The Goblin Emperor
The Chronicles of Osreth series, Book 1
Katherine Addison
Tor
Fiction, Fantasy
Themes: Diversity, Epics, Fantasy Races, Magic Workers, Steampunk, Etc.
***+
Description
Maia Drahzar is woken one morning to learn that he has become the elven emperor. He never, in all his 18 years, expected to inherit the crown; for one thing, he's been the least favorite royal offspring of Varenechibel IV since he was born to his goblin mother out of a political marriage and showed too clearly the dark skin of her people, and for another he's spent most of his life in exile on a remote estate to keep him out of the way, without even a royal tutor to instruct him in the ways of court and leadership. But an airship accident claimed his father and all three of his pureblood elven sons, leaving Maia the next in line. From before he sets foot in the palace at Cetho, he has enemies hoping to end his reign before it begins. Even he isn't sure he can fill the role thrust upon him, utterly ignorant of the generations-long alliances and rivalries that fill the vast halls of his new home. But Maia has no choice but to try... and if he can't be the same cold-blooded emperor that his late father was, maybe he can learn a better way to rule.
Review
I'd heard about this story now and again, but not until I was intrigued by the premise of a spinoff series did
I decide to give it a try. Set in a world of elves and goblins and steeped in rich cultures and history that
stretches far beyond the pages, The Goblin Emperor offers a slightly different angle on high fantasy,
centered on one shy, reluctant young man thrust into a role he was (intentionally) not prepared to take and having
to learn on the fly what takes most leaders their whole lives to master. This can be a strength, as the tighter
focus and limited setting allow the reader to more fully experience Maia's trial-by-fire immersion into palace
politics and scheming. It can also be a drawback, as Addison has to spend a fair bit of page time relating the
histories and tangled relationships of various key ruling houses, the political stances of various provinces, the
roles of innumerable committees and personages and other functionaries, and the deep history of the grounds
themselves, among other things - almost all of which has its own long elven name and title and special
connotation that the reader must become familiar with to make sense of the unfolding plot.
From the start, Maia is a young man with no true friends, let alone allies, deliberately cast aside by a father
who never thought a halfblood boy from an unwanted marriage would ever be useful, let alone necessary for his
legacy. His elevation to the throne is a shock to himself and his minder, an older man whose anger and resentment
at being stuck in the middle of a marsh looking after the least favored princeling leads to a twisted, abusive
dynamic. He never wanted to be the emperor, having little but bad memories of his one and only meeting with his
father, and finds the obligations of office suffocating, but escape is not an option, especially not when the
next in line is a boy who would be putty in the hands of any "regent" appointed to oversee the throne. Thus, the
shy, thoughtful, and sensitive boy bearing scars from a lifetime of neglect and bullying must learn to swim
quickly in the quicksand he's been cast into... which he does, but not without some stumbles and setbacks. Along
the way, he must finally grapple with some traumas of his childhood and the people who caused them, and determine
what sort of leader he means to be. Just being half-goblin among elves who often think of goblins as barbaric
cannibals (for all that halfbloods are far from rare) is enough of a challenge, without adding in his utter lack
of connections among the courtiers and officials who make the machinery of the empire work (or fail to work).
Even the first letter from the lord chancellor in Cetho - the letter informing him of his elevation in status
and summoning him "home" for the funeral - contains traps that Maia is too naïve to recognize until they're
pointed out; navigating them becomes the first test of his nascent reign. It would, he learns quickly, be quite
easy to become a vengeful tyrant given his life until now and the opposition he faces from the start, but he
deliberately picks an imperial name that will remind him to seek more peaceful means rather than following in
Varenechibel IV's heavy footsteps. His efforts to stay true to the parts of himself that he most cherishes while
growing into his robes makes for interesting reading (or listening, as this was an audiobook version)... for
the most part.
What weighs the tale down is the very intricacy that gives The Goblin Emperor its depth. Addison slings
innumerable names, titles, locations, and concepts at the reader, and while for the most part one can (as in
many epic fantasies) sit back and let them wash past as the generalities fall into place, it can get quite
confusing when particulars become plot relevant. This may have been easier for me to sort out on a printed page,
as names that sound so similar when spoken may have had a distinct enough look to help me sort them better in my
head. As it was, I'd be lying if I could keep even half of everyone straight, meaning there were several times
when I just felt lost and was letting words go by until I could regain my bearings.
The drawbacks were just barely enough to shave a half-star off the rating, in the end. I enjoyed it more than I
didn't, and could appreciate the portrait of a young man learning how to rule and make his mark in defiance of
those who would dismiss or destroy him. (And, as I originally tried this to see if I'd enjoy that spinoff
series, I will say it successfully convinced me to give those a try; I'm hoping it will be like my experience
reading Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows and being blown away after having a mixed reaction to Shadow
and Bone, though I definitely liked The Goblin Emperor more than the first Grishaverse novel.)