The Goblin Emperor

by Katherine Addison

eBook, 447 pages

English language

Published March 30, 2014 by Tor Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-4299-4640-7

(6 reviews)

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.

Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.

Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the specter of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor. All the while, he is alone, and trying to find even a single friend … and hoping for the possibility of romance, yet also vigilant against the unseen enemies that threaten him, lest he lose his throne—or his life.

4 editions

tastytea reviewed The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (The Goblin Emperor, #1)

didn't like it at all

2 stars

the usual fantasy-racism and sexism with a bit of homomisia sprinkled in. the author should just have written the novel in 19th century europe, the fantasy aspect is rarely used at all.

the book seems to want me to have sympathy with an absolutist ruler. 🙄 and what's up with all these different names, and sometimes more than one name for one person? feels like there were a hundred or so names used. oof! and then there are perfectly translatable concepts that are left in some kind of elven language, and sometimes the characters speak really old english? why?!?

at least the story itself is somewhat interesting and has potential, but i'm not gonna read the next books.

Strakul reviewed The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

A personal story of a reluctant emperor

4 stars

Overall this was a good book. It was fairly straightforward in its plot and characters, which allowed it to have a more personal feel to the main character. The setting is hindered a little by aspects of the language which, while they add some depth, they also add a great amount of complexity. I can certainly see the similarities to The Hands of the Emperor, though I prefer that book for its broader story and the focus on the secretary rather than the emperor himself.

For a full review, check out my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2023/07/book-review-goblin-emperor-by-katherine.html

enne📚 reviewed The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (The Goblin Emperor, #1)

The Goblin Emperor

5 stars

Before reading Witness for the Dead, I took the excuse to reread Goblin Emperor for the nth time, and oh wow is it still such a comfort read for me.

I think it's really that Maia is an endearing (and easy to connect to for me) character. An anxious, apologetic, people-pleasing half-goblin forced into being an emperor that he doesn't know anything about. Wanting to be kind and make friends but struggling with being awkward and trying to do that through an extreme power dynamic differential.

It takes a little to get into the swing of the various courtiers and naming conventions, but it feels a little like a reflection how lost Maia is himself.

Overall, it's just a nice gentle character arc of growing into competency and friendship that always seems to be exactly what I need.

Martin Kopischke reviewed The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (The Goblin Emperor, #1)

The power of kindness

3 stars

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.

Kadomi reviewed The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (The Goblin Emperor, #1)

Review of 'The Goblin Emperor' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Not what I expected, but definitely interesting. The 18 year old Maia, son of the elf emperor and his shunned goblin wife totally unexpectedly rises to ascend his father when an airship with the emperor and all his other sons crashes. Totally unprepared he has to learn all the ways of elven court and earn the respect of his people.

My biggest hurdle were all the names. The author uses a complex elven language that to the end of the book made me confused about characters. Nevertheless it was gripping reading, if a bit slow at times

joachim@lire.boitam.eu reviewed The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (The Goblin Emperor, #1)

A good start for a longer story.

3 stars

Maia, sudden heir to the throne of the Goblin Empire, doesn't really want to be an emperor, but it's still better than being assassinated, right?

The setting is interesting, it's like the Court of the Goblin Empire plays an active part in the story, a mysterious character with whom our hero Maia has to contend.

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Books where people are nice to each other