osprey_archer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
osprey_archer) wrote2014-09-23 12:03 am
osprey_archer) wrote2014-09-23 12:03 am
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Book Review: The Goblin Emperor
I just finished Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor, and to my relief, after bombing out on my first try, I did quite enjoy it this time around. I think the important thing is to read the first few chapters all in one gulp to get situated, because when I tried to do it the other way I gave up in a welter of “Who are all these people and why do all of their names have fifteen vowels?”
The worldbuilding in this book is beautifully intricate (I am continually frustrated by the fact that publishers don’t include maps in Monette’s books), and the politics are interesting, but at the same time, at least for me, The Goblin Emperor lacked the idtastic pull of Monette’s earlier books. The beautiful suffering quotient has gone way, way down, and I feel rather wistful about that.
I also was rather disappointed by the lack of emotional heft in the betrayals; there are two major ones in the book, but in both cases they’re betrayals orchestrated by people that Maia doesn’t know well and already has reason to dislike.
(Okay, and they’re helped by one of Maia’s bodyguards. One of the second-tier bodyguards, who figure very lightly in the narrative till the betrayal, and to whom he is not nearly as attached as the first-tier bodyguards.)
Perhaps, though, I’m just disappointed that my prediction turned out to be wrong: I figured that Maia’s personal secretary Csevet would betray him. Who is Csevet, after all? The courier who brought word that Maia had unexpectedly become emperor. He could be in the pay of anyone! He might have all sorts of devious agendas! But he doesn’t; he doesn’t have any personal agenda at all, in fact. Maia lucked into the perfect secretary.
I wasn’t expecting Politburo-worthy intrigue, but I wanted something with a little more teeth.
Having complained that the book was not the book I wanted it to be, I must say that for what it is, it’s quite charming. The world-building is really quite impressive, to the point that I was rather sorry that we, with Maia, were so hemmed in by the rules of imperial grandeur: I would have liked the chance to get out and explore.
The worldbuilding in this book is beautifully intricate (I am continually frustrated by the fact that publishers don’t include maps in Monette’s books), and the politics are interesting, but at the same time, at least for me, The Goblin Emperor lacked the idtastic pull of Monette’s earlier books. The beautiful suffering quotient has gone way, way down, and I feel rather wistful about that.
I also was rather disappointed by the lack of emotional heft in the betrayals; there are two major ones in the book, but in both cases they’re betrayals orchestrated by people that Maia doesn’t know well and already has reason to dislike.
(Okay, and they’re helped by one of Maia’s bodyguards. One of the second-tier bodyguards, who figure very lightly in the narrative till the betrayal, and to whom he is not nearly as attached as the first-tier bodyguards.)
Perhaps, though, I’m just disappointed that my prediction turned out to be wrong: I figured that Maia’s personal secretary Csevet would betray him. Who is Csevet, after all? The courier who brought word that Maia had unexpectedly become emperor. He could be in the pay of anyone! He might have all sorts of devious agendas! But he doesn’t; he doesn’t have any personal agenda at all, in fact. Maia lucked into the perfect secretary.
I wasn’t expecting Politburo-worthy intrigue, but I wanted something with a little more teeth.
Having complained that the book was not the book I wanted it to be, I must say that for what it is, it’s quite charming. The world-building is really quite impressive, to the point that I was rather sorry that we, with Maia, were so hemmed in by the rules of imperial grandeur: I would have liked the chance to get out and explore.