just gimmicky and faux-archaic; the fact that Maia is often reacting rather than being proactive. Me, though, I loved it, for all of those things and more. For example, the thee/thou stuff was annoying me until someone pointed out to look closer: normally people who use thee/thou don’t get that it’s an informal form of address (presumably at least partly because of the ubiquity of the Lord’s Prayer, which uses that address for God) and so for someone who is familiar with Old and Middle English and French like me, it becomes very annoying to have people addressing their king as if he were their equal or inferior. Here, however, the pronouns are all intentional. If a character uses the first person plural, most often they are actually being formal; if they then drop into using ‘I’, then they are speaking as a private person, among friends. It’s worth watching what Addison does with pronouns, because when they change, you know something’s up. In a way, the conflict between I/we is a central part of Maia’s character and his relationships.

When it comes to the invented language, it’s a little more difficult. You end up with various forms of address depending on marital status and rank, and there are suffixes which alter names according to number and gender. This is something we’re just not used to dealing with in English these days, and it can make it very difficult to keep track of a character as they switch spheres and are referred to in different ways. There is actually a helpful section in the back, which is probably easier to refer to if you’re reading it in dead tree, which explains all of these things if it’s something you’re interested in. For me, I liked puzzling it out, and context often helped.

(From this point in the review, there are some minor spoilers!)

But all that could be there and interesting and it wouldn’t have made me care about the book like the central character did. People are right to talk about the massive contrast with “grimdark” fantasy; Maia is pretty unambiguously good, and though he may sometimes feel angry, or vengeful, he tries to be fair and not to use his newfound rank to punish those who have done him wrong. He has plenty of opportunity, he has the right, but he holds himself back. He cares about his social inferiors and servants, and though he was never trained to be emperor, never expected to be emperor, he gives himself to the role without reserve. I loved him and the characters around him, loved the moments when he pushed the boundary by apologising to them or showing concern, and the moments in return where they took a more personal interest in him. I wanted to see more of his closest guards, especially Cala, but the public/private formal/informal boundaries prevent that; we just get glimpses. I loved the moment where Cala buttons up Maia’s sleeve for him to hide the marks of abuse, the way Beshelar reacts.

I enjoyed that Addison evaded some things that would’ve spoilt my enjoyment. For example, Maia gets a crush on an opera singer, and yet there’s no seduction, no abuse of his power over her or vice versa. When she offers to have a ‘closer relationship’ with him, in a personal sense you want Maia to say yes, because it may make him happy — but because of the situation, you want Maia to remain the person he is, reluctant to abuse his role, and it’s a relief when he does. Addison shows Maia struggling with the role, but never betraying it or himself. I love that, I love that we’re not expected to forgive him a betrayal of his self because shiny happy love or something.

In terms of female characters, it’s interesting, because it’s set in a proto-medieval type world (though the religion implied at is somewhat Buddhist, with meditation taking a key role for Maia) and women are marginalised, but they’re not happy with it, and nor are all the men around them. There are educated women, women who pursue their skills and interests, women who are not afraid to defend their rights, their children, and in Maia’s fiancée’s case, her husband! Even one of Maia’s guards is, in the end, a woman. While I think the proto-medieval-Europe thing can be overdone, and there are shades of it here, Addison goes further than others in showing that world changing. For example, Guy Gavriel Kay’s A Song for Arbonne is ostensibly set in the world where women are given freedoms, educated, political, etc, and yet not one of them chooses to take an unambiguously unfeminine role — we don’t see female warriors, there remains a definite line between the roles of the sexes. Addison blurs that, shows it in the process of blurring, which I enjoyed very much.

When I say that I’m sad there isn’t more of this, it’s not because the story is incomplete. Of course, Maia’s life goes on afterwards, but I don’t want more because I need to know what happens next, or because there’s anything unsatisfying about it. I want more because I love the world, love engaging with Addison’s characters and figuring out her world, and I think there’s plenty more there for her to play with if she chooses. This is a book I’m sure I’m going to reread — I could almost just start it again right now, which is very rare for me. There are few fiction books I engage with on this level of looking for language, history, figuring out customs and conventions. It’s not on the same level as Tolkien, who spent a lifetime refining his world, but there is a complexity here which I really love.

Discuss this review on my blog! ...more

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Mar 20, 2014 Wealhtheow rated it really liked it

Shelves: queer-characters, fantasy

Maia is the overlooked and unwanted half-goblin son of the Emperor of the Elves. Then his father and older brothers die in a dirigible explosion. In the space of a single day, Maia is catapulted from a shabby genteel life in the backwater to head of an Imperial Court he has only ever visited once before. Maia tries to be a good emperor, but his upbringing didn't prepare him for any part of his new life.

I really, really liked this, both the world that Addison has created and Maia himself. I only ...more

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Apr 27, 2014 Kara Babcock rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015-read, hugo-nominee, fantasy, from-library

Nearly two years ago, I read a book by Sarah Monette called Mélusine, and I hated it. I considered it a train wreck of a novel. I wasn’t looking to read anything more by Monette in a long time. Now she’s back under the pen name of Katherine Addison (apparently for career reasons, which is a little silly, but I can also understand why). And not only am I giving The Goblin Emperor four stars, but I consider it every bit worth the Hugo nomination it has received, and I will not be disappointed if i ...more

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Mar 04, 2018 Nicky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Another reread, still a favourite. It’s like a hot bath after a long day, because the main character is a good person — not someone without faults, but someone who is aware that he has faults and that he has human feelings, and tries to be mindful and generous despite suddenly gaining power over people who have harmed him. It’s not really about conflict — although there are several serious ones — or about any particular endgame. Maia just wants to be a good person, and to rule his people well. H ...more

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Feb 01, 2019 Nicky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.

I know, I know; some of you are surely wondering, “Again?!”

The Goblin Emperor is the story of an ill-prepared fifth son, who has hitherto spent his time in exile due to the disfavour his mother was viewed with, finding himself on the throne of the Elflands after the murder of his father and half-brothers. Thrown into the midst of it all, he has to find his feet and become a ruler — one who is careful to respect his father and the tradition of the throne, but who is Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.

I know, I know; some of you are surely wondering, “Again?!”

The Goblin Emperor is the story of an ill-prepared fifth son, who has hitherto spent his time in exile due to the disfavour his mother was viewed with, finding himself on the throne of the Elflands after the murder of his father and half-brothers. Thrown into the midst of it all, he has to find his feet and become a ruler — one who is careful to respect his father and the tradition of the throne, but who is also prepared to make some fairly drastic changes to benefit his people. All of them.

Naturally, some of his people were quite enjoying the status quo, and even those who wanted to change things had some rather different plans.

This was, I think, my fifth time reading this book, and I still love it so very much. It helps that the main character is so completely endearing: despite a lifetime of mistreatment, he clings to the principles taught to him by his mother (herself fairly mistreated by the system) and tries to be a good person. It’s not that he succeeds entirely — he’s unfairly waspish at times, he has the impulse to be ungracious and to take revenge, he has the urge to run away… The important factor, though, is that he works on it.

I do also enjoy the world-building, which is pretty high quality: Addison has given thought to how the language works, to how the two primary cultures in the book intersect, and to the world that surrounds them. She has so many characters who are intriguing, even when they can only be seen in glimpses due to Maia’s isolation as emperor — so many things I’d love to know more about, and so many opportunities to expand on the story (not necessarily Maia’s story). I’m so excited for the new book in this world; there are so many possible characters it could follow, and I’m pretty excited about most of them.

Saying anything else really comes repetitive of all my other reviews, but as usual, I thought I’d pick out the things I really noticed this time round. One image that this read-through left me with: the image of Maia, on the day of his coronation, in the rocky cave alone; the quality of the darkness, the coldness of the water, the stillness of the room. ...more

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Feb 01, 2015 Nicky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Yes, again already. I can’t really justify doing a whole new review for this, but I felt the need to at least record that I read it again and loved it just as much — loved the characters, giggled, got embarrassed for them, wanted to just high five someone when they did awesome things. This book is up there among my discoveries of Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch, N.K. Jemisin, Guy Gavriel Kay… I believe it’s Hugo eligible, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to vote again this year for the sake of this book.

Wh Yes, again already. I can’t really justify doing a whole new review for this, but I felt the need to at least record that I read it again and loved it just as much — loved the characters, giggled, got embarrassed for them, wanted to just high five someone when they did awesome things. This book is up there among my discoveries of Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch, N.K. Jemisin, Guy Gavriel Kay… I believe it’s Hugo eligible, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to vote again this year for the sake of this book.

Why do I like it so much? Well, here’s my original review; reading the book again, I was excited about the characters (as you can tell from my first paragraph), but also by the world Addison’s created. There’s stuff that’s like the Tudor court or Regency Britain; there’s a more Eastern influence on the religion; there’s steampunk; there’s all the politics, the elf families, the history with other peoples that is only touched on. There’s so much going on with the place of women, the place of queer people in the court, racial difference… and it’s not as if this is a utopia where everything is just as we would wish it, but it’s a world undergoing change with some people meeting it, some people trying to hold it back, some people quietly unaware…

I like a lot of the things it doesn’t show us face-on, too. The complexities of Setheris’ character, his relationship with his wife; Maia’s father, and the fact that despite his neglect of Maia, his court love and respect him; the lot of the more common people which we only glimpse by hear-say; the Great Avar’s court and his relationships with his family. While it’s a rich world, it goes much more for immersion than for infodumping. And if you begin it confused, well, so does Maia; he’s been kept away from most of this society for most of his life, so he’s in the same boat.

I can understand, objectively, that this book is not for everyone. Even some people whose tastes I share quite closely. Subjectively, though, if you don’t like Maia and his struggles, I don’t know if we can be friends.

(I’m joking. I think. Mostly.) ...more

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Nov 21, 2014 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

I put this down twice in the first chapter, put off by the thees and thous. Only the fact that so many of my friends had recommended it so highly kept me reading, and I'm glad I trust them so much. I'm easily put off by grimdark and the sort of grandiose heroism that I (perhaps unfairly) expect to encounter when I open a book of high fantasy. This was in fact a lovely character study, and a deeper meditation on stagnation of power. Maia, the eponymous Goblin Emperor, is a good character to hang ...more

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Oct 15, 2016 Nicky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, favourites

Again? Yes, again. Technically, my wife was supposed to reread it too, but I don’t think she get round to it… Still, I reread it, and I’m very happy I did, because it really doesn’t lose anything with multiple reads. If anything, it’s easier to get into, easier to remember who is who and what motivates them, and especially easier to get along with the invented language and be attuned to the way formality works.

I don’t think there’s anything new I’ve got to say about this, so I’ll just appreciate ...more

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Jun 01, 2014 Lori rated it really liked it

Remember, 3 stars mean I liked it! Very enjoyable read.

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Feb 28, 2015 Joan rated it really liked it

The blurb reads "A vividly imagined fantasy of court intrigue and dark magics in a steampunk-inflected world..." Vividly imagined? Absolutely. Court intrigue? In spades, positively Byzantine. Dark magics? I missed something. Steampunk? I guess that depends on how you define steampunk. Oh what the hell, it's a blurb. Although I don't think the characterization (a bit received) quite matched up to the world-building (colorful and dense), The Goblin Emperor was still a fabulous read and I hope this ...more

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Aug 04, 2015 Suz rated it really liked it

Shelves: re-read, audiobook, non-men-sff-authors, fantasy, kindle, award-winner

Pretty solid, fantasy book. Not amazing enough for five stars, though it was nice to have a character driven book with a likable character that actually exhibited growth over the course of the novel, even though he was largely reactive instead of proactive. This is a very good standalone novel (so rarely seen these days), and for that, deserves four stars without question.

I do like that the main character was enough of an outsider that we got some explanations about the world without feeling lik Pretty solid, fantasy book. Not amazing enough for five stars, though it was nice to have a character driven book with a likable character that actually exhibited growth over the course of the novel, even though he was largely reactive instead of proactive. This is a very good standalone novel (so rarely seen these days), and for that, deserves four stars without question.

I do like that the main character was enough of an outsider that we got some explanations about the world without feeling like a big ol' info dump, and the could get immersive at times. World building wasn't great, but was OK.

The gender equality stuff, as presented, actually felt a little flat, like it had been tacked in, not that it was important to the story, but just as a side-note/thought? I can't decide if I would have preferred the subject to have just been left out altogether or not, actually. I think the strength of the novel, as far as social commentary, was in it's race-equality, even if not so subtly hidden as pure-as-snow white elves good, and dark goblins, bad (which then gets me into a goblins vs elves and their biologic race-formation fan-wank in my head since they can interbreed, and are therefore not separate species).

The best side of the novel was in that it highlighted not just Maia's struggle to become/consolidate his emperorship, but the tedium of politics and getting/keeping his power base. Most books like to highlight grand struggles - to take the thrown, to overthrow the thrown, to deal with some great antagonist/monster/evil, this one was just wonderful in showcasing the bureaucracy of it all. I've seen some reviews complain about how this is more of a fantasy of manners, and I can't disagree with that description, but it doesn't make it necessarily bad, just different.

I really liked how the author didn't just play with structures and titles, but even with more subtle (and no-so-subtle) language - between formal and informal language usage and even pronouns. It's nice when you don't need a neon sign, but just a switch in word use to indicate some interesting/important stuff is going down. With that said, I do think she fell into the rabbit-hole of over-doing the use of made-up titles and words that sometimes plagues fantasy novels.

I need to go back and finish reading the book. I switched gears to audiobook, and because of the insane amount of titles. It took me a while to distinguish between the big titles and the actual names. I know that there is a blurb in the back of the book with the explanations, but I didn't have it on hand when listening and trying to parse what I was hearing, in terms of the characters.

~~~~~

Nov 2018

Reread update: I really enjoyed running through this a second time. There is a ton of depth in this book, and it's worth going through more than once. I'll probably pick it up again in the future. ...more

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