Book Review: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

I first read Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor back in late 2015 or early 2016, somewhere in the same timeframe that I read Among Others by Jo Walton (review) and Uprooted by Naomi Novik (review). I loved all three books for different reasons. Among Others is a love letter to reading and books. Uprooted has one of the strongest beginnings I have ever read and an engaging plot. The Goblin Emperor is all about the characters.

I honestly could not tell you what the plot of The Goblin Emperor is, beyond it being a “year in the life” style story. Things happen. It is not a boring book with no action, but there is no unifying plot. This is the story of a very remarkable year (well, more like 6-9 months) in the life of a young man.

When you are the third son of the Emperor, one whose very existence the Emperor would prefer to forget, who has been relegated to a remote estate so the Emperor can try to forget, you do not expect to become Emperor yourself. But tragedies happen.

Barely 18, Maia is woken in the middle of the night by his emotionally abusive guardian, because there is a courier from the palace. Neither expects the news they hear, that the airship carrying the Emperor and his two oldest sons, has crashed. There are no survivors. Maia is now Emperor.

Maia, the Goblin half-breed, is now Emperor of the Elflands.

Maia, who has lived his whole life in remote locations, with only his mother, and later his guardian, and a few servants, now must live a life that is visible to thousands. Suddenly, he is never alone. One of his bodyguards even sits in his room every night while he sleeps. He must learn how to tell ally from opponent, how to be politic, how to build relationships.

Maia must also come to terms with the memories of a mother he loved, a father he hated, and brothers he never had a chance to know. He must come to terms not only with his memories of them, but with the memories of those still living, those who cared for those he did not – his step-mother, sister, sister-in-law, nephew and nieces. He must learn how to function in his father’s court, and how to make it his own.

I read the book 3.5-4 years ago. I just finished listening to the audiobook version of it. I still love the story, and I very much enjoyed listening to Addison’s language. The one problem with the book is that I had a harder time keeping straight some of the characters. Addison has created a society where the Emperor and everyone around him uses very formal language, most often referring to people by their honorific and a last name. The honorifics for many people are exactly the same, with only the last name different. When reading the print version of the book, I had the look of the name, as well as the way it sounded in my head, to help me keep everyone separate. In the audio version, I had only the sound of the name, and there were times when I was definitely having to think hard about who was who, at least when it came to the less important characters, ones who only appeared a few times in the narrative.

I loved the characters as much this time around as I did the first time. I expect I will be reading, or listening, to the book again in a couple of years, as it feels like visiting old friends.