This novel was a very LONG immersive experience into a fantastical kingdom where an outcast half-goblin, half elf takes the throne after a horrific aircraft accident kills his estranged father and all his half brothers on their way to a wedding. Maia was never expected to be seen again let alone become emperor, so this turn of events is new to everyone. And since Maia was not brought up at court, he tends to do things differently and more progressively than ever before. His whole reign hinges on freedom of choice and building bridges. Maia does his duties: finds a suitable wife candidate, makes amends with neighboring kingdoms (like his goblin grandfather), gives his sisters and relatives more choices than ever before, looks for strategic outside the box solutions and searches for those responsible for the murder of his family despite never having a relationship with them. He strives to be better than he ever thought he could be and for all his efforts, two assassination attempts are still made on his life.
If you're looking for a lengthy novel to get lost in, this is it. I did find it hard to keep all the characters and their connections and lineages straight at times, but overall, I enjoyed watching Maia grow into one badass emperor of change.
Warning, this story is heavy on the fictional history of the kingdom and lore of the land. It took me a little bit to get into it. However, the ending is action packed!

I listened to the audio book and the narrator Kyle McCarley did a fantastic job. He is the only reason why I finished the book. Because if I had read this it would've been DNF less than 50 pages in.

This book is the a reminder for me to be careful what I wish for. The last couple of books I read were sorely lacking in world building, this book took it too far. I could see everything because the details were written that intricately. To the point of boredom. Rooms, clothes, jewelry. Names of titles of nobles, religious leaders, and ceremonies were invented. Which is great, but there were so many it was hard to keep track. Standard names like Lord and Priest would've worked too for lesser characters. I also found it weird that all these intricate names and ceremonies were created, but the animals were standard. And although there was mention of magic there wasn't any in this book.

Maia, our hero was boring. The standard orphan forced out of seclusion. The problem is there was nothing outstanding about him. He was nice, but no saint. He was smart, but no genius. He wasn't ugly by Elf society standards, but he was no great beauty either. There was nothing about him that stood out. Nothing to make the reader root for him to "win". He was a competent ruler, but no champion of the people. If they had killed him off and replaced him at any point in the book I honestly wouldn't have cared.

That is another problem with this story. For one that focused on political intrigue and court politics it was lacking both. Starting with our main character. His banishment being accepted by everyone made no sense. His mother a goblin was married to his father to foster an alliance. So her being banished with her baby right after giving birth for the crime of not being an Elf was beyond stupid. Her father the Goblin Emperor should've had more of a reaction. Then she dies and her son, a Prince is sent off to west bubble fuq. Again the Goblin Emperor does nothing. A man with no male heir. He didn't even send a tutor. Maia the fourth son of the Elf Kingdom and the only Prince of the Goblin Kingdom wasn't educated in anything by anyone. He was sent of to rot, when he should've been a pawn his entire life. There were almost no plots at court, no maneuvering. Just snobs being jerks.

It takes forever for there to be any real conflict and even longer for us to find out what happened to his father and brothers. And both things are resolved with relative ease. How does something finally exciting happen, yet it almost instantly becomes boring too. I really don't understand how this book got nominated for so many awards. It must've been a slow year. I won't say I won't ever read this author again, but I won't be reading any more books in this series.

Katherine Addison introduces you to a unique world. It was described at a pace where it wasn’t overwhelming which is a huge plus for me. Characters were introduced slowly, which helped since there were a lot to keep track of for the size of the book. Characters were introduced with purpose which I quite enjoyed. Overall, the book is perfect for those who enjoy unique fantasy.

This book was too long for my taste, but that did not stop me from enjoying the ride! Even though I caught myself checking to see "how much longer" and even though this is not a book that can be listened to in one car ride, the characterization and descriptions of the fantastical world the author writes of is a treat. I recommend for fantasty/sci-fi lovers. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Overall, I found this book to be very entertaining. It was a different kind of fantasy story than I expected, with little magic and the inclusion of some steampunk-esque elements, not to mention court intrigue and a murder mystery. Maia was a fantastic character and his arc surrounding his role as emperor and coming to terms with his new power, and recovering from a traumatic past, was amazing. The setting of the story fascinating and opulent and the author put a great deal of effort into the world-building and having everything fit together beautifully. The prose was beautifully written. The one issue I had with the book was that the names of the characters are so long and so similar in some cases that it was hard to remember who exactly each character was. Since this was an audiobook, that made keeping characters straight even harder.

I downloaded this as an example for a coworker to see how the Netgalley platform works. Although I am a big sci-fi/fantasy reader, I generally prefer my audiobooks to be nonfiction. This, though, was such a treat! The narrator was absolutely delightful to listen to for 16 hours, and I will absolutely be listening again, as well as buying the print version.

The only reason this isn't a solid 5 stars is due to the many and complicated names in the story. Without being able to physically see them, or a glossary I could refer back to, I ended up assigning scenes or traits to characters instead of names. "This is the opera singer, that one's probably the fiancee, I think she's the stepmother." In print, it would be an easy 5 star. Otherwise, this is an absolute delight of a novel.

Unfortunately, I didn't finish this title. Something about the audiobook narrator grated for me, so I wasn't able to get very far. I may try the print version now that it has released. I don't feel I can rate it fairly, so I'll give it 3 stars because I did like the writing style from what I read, I just couldn't listen to the narrator.

Possibly the best book I've ever read.
There is a specific genre of political intrigue steeped in kindness and wanting to do the right thing, and it is my favourite and it's possible that Katherine Addison invented it with this book. I love it.

This is a great beginning to a series! The world building and politics of said world enraptured me. The way Addison wrote about buried wounds such as child abuse and grief were a reopening of personal wounds to me, the reader. Listening to the audiobook did take me a little bit to be invested, but that probably had something to do with my mood and not the narrator's fault. As much as I very much enjoyed this book,

Although I listen to audiobooks occasionally, I’d much rather read a book than have it read to me. However, if every audiobook was like this one, I might change my mind, because this was FABULOUS.

I was already a fan of the novel, so I knew I’d enjoy the story, but the narrator took it to another level. Kyle McCarley didn’t just narrate the book, he made it come to life. McCarley is a voice actor whose done work for video games and anime, and it shows. He uses different voices and accents for the many (so many!) different characters so that they seemed distinct to me, which is impressive. He’s also excellent at conveying the emotions of the characters. I really didn’t need to be told when Maia was feeling nervous and uncertain, for example, because the tone of his voice says it all.

This audiobook is the perfect marriage of story and narrator, so much so that I’d give it more than five stars if I could. And I’m stingy with my stars, so that’s really saying something!

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. I received a free audiobook copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Listening to this on audio as opposed to reading it physically had pros and cons. First, the narrator was fantastic. I'll be hoping to listen to more from him in the future. The prose of the book combined with the first-person narration also lent itself particularly well to the audiobook format. I also think that this book was extremely light on plot, and while I was entertained the entire time, I might have had a harder time finishing if it was a physical read. However, I am awful with remembering names in audiobook format, and the names in this book are particularly gruesome to try to remember, so it took me a long time to remember who anybody but the central 2-4 characters were. That's an issue for my brain, but it's to be considered when checking out the audiobook if you have similar problems.

Regarding the actual story, I really enjoyed the main character, Maia, and his struggle to deal with the court and palace intrigue that he never thought he'd have to learn. His general goodness juxtapositions himself with the traditions of the empire, and his desire to change these traditions and his gradual understanding of how he wants to lead, is well done. I would recommend this book, but I do have to emphasize again- it really does NOT have a plot. It wraps up nicely, and there were never any spots where I was bored, but it was mostly just random meetings happening and then eventually an event would take place, and then they'd deal with the fall-out of that event. Not particularly recommended for plot-focused readers. This is a character study through and through.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and the author for the opportunity to review this audiobook. These opinions are my own.

I never had the chance to read this book. It was on my Must Read list, so when given the opportunity to review the audiobook I was very excited.

The author does an amazing job not only of creating an entire world for the reader to enjoy, but a whole culture and language. It's not often that a reader is faced with a character that remains empathetic when faced with diversity and true to himself when faced with hard times. Maia is one of those unique characters who even when faced with a life of abuse and hidden griefs due to be unwanted, tries to rise above the hate around him to be. Surrounded by intrigue and political subterfuge, Maia has to learn to navigate the new world and society previously denied to him, without knowing who to trust. It's a book that is not only well written in its prose and storyline, but will be a story to be re- read (or in this case re-listened too) over and over.

I usually don't like male narrators, but this narrator does a great job with bringing the book to life (and pronouncing the unique language as well). It's a great match up.

Thank you to NetGalley for granting me this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!
I really enjoyed the narration of this audiobook. The narrator effortlessly made the characters come alive and sound like real people. Also, he did amazing with all the complicated names! The only downside to the narration is that I couldn’t look and physically see the names, and as there are so many characters in the book, it coupled get confusing at times and o would want to flip back and see who the character was, lol.
As for the storyline, I found it to be slow and lacking in drama. It is definitely a character driven novel in which readers come to genuinely care for the hesitant emperor, Maia, by the end of the book. Overall, I would recommend this book to those who are a fan of political court intrigue and complex world building, as opposed to someone who prefers darker/action packed fantasy.

Couldn’t decide on 3 or 4 stars. While I enjoyed the writing and story, and it was a solid fantasy read. I was completely bored through the whole thing. I like my fantasy reads to have a bit of adventure to them, as well as a found family troupe. This was more court intrigue, almost never leaving the palace and figuring out who you are as the last person in the realm expected to be an emperor. On the other hand my sister loved this, gave it 5 stars and loved that it was boring intrigue.

Well I did not like this, it was slow and more cliche than I was thinking it would be. A lot of sniveling and slow working passages

A while ago we published a new page on the site that listed out a few handfuls of books that we thought were the best examples of fantasy fiction to be had. One of the comments we received on that page suggested that our list was missing this exact book. I have to admit that I wasn’t particularly enthralled by the cover or the title though, and so I passed it by as I did so many others that just didn’t tickle my fancy.

Recently, however, the audiobook was released, and so I figured that I might as well give it a go. After all, I’m always up for another suggestion of a great read.

Turns out, I probably should have just passed it by.

THE GOBLIN EMPEROR is, ostensibly, a stand-alone book about a relatively young individual, Maia–half-goblin, half-elf, and suddenly heir to the throne of the elvish empire–that is given the opportunity to be something he never thought he’d be: emperor. When his father, the current emperor, and all of Maia’s elder half-brothers are killed in an exploding air ship, he’s retrieved from his life of obscurity and exile in a far-off location and suddenly given control of the empire.

The rest of the book is about how he navigates the political aspects of his new position.

By and large, the beginning of this tale was my favorite part of the book. In it, the biggest portion of Maia’s character is built as we learn all about his history and then subsequent placement upon the throne of the elves. We learn about his mother, his life with an abusive cousin, and his lack of any kind of education. In short, he’s been placed in a home, far away from everything important, because he’s useless to the empire.

Until he’s not.

Past the pretty decent introduction to the character of Maia, very little characterization follows. Most of the political entities surrounding him are the typical set pieces: overwhelmingly haughty or properly meek. As each character comes into the story, filters through their interactions with Maia, and then eventually leaves, exit stage right, I kept wondering when the conflict was going to come into play. There’s some pretty heavy suggestion that it might come through his cousin, Setheris. And then, with the introduction of the idea that the explosion that killed his father, the emperor, wasn’t actually an accident as first assumed, but triggered purposefully. And then when we learn that Maia’s grandfather, the high muckety-muck of the goblin empire, is coming to visit. Maybe that’s where the conflict would eventually come in.

But no.

There are some that would complain that there’s little to no action that happens in this book, but that’s not really the problem. The real problem is that there’s little to no conflict that survives past more than a handful of pages. There are definitely moments of conflict. Just nothing of substance. Maia puts his cousin, Setheris, away as neatly as his father once put him away. The conspiracy to kill his father and the resultant investigation is forgotten until nearly the end of the tale. The goblin king brings no great surprises. Instead, it’s one chapter after the next about how Maia learns to deal with his new political powers, and tries to impose his will upon those of the court. Some of them push back. Others don’t. Along the way, we learn that Maia has many sensibilities that are abjectly opposed to the general opinions of all those around him, but–oddly enough–line up quite well with how someone in today’s day and age would think. Normally, kind of a red flag for me, but it didn’t bother me overly much because most of the discussion stayed within the context of Maia and those with whom he interacted.

The largest difficulty I had with this book though was the fact that there’s essentially nothing about the story that couldn’t have happened if this wasn’t a fantasy story. Because, it’s not a fantasy story. It’s a story about a made-up political sphere and what happens inside it. The only partly overtly fantastical is that the main set pieces are goblins and elves, but essentially nothing of substance that is magical or speculative happens in the entire book. And that’s just really disappointing. Especially because this author obviously knows how to string words together. The prose very well-written and structured with purpose. I just don’t get why anyone would want to read the thing. But then again, politics are either very boring or very aggravating for me. So, in general, I hate ’em.

This definitely isn’t a bad story. Not poorly written. Not poorly told. It’s just very not fantastical, and very not fast, and very not exciting. Still, if you like politics, and moderately good characters, in a setting that doesn’t need to be very fantastical at all… then you might just like this book. Judge for yourself, if you’d rather. Or listen to us, and forget about this one. Really, you’re not missing out on anything.

I am totally enamored with the world of The Goblin Emperor. Katherine Addison creates a society and political hierarchy with precision and intrigue. Character development was consistent. I would like to see a more subplots, counter plots and mysterious twists and turns. This book was linear in documenting the succession to power of Maia, the Goblin Emperor. I look forward to the continuation of this series.

I see now why people refer to The Goblin Emperor as a “feel good” book.

I’ve been wanting to read this since it came out. Many of my peers were raving about it and I even got a personalized recommendation for it. When NetGalley offered a promotional audiobook copy for review, I jumped aboard without hesitation.

Overall, I think my expectations might have been a little high because, while I enjoyed the book, it didn’t blow me away. It’s incredibly character-driven, focusing solely on a half-goblin’s experience as he dons the crown and tries to manage life at court. Every time he dared break social protocol to be kind to someone was satisfying, and I believe that’s a large part of why people enjoyed the story so much. It’s incredibly straightforward, yet the simplicity is very much part of its charm. Unfortunately, I found myself craving a bit more substance.

I can usually roll with stories that don’t have external plot as a main driving force – some of my favorite books in fantasy focus more on the slow-burn relationship development between characters (I don’t mean of the romantic variety), but in this case, where the entire framework was navigating the politics of this court, there wasn’t a whole lot going on. If politics are going to be the focus, I want them to be exciting, intricate, and just complex enough that I’m on my toes but don’t feel completely lost. All of the politicking in Goblin Emperor was simple. Leaving me with nothing to sink my teeth into other than how much I appreciated the main character.

The audio production itself was fantastic. Addison’s prose is very formal, with characters referring to themselves as “we” and each other as “thou,” and included a whole lot of pomp and circumstance (such as addressing the main character as “Serenity” every other sentence). Narrator Kyle McCarley has an accent that fit the spirit of her writing perfectly. He also did a great job bringing out the hesitancy and quirkiness of all the characters. Almost all of the names are mouthfuls, and I’m not sure they lent themselves well for the audiobook. It was a real struggle at the beginning to tell everyone apart, but this is one case where the simplicity of the plot works in its favor because it made it easier to sort everyone out eventually.

Recommendations: if you’re in the mood for a simple, feel-good story and don’t mind the lack of a strong overall plot, this is a great pick. If fantasy had a “take to the beach” category, Goblin Emperor would be in it. I loved the charm of the characters and the overall warm energy of the story.

Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller

The Goblin Emperor
by Katherine Addison
The audible version is enchanting. The use of the reader to say all the remarkably complex names is an extreme benefit.
Katherine Addison has created a remarkable world, with Elves and Goblins. This story shows the ascendance of a young Half Goblin to the throne of Imperial Court. His father and older brothers killed in an accident leaving this unwanted son to become Emperor. The book shows the detailed nature of Addison's world, like the courts of Japan or China there is infighting and politics that is complicated. The young Emperor, has two attempts to usurp him and one assassination attempt in the first three months of his ascendance. I found the characters very relatable, and the struggles of this young Emperor is compelling. I hope to see more of this story in the future.

This is one of those books that I've been telling myself for years now but just haven't taken the time to sit down and read. I've never been able to say why I've been so hesitant to read this book but when I saw the audiobook on Netgalley I knew it was time to finally give it a try and boy am I glad that I did. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison was such a good and fun read that I'm still kicking myself for taking so long to read it. Next time I'll listen to pretty much the fandom when pretty much everyone says a book is so good.

One of the main things that I loved the most about The Goblin Emperor is that instead of being some sort of epic quest story or a story about a massive, potentially world-ending war, it's instead a more focused and personal story about a half-goblin named Maia and his unexpected rise to the emperor of an elven kingdom. I always find it to be a nice change of pace when I stumble across an author who doesn't think every book or story needs to be epic fantasy. Honestly one of the first thoughts I had about this book when I finished reading it is that it's something that I know I would have absolutely loved as a kid or teenager. It reminds me of the books that really got me sucked into reading when I was growing up and I find that it has this kind of old-school fantasy vibe that I think has been missing from the genre for quite a while now.

One of the main reasons I finally broke down and decided to give this book a chance is that it's the audiobook version and I find it easier these days to sneak in some listening than I do to find the time to sit down and read. I've somehow never listened to anything narrated by Kyle McCarley but I'm happy I can say that is a great narrator! He did a fantastic job bringing The Goblin Emperor to life for me and I'm now looking forward to listening to more books by him in the near future.

I would 100% recommend this book to anyone looking for something new to read, especially if they're looking for a kind of throwback to when the genre was a bit more simpler and small-scale. Another great thing about this book is that despite recently getting a sequel, it is very much a stand-alone story. I feel like it's way too often these days the books we are getting are these massive series that we won't see the end of for a decade or two, so it's nice to read a book where you can just set it down and be done when it's over.

I received this story in exchange for an honest review.