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A review by mediaevalmuse
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
3.0
I’ve been on a bit of a fantasy kick lately, and this book has been on my radar for a while, so I decided to scoop it up and delve in. When I started reading, I was quite hopeful, and there’s a lot in this novel to love. The worldbuilding is incredible, and the visual aesthetics are described in exquisite detail. Despite these reasons, part of the reason I didn’t rate this novel higher is due to my own frustrations with the use of patriarchal social structures in fantasy - so while I may have rated this book lower than the majority of reviewers, I would still recommend others try it out for themselves.
Things I Liked
1. Way of Conveying Information: Fantasy has the tendency to do a lot of info-dumping about the world it builds up, and personally, I find it awkward. This novel manages to place information in appropriate places, and I think the plot makes this possible - since the protagonist isn’t well-versed in court policy, he learns as the audience learns. It’s particularly effective and prevents long paragraphs of pure information.
2. Language Formality: I loved that formal speech was marked with the use of the first person plural (rather than singular) and “you” (where “thou” and “thee” are more informal). It helped underscore the facade Maia had to don when navigating the court, and slips between the formal and informal designated some important exchanges or relationships within the novel.
3. Mashup of Genres: I loved that this novel was steampunk high fantasy. There are elves and goblins traveling around in airships! A bridge that retracts and extends using steam power! Usually, when I see steampunk, it’s rather historical, but it was delightful to see it in a high fantasy world.
4. Ears: Minor point, but I loved how the elf and goblin ears were used to convey emotion, almost like a puppy. It was cute.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Women: Surprisingly, this book does not feature a lot of named women (at least in comparison with all the named men). The world is fairly masculine, with the court structure mirroring pop culture ideas of a “medieval” patriarchy (women sold in marriage, dependence on husbands, women discouraged from being educated in order to be wives, male succession, etc.) and female elves competing against one another. Some of the most important women are either dead (Maia’s mother - who is referenced ALL THE TIME) or unlikable (some are shrew-like, others are unlikable for disliking Maia for no reason). But most often, they’re absent and the main characters are men. It was a tad annoying because it made the book appear to either be using women to give Maia man-pain or putting the task of gaining equality for women on Maia’s shoulders.
2. Missed Opportunity: Multiple times, the novel references deep inequality within the elf empire, and I wish some of those things were brought to the forefront and addressed head-on as opposed to obliquely. For example, Maia is dark-skinned because he’s a goblin/foreigner, whereas everyone else is light-skinned. I wish the racial politics were discussed more, since most of the court is said to resent Maia for this reason. There are references to homosexual relationships being considered perverted and obscene - yet Maia never directly says these views are wrong or should be changed. Also, the common-folk are said to be dissatisfied with inequality, and although Maia starts to change that by being kind to the people around him, I wish more had been done to explore how Maia plans to move forward in changing his empire.
3. Narrative: The vast majority of this book is spent following Maia as he learns to become emperor. This may be personal taste, but I was hoping more things would happen sooner. Meeting after meeting began to grow tedious for me after a while. Maybe that was the point - to experience the same emotions Maia was feeling - but without many personal friendships, it felt like reading a lot of history, business, etc.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in high fantasy, steampunk, fantasy races (especially elves and goblins), court politics, and issues of succession.
Things I Liked
1. Way of Conveying Information: Fantasy has the tendency to do a lot of info-dumping about the world it builds up, and personally, I find it awkward. This novel manages to place information in appropriate places, and I think the plot makes this possible - since the protagonist isn’t well-versed in court policy, he learns as the audience learns. It’s particularly effective and prevents long paragraphs of pure information.
2. Language Formality: I loved that formal speech was marked with the use of the first person plural (rather than singular) and “you” (where “thou” and “thee” are more informal). It helped underscore the facade Maia had to don when navigating the court, and slips between the formal and informal designated some important exchanges or relationships within the novel.
3. Mashup of Genres: I loved that this novel was steampunk high fantasy. There are elves and goblins traveling around in airships! A bridge that retracts and extends using steam power! Usually, when I see steampunk, it’s rather historical, but it was delightful to see it in a high fantasy world.
4. Ears: Minor point, but I loved how the elf and goblin ears were used to convey emotion, almost like a puppy. It was cute.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Women: Surprisingly, this book does not feature a lot of named women (at least in comparison with all the named men). The world is fairly masculine, with the court structure mirroring pop culture ideas of a “medieval” patriarchy (women sold in marriage, dependence on husbands, women discouraged from being educated in order to be wives, male succession, etc.) and female elves competing against one another. Some of the most important women are either dead (Maia’s mother - who is referenced ALL THE TIME) or unlikable (some are shrew-like, others are unlikable for disliking Maia for no reason). But most often, they’re absent and the main characters are men. It was a tad annoying because it made the book appear to either be using women to give Maia man-pain or putting the task of gaining equality for women on Maia’s shoulders.
2. Missed Opportunity: Multiple times, the novel references deep inequality within the elf empire, and I wish some of those things were brought to the forefront and addressed head-on as opposed to obliquely. For example, Maia is dark-skinned because he’s a goblin/foreigner, whereas everyone else is light-skinned. I wish the racial politics were discussed more, since most of the court is said to resent Maia for this reason. There are references to homosexual relationships being considered perverted and obscene - yet Maia never directly says these views are wrong or should be changed. Also, the common-folk are said to be dissatisfied with inequality, and although Maia starts to change that by being kind to the people around him, I wish more had been done to explore how Maia plans to move forward in changing his empire.
3. Narrative: The vast majority of this book is spent following Maia as he learns to become emperor. This may be personal taste, but I was hoping more things would happen sooner. Meeting after meeting began to grow tedious for me after a while. Maybe that was the point - to experience the same emotions Maia was feeling - but without many personal friendships, it felt like reading a lot of history, business, etc.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in high fantasy, steampunk, fantasy races (especially elves and goblins), court politics, and issues of succession.