Review: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

Title: The Goblin Emperor
Author: Katherine Addison
Series: The Chronicles of Osreth #1
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Publication Date: June 22, 2021
Edition: Audiobook
Source: Library
Purchase: Amazon US | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Bookshop | Powell's | 

Synopsis:

   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.

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I think the hype got to me on this one. It was good, I didn't hate it, but it was just fine. I know one thing that hindered my enjoyment was the character names. For the life of me I can't remember anybody's name beyond Maia, the main character. The terms and titles for everything was really hard to follow and remember. I first tried to read this as an ebook, but I decided to switch to the audiobook hoping it would help. It did to a degree, as I didn't have to guess how to pronounce anything, but it was still hard to follow who was who by the end. The narrator/voice actor did a great job, it's just that the names are so complicated that they didn't stick with me.

 

The overall plot and seeing Maia gain courage to do what he felt was right, in any other setting would feel more generic, but with the wold building, and the kind of character Maia is, the unwanted half-goblin child of the elf emperor, it added a layer to the story that isn't in a lot of other books with a similar plot.

One of the main things that kept this book from me loving it as much as I had hoped was the feeling that I was drowning in the character names and the world building I did feel like I was missing some of the nuance. I appreciate the in-depth world building done in this book, but I also feel like I was just thrown in the deep end of the pool and expected to swim. There was an extenisve glossary at the start of the book explaining all of that, but it's only in the physical and the ebook versions not in the audiobook. I don't think it would've helped, I wouldn't want to keep referencing the glossary whenever a new character was introduced.

I am undecided if I want to read the other books in this world. They follow other characters, and since I can't remember who was who, I don't know if I will care or not about their story. I would prefer to read more of Maia. He had finally come fully into his own at the end of the book, and I'd like to read more of him being the emperor over other characters lives.