The Goblin Emperor (The Chronicles of Osreth)

I found this book on a list of Hugo/Nebula award candidates and it had me at the title.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 sons 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.Pretty good setup actually, and the book drops the bombshell by page two. I was hooked right away and dragged through all 447 pages in 48 hours. I love when that happens. Most books are a bit of a chore and when you find one that isn’t… well it’s great.But while griping, GE isn’t your typical action novel. Addison/Monette’s writing is gorgeous. Not in a highly stylized way, as the prose is straightforward and easy to follow, but there is a certain elegant tone. This is a tight third person from the Emperor’s point of view and his voice deserves credit for a large part of the charm. What isn’t so easy to follow is the byzantine (and authentic feeling) names of the courtiers. Or the near pervasive use of the formal first person. We were required to use all of our mental facilities to remember the large cast, to differentiate members of the same family by small suffixes, to decode their genders and marital relationships from their formal prefixes, and to remember that under different circumstances or times the same personage may be called by entirely different names. Not entirely unlike our royal experiences with Anna Karenina.Back to the informal first person. Despite these challenges, and the near absence of any action, and a certain lack of agency on the part of the protagonist — the book is great.The world feel is both complex and realistic (in a fantasy) way and our immersion into the emperor’s like-able little self and his intriguing situation highly entertaining. The slightly naive tone is perhaps a feature. The author is quite adept in her use of detail and language to sketch (it’s not ponderously descriptive) this detailed realm. She hints at a jeweled nobles and scintillating chambers. The names are unpronounceable but evocative. The world feels Renaissance, with a bit of steam tech, a hint of World of Warcraft, a touch of humor, and a lightly used magic and mysticism. An elvish venice minus the canals.The Emperor Maia is sympathetic and engaging, although perhaps his narrative ability to gauge the meaning and veracity of others borders on magical. His staff and friends are often charming, if not always overly complex. He tries to do the right thing, and it generally work out for him, which is hard to resist.The author seems almost afraid of action. My biggest gripe with the novel is the curt and abbreviated action (all two scenes of it) and the perfunctory “resolution” to the central drama. The whole mystery pretty much resolves itself in about 2 pages without the protagonist doing much. In fact the action makes him nauseous. Then we are granted a nice long dénouement where everything is wrapped up neatly, including just about every relationship in the book. It’s forced sure, but the artful and artificial structure of the novel softens the blow.The bottom line: if you like the immersive quality of fantasy, and don’t mind pawing through some long elvish names, this is a lovely and absolutely first rate novel.I should note that Katherine Addison is actually Sarah Monette, a well regarded but lackluster selling fantasy author. As she herself says on her blog, “because publishing is deeply, deeply weird” she was unable to sell this rather lovely little novel under her own name, but “brand new debut author” (aka pseudonym) Katherine Addison could. Obviously: a) all those readers who didn’t buy her previous books have committed to memory her actual name, and would never buy her new book because of the ill feelings brought on by not noticing her earlier books. b) There is a telepathic hate list of poor selling authors imprinted in the brains of all would be readers. c) Telepathy is not used, but instead racial memory is a fact and not selling well is an archetype. Or d) genius buyers at book store chains are easily fooled by name changes.Andy Gavin, author of Untimed and The Darkening Dream

The Goblin Emperor is an amazing debut filled with detailed world building and complex characters. While the story becomes lost in the details of the big picture, this book is worth picking up just to see a truly staggering amount of detail worked into a fictional world. The Goblin Emperor is more for fans of court intrigue than Epic Fantasy action.The Goblin Emperor is unique in the level of world building that was invested in this debut novel. Very few books can boast such a detailed culture and setting and even fewer books are the author’s first showing. The Goblin Emperor is filled with different religions, monetary systems, ranked nobility and societal cues. While I would give The Goblin Emperor 5 stars for world building, the details tend to overshadow the story itself and drags out the action, leaving the book with a 4 star rating. I enjoyed The Goblin Emperor for it’s vision but found myself falling asleep at the overly exhaustive nuances of every day life.Part of the detail that went into the world building in The Goblin Emperor was the complex names and titles that Addison gave to her large cast of characters. While the naming convention was innovative, I found it difficult to distinguish between characters. The long names and optional titles that were used on and off throughout the book made it almost impossible to know if the speaker was male or female, let alone if they were someone important that had already been introduced in the story. A friend of mine suggested a more detailed glossary or appendix should have been added, but I flinch away from the idea that I should have to constantly refer to a guide in order to understand what in the world is going on.The essential story of The Goblin Emperor is simple and at times even stale. A member of my book club likened the pacing of the book to what it would feel like if you read the story of The Three Musketeers from the point of the view of the king – a ruler giving orders and heroes carrying them out in adventurous actions that all happen off stage. Most of the action in The Goblin Emperor stems from Maia giving orders and someone else executing them and coming back and giving a report. Even the subplot of the investigation surrounding the death of the King, while interesting, ends with little emotional connection with the reader.I would have liked to see relationships between characters developed instead of the focus Maia’s on internal monologue. His fiancée seemes interesting and I would have loved to see how their interactions and friendship developed over time. Ceredin seems like such a unique person who doesn’t fit into the conventions of nobility or gender roles that are expected of her. I found it very disappointing that we never learn anything significant about Ceredin or her relationship with Maia. .Addison does an amazing job of writing about the details of leadership and the position of power from so high in a chain of command. Maia’s deep loneliness really drives home the separation he feels as a king to his subjects – as well as the gap between age, race and education. Leadership is not always well portrayed in books and Addison shows an intrinsic understanding of what it means to lead men when you are away from the action yourself. Maia shows the necessary combination of inspiration and stern guidance that are the foundations for any ruler. The portrayal of leadership in The Goblin Emperor is my favorite aspect of this book. Maia’s realistic struggle to remain relevant to his subjects and find a place in a society he was never prepared to enter makes Maia’s character one worthy of sticking around for so you can see how his story ends.After all of the work that Katherine Addison invested in creating the amazingly detailed world of The Goblin Emperor, I wish that she would write another book (or series of books) that uses this foundation instead of walking away from her debut work. I would also be overjoyed if the new book was an action story with a few more characters in in the Epic Fantasy vein! There is so much to discover in the world of The Goblin Emperor, and I hope Addison is willing to take us back there soon – just with a little more action next time!

I like the consistency, thoroughness and detail of this imagined world. Very good depictions of emotions and caring.

La portada y el contenido del libro son buenos, pero los márgenes de las páginas son tan pequeños que dificulta la lectura.

The book is a mass market paperback (Rs. 561). It was my first time ordering a mass market paperback and even though the dimensions were mentioned I didn't bother checking and the size of it is so cute! Also the font is nice and big and the pages are super floppy, even if their colour is a bit off.I read the book a quarter way through as an ebook and loved it, so I decided to order it in physical.Seller was Cloudtail India and even through there was bit of a tear in the back cover I put a tape on and decided to keep the book.

For me this is a cosy read. Read it on kindle and had to get the book.