The Goblin Emperor - Book Recommendation

This novel is quite different from my usual fare. I love adventure fiction, sprawling epic fantasy spread out over too many books, and fantastical space operas. The Goblin Emperor is none of these things. There’s remarkably little action throughout the book, and I couldn’t get enough of it.

The story follows Maya Drazhar, a half-elven, half-goblin prince in quiet exile far down the line of succession to the elven emperor’s throne. He was the only offspring from a brief marriage alliance with the neighboring goblin kingdom of Barizhan, and after his mother died when he was very young, he was whisked away from court to live out his days in isolation. But the story begins with a terrible accident—an airship crash—resulting in the death of the emperor and his line of successors, leaving Maya as the new ruler of an empire he knows remarkably little about. We follow Maya as he is thrust into the complicated and overwhelming life of the Untheileneise Court during his early days as the unwanted ruler of the Elflands.

My enjoyment of this story hinged entirely on the protagonist. Maya is a deeply self-reflective character with a strong sense of empathy. At every turn, he thinks only of how to help those around him. He makes regular mistakes, disrupting convention and expectation, but always in the service of kindness compassion. Watching him struggle with the burdens of his new life—where every moment is watched over by allies and enemies alike—created a compelling narrative. This is not a story of great action and heroic deeds, but of subtle court intrigue and quiet moments of defiance and vulnerability.

While I love this book, there was one aspect I struggled with at times—and that’s the naming conventions. There are tons of characters, all with unusual names, all with multiple titles, and many families and locations which all sound terribly similar. From a world building perspective, I get it. It feels genuine, in the way language is constructed and evolves and builds on itself. But the naming did interrupt my reading flow pretty regularly. For a quick example: the word Untheileneise’meire came up quite a bit (slowing down to pronounce that killed momentum). This is the Othasmeire (temple/chapel) that is part of the Untheileneise Court, where the setting takes place. The book is full of words and word constructions like this, with layered definitions that you have to drill down through multiple in-universe terms to fully grasp the meaning and significance.

To the book’s credit, it does open with an appendices listing out the important persons, places, and things in the setting, complete with short definitions for each entry. I’m sure it would have been helpful to read through before diving in, but without the context of a story, it would all go in one ear and out the other. With a paperback, I might have kept this section bookmarked to flip back and reference, but on my Kindle, I just pushed through any unfamiliar words and relied on context clues to get by. And for the most part, that worked pretty well.

Ultimately, I do feel this criticism was relatively minor in my overall enjoyment. The Goblin Emperor was a major surprise for me. I’m nearly a week out from finishing the book, and I still catch myself thinking back on events from the story—particular turns of phrase or profound moments of revelation. I’m grateful to have finally read the story, somewhat on a whim, and after finishing it, I immediately bought the next book in the series. The sequel, The Witness for the Dead, follows a side character from the first book. I’m not entirely sure what to expect or really how much it's related, but I’m perfectly fine with that. Katherine Addison’s writing was captivating, and I’m eager to explore more of her works.