The Goblin Emperor

Despiertas y plaf te toca encabezar un imperio, tú el cuarto hijo, el relegado, cuasi-exiliado. Nadie esperaba que te tocaría, cualquiera de los otros iba antes, pero así es cuando se mueren todos en un accidente.

Por lo tanto todo es duda y sorpresa, pero cual diplomático japonés te toca ocultar todo estado emocional, ser ilegible conviene a los intereses del imperio. No ayuda que tienes orejas, pues eres un goblin, una raza más oscura de elfo.

En esto ayuda tu inocencia: el imperio no te interesa más que como estructura de poder para ayudar a tu gente. Pronto se nota que no eres como el previo emperador, como los previos: tienes otra sensibilidad, te interesas por todos.

Es que tu guardián hasta ayer era tu primo que te odiaba y maltrataba. Por eso tu capacidad refinada de sentir el dolor ajeno. Por eso serás otro tipo de emperador, nomás tienes que creertela.

En este punto la novela nos ha impulsado a reflexiones interesantes, acerca de El Poder, de los vínculos entre monoteiso y monarquía, de la vida interior y cómo se gobierna como se es.

¡Y apenas va construyendo el mundo! De ahí vienen como tres diferentes puntos de inflexión, cada uno complica la trama, arrecia la crisis, acelera la narrativa. Todo aderezado con dos o tres sub-tramas que construyen al personaje central y a sus cuates y a sus adversarios.

Ahora que trato de reconstruirlos en mi mente me doy cuenta de que cada arco narrativo va trenzado con los demás, justo como se peinaría una elfa cantante de ópera.

En suma: recomendable fantasía para lectores receptivos.

I’ve put off reading Addison’s Goblin Emperor a long time; I had heard it was lovely, but also disjointed and inconclusive. It’s taken the book’s inclusion in a list of Becky Chamberesque “novels where people are nice to each other” for me to finally take the plunge, and the only thing I regret is I didn’t do so much earlier.

I can see how people have a hard time adjusting to this novel: the intricate, Elven steampunk world it builds and the high stakes court setting seem to promise things the novel never tries to hold itself to. Instead, we are treated to the story of a young man who, motherless at an early age, despised by his cold and all powerful father who banished him to the shticks at the hands of a violently abusive tutor, finds himself on the throne. Faced with the barely hidden contempt of the court, ridiculed for his mixed ethnic origin, alienated from simple social contact by his exalted position, the new emperor slowly, quietly turns things around by repaying contempt with empathy, hate with forgiveness, coldness with kindness.

If you do not like your Fantasy to suggest people might not be unconditional products of the world they live in; if you prefer characters to have no moral autonomy; if, simply put, the idea that people, even the most powerful ones, might aspire to do better, is one you disagree with, stay away from the Goblin Emperor. I, for one, know that, of the things I heard about the novel, only “lovely” is true, and that is selling it short.

The Goblin Emperor is a delightfully refreshing fantasy novel replete with rich world building and a unique backdrop of gender and racial division that paints a poignant image of our own world’s challenges. Maia, the protagonist of mixed Elven and Goblin descent, becomes emperor when his father - who never communicates with him - and brothers are assassinated. Maia’s life is clearly in peril, the more so because he comes to court unacquainted with the political movers and shakers.

Rather than give spoilers I will concentrate on what I found rewarding about the story. First, Maia is a wonderful character with whom the reader becomes enchanted. It’s not the cute ear movement or his trustworthy nature (he is not naive because his cousin has been cruel to him since his mother died, guaranteeing that he knows everyone despises him for his goblin nature). No, the best part of Maia is his heart and faith in getting good outcomes by being just. Whether it’s entertaining the designs of engineers or his treatment of the other heirs, Maia has an excellent moral compass. Simply put, he needs a good heart more than cruel calculating mind to navigate the tricky political waters.

Another thing I loved in the story that will probably make many tear their hair out is the richness of the constructed language and the other aspects of the world building. It’s a unique place. There are elements of steampunk mixed with decidedly “low” high fantasy with blurry lines between intermarrying elves and goblins. The reader might assume (this one did) that the elves were delightful nature lovers full of song and magic à la Tolkien where the goblins are sinister creatures with hammers and swords for your babies in their cribs, but Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette) rises above the trite and makes the reader determine the merits of each individual not on their racial background, but their unique qualities as individuals. This works really well and it’s a big deal that she uses her voice to make this vital point.

Women in Maia’s world are fully repressed. They are essentially birthing modules for the next generation, vehicles by which political alliances are formed. Maia seems to accept the status quo at face value, while undermining it as he can. Again, it adds to his character to be so enlightened and also forces the reader to reflect on other fantasy worlds and how the gender divide is navigated.

What about the story? Again no spoilers, because if I tell you that everyone dies in the end, will you like the story more or less. It’s the path to the end, not the end itself, and the company you keep along the way. In The Goblin Emperor, you’re in good company.