The Goblin Emperor

When it comes to these slow, character-driven political fantasies, my enjoyment hinges so much on the writing and the characters. Thankfully, I loved both so much that I can almost guarantee this is going to be one of my top books of the year.

It's all about Maia. I love him and I loved to see him grow. I love that he was a good man who tried hard to be a good emperor, despite not wanting or expecting the role ever. The slow pace really let me take every day at a time with him to see him learn in real time to face his struggles. His arc in its entirety was so wonderful to witness. Learning to trust the people around him and learning to stand up for himself and others while never losing the fact that he's a little shy. It was just so sweet.

And the audiobook narrator was absolutely fantastic. He did such a good job reading all those similar names and sounding like he spoke a whole different language. And, in a similar vein, you can tell just how much thought the author put into the whole world. It feels complete and introduced in such a way that it wasn't getting shoved down my throat. It was getting shoved down Maia's instead, and he took the burden of being overwhelmed from me. And I really appreciated that he threw in the towel at certain points and just let others around him do their job.

My only complaint was the names, which ran together in my head as soon as they were introduced. They sounded so similar that I really had to focus and sometimes rewind to put context clues together for who was who. But I've already ordered the physical book so one day I can reread it and have a better understanding. I look forward to when I can do that.

Pretty good. I absolutely had no idea who anyone is since so many long similar names are thrown at you but a fairly compelling story

Anyone who likes political fantasy or complex stories should pick up this book, unless they can't stand Tolkien-esque names.

This is an insanely character-driven story; most of them are very complex, and Maia is a likable hero, so the story keeps you going even when the plot seems to have disappeared. The plot is there, but it meanders; the draw is in the intricate politics of the court, and the deepening relationships, platonic and otherwise, between the characters. The political webs are thick and well-patterned. While it can be difficult at times to keep everyone's names straight (though there is an index for the reader to parse all those Elvish names), there is no character who won't elicit some type of emotional investment.

This one pops up a lot in cozy fantasy recommendations recently, so I finally read it. While I didn't hate it, I don't love it the same way others do. The first 50% of the book is in fact, rather depressing. More than anything, I wondered why Maia went to such effort to go BE the emperor; it was hard for me to see how it would benefit him in any way. That gets fixed later, obviously, but at that point in time, reading it and knowing nothing else, my only response was "why!?"

This book. My God, this book. This beautiful, heartfelt, book.

As a rise in "cozy fiction" plagues the world, (due, partially, to the way that BookTok tends to uphold "vibes" above all else) there are few titles that can be described as cozy without sacrificing an actual narrative intensity that make reading a novel feel more interesting than looking through a catalogue for winter clothes. This book refuses to sacrifice that intensity, and instead forces the reader to feel the awkwardness and exhaustion that comes from trying to be at peace.

I'm not a political fiction guy, and maybe even more so not a high fantasy guy. But this book transcends personal interests, in my opinion. At it's simplest, it's a story that anyone who's been on the receiving end of childhood abuse and neglect can relate to: what if the wildest fantasy you could ever imagine came true? What if you were suddenly in charge of everything and could work to undo the hurt that had been done? Then, to avoid going down the splendid "lalala" route of harry potter, it challenges those strides and forces you to reckon with the fact that all power, even limitless, has some things that it cannot touch. But it is us who are able to close the distance to forgiveness and healing.

100000/10 stars.

I really liked both the book and the narrator. It was definitely found family, which I really enjoy. I'll definitely read more books by this author (and try to find more books by this narrator too).

The longer I reflect on this book, the more I like it. It's one of those quiet reads that sneaks up on you. Maia is an incredible character who is challenged on all sides, thrown into a confusing and unfamiliar world where everyone is battling for power, and he chooses to be kind. Over and over and over again, he is kind, and the rules say that shouldn't work--he shouldn't prosper--but he does. Even for a book that is 90% politics and court intrigue, I loved it and never felt overwhelmed. This is cozy fantasy right here.

I will say listening to the audibook was very helpful. I think I would have tripped up on the names a lot more if I'd actually been reading it.

I like the relationships between the characters and how they developed. However, I dont think political fantasy novels are for me- too many names to remember! This was an enjoyable read once I got into things though. 4 stars!

Maia is infinitely lovable. This book has plenty of pitfalls but all of them are forgivable in light of that fact.

Reminiscent of C.J. Cherryh, this book would do well as the beginning of a series. As a stand-alone, it leaves things rather open-ended. There is excellent world-building here, even if some of the proper nouns are a bit hard to parse.