The book came out originally in 2014, and it getting a reprinting this year, with the beautiful edition. The narrator is really good, the story holds up, and the author is definitely someone I will continue to read.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t a major fan of the narrator (he sounded too slimy & posh 🙃😂) and I would have been appreciative of the vast world-building if I hadn’t been so BORED. Didn’t finish this one!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of this audiobook!

This is a book that you can really get lost in. If you want to spend some time in a completely different world, feel free to dip in a toe and I am sure you will find yourself quickly devoured by the world that Katherine Addison has created. The political intrigue, character details and exquisite world building are masterful. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a fantasy world to escape to, who wants an immersive experience, and who is interested in the social cues and political norms of a reluctant goblin emperor. The narrator has clear precise enunciation, which perfectly suits this story. You will be entranced.

I received a free copy of The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison in exchange for my honest review. #NetGalley

I sincerely thank NetGalley for my ARC of The Goblin Emperor audiobook. This is an unabridged Macmillan Audio production. The book was published in 2014.

Kyle McCarley’s narration of The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison was an excellent narrator that effectively differentiated the many characters in this story. The story contains complex names, some with similar sounds, yet the narrator’s tone of voice helped tip the listener to which member of the court was speaking.

The narrator’s voice fit the story of a high court with established protocols, required court etiquette, and political intrigue. The rhythm of the language, and the cadence and inflection of the narrator’s voice added depth to the fantasy world that Katherine Addison created.

The main character, Maia, is a portrait of a gentle and insecure soul who was cast aside from his royal family and never educated regarding the world he finds himself ruling. He learns, as the listener learns, what is expected and the challenges that lay ahead if he manages to survive. Maia attempts to combine compassion with the power he has been given.

Most of the action takes place within the pageantry and formality of the palace. The listener does not get to experience much of the world beyond. There are hints of a steampunk world but our hero, Maia, has limited interactions outside his own circle. Within the plot line, this would be expected. The new emperor has been sheltered his entire life and that reality continues due to his position in this elfin and goblin society. Yet the listener is left wanting more at times. What lies beyond the court? Is there a mixing of races in the streets or do the elves and goblins segregate? Is there a world beyond this one where other races exist?

The story is long but does not drag. The court interactions are interesting because of Maia. The listener feels his anxiety and drive to do well. The listener cares. The conclusion is satisfactory, comforting, but not as exciting as what an action-adventure story would have.

Because of the complex political story line, the unusual character names and titles, and the various political factions, reading this story would be less confusing that listening to it. However, the audiobook adds an element of passion to the character of Maia that makes listening worth while.

I enjoyed the audiobook and found this a good listen. I would find it a satisfying read. I rate this audiobook 4 out of 5 stars.

While I always enjoy good fantasy, this book stands apart because the fantasy aspects are few and have little impact on the overall story. Having said that, it's really well written and I enjoyed it very much as the author takes us on a twisted trip through the behind the scenes world of politics. I actually read it to myself before listening to the audiobook and the narrator, Kyle McCarley, does a great job with his inflection and tone. Characters sound the way you expect them to and that goes a long way for me! The only downside, for me, is that the names are "exotic" to my ears and there are a lot of them so it can get overwhelming.

Anyway. The story has a great premise: what if the despised youngest son of the all powerful Emperor- who has been sent away and shunned for his entire life- suddenly comes to the throne? How can he possibly be prepared for the pressures inherent to the position? Our ugly duckling, Maia, can only do his best and we watch as he learns first to crawl and then to stand in the new world he's been thrust into.

I thought the narrator did a great job but with the amount of characters, the similar names, and the use of we I found myself struggling to keep things straight in my head with the audiobook.

I found this book intriguing, loved the world building, and thought it was an excellent YA fantasy novel. I feel like if I would have read a physical copy it would have been easier for me to comprehend.

Maia is the least favored son of the now deceased emperor, and the only heir left. Suddenly thrust into this position of power, the humble, thoughtful, intelligent, and kind Maia is finding that court is not what he thought, and nor is he.

The world building in this story is gradual throughout. Character driven narrative makes for an engaging story about Maia and his journey as he learns his way through court, juggles the the opinions of his courtiers, discovers what type of emperor he is going to be, and navigates the loneliness of the crown. The political intrigue was as exciting as seeing Maia prove everyone wrong with each generous, fair, and clever decision he made.

The narrator did a superior job of differentiating the voices of such an extensive cast of characters. You were able to tell who was speaking in each scene and you could sense what kind of character it would be.

Highly recommend for fans of fantasy who also like something that has a more hopeful tone.

I'm sort of mixed about this book. On the positive side, I liked Maia and watching him at court. He's a good guy who doesn't play political games and constantly confuses and frustrates courtiers who want things from him. Maia treats his servants well and makes friends with them and I think he's a good emperor. I also thought it was cool to read about goblins, as that's not a creature I've read any books about before.

I had a difficult time following the various plots to hurt Maia and his family and the ones to marry someone or start a war. The names were confusing as some were very similar to others so I couldn't tell who was who. I also thought the pacing was slow and there wasn't much action. The story is mostly court politics and schemes and I wanted more fighting or assassination attempts.

I'm glad I listened to the audiobook because the narrator seemed to know how to pronounce the names and did a good job with voices. I think if this were a bit shorter I would have liked it more.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. Thank you to Macmillan and NetGalley for the copy.

This book completely floored me. I had been told for a while that I needed to check out The Goblin Emperor and I did not expect to be so enamored with a story. Maia is one of the most interesting and compelling characters I have ever come across, and Addison's prose flowed like fine wine. There was absolutely no need for massive wars, intense magic systems, or overabundant world-building. This book was almost perfect as-is.

I am so glad I chose to listen to this book! This story highlights how kindness and empathy in a cruel world can be life changing. It has all the political intrigue and turbulence a reader could hope for with kindness at its core. I loved hearing Maia’s (sorry if that’s not how you spell it) growth and inner dialogue as he navigates a situation he could have never dreamed to be in. Add steampunk technology and some dark magic and it has become a great find for me! My only problem is the pacing sometimes grew tedious but it was greatly improved by the narrator!

I am new to audiobooks but have found this narrator to be one of my favorites so far. He has done a great job of making the characters come to life and be as unique as possible. I would absolutely recommend this book and a special thanks to NetGalley and TorBooks for the find!

What a fantastic book! 17 hours of court intrigue is right up my alley. I love that this is a fantasy story that carries a message of empathy and connection over the more tragic mold of violence and isolation.

The narration was pleasant, although I confess that I have absolutely no idea how anything is spelled. (It took me a while, when trying to match up names to things I read online, to realize that the narrator drops final "R"s in a very British way). I found the female voices more difficult to differentiate than the male.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Goblin Emperor was a very interesting book to dive into. In it, you will meet Maia. He is half-goblin and half-elven. Unfortunately for him, he was exiled for most of his life until the day that his entire family unexpectedly dies. Now he's thrown into court life where is up is down and down is up. Not knowing who to trust made this book a mystery to me but I really enjoyed the entire adventure that Maia went on.

Even though this didn't have a whole lot of action in it. The book did have some nice surprises of betrayal from time to time. Some were a little predictable but others were completely unexpected. Which definitely made this a page turner for me and I was just sitting back and enjoying Maia's involvement with the court.

In the end, this was fun and different for me. It was very nice to listen to and I wouldn't be mad about diving into the next book either. Especially if it's an audiobook.

I listened to the audiobook of this, and the narrator did an amazing job; he just glides smoothly through all the ridiculously long and difficult names and I would not manage to be that smooth.

I was occasionally confused about which minor character was which (partly because I listened to it over several weeks because I had little time to devote to it each day), but overall I found the story compelling and fascinating.

I love how Addison thrusts us into the unknown world of the Imperial Court with a language and set of societal rules that are complicated and unfamiliar and just leaves us to figure it out -- much as she dumps Maia into the same situation. I felt an intense kinship with Maia because of that, and because of his background and temperament, and it was immensely satisfying to watch him coming into his own as emperor and slowly making friends and finding his place.

All of the conflict is Maia's internal struggle and his determination to be a better person and emperor than his father was - which of course pits him against those members of court who are still loyal to his father. There was no great outside conflict as one generally expects in a fantasy novel, and I love it for that, and for the way the entire novel is infused with Maia's hope and determination to be good.

This second re-listen I've found I love it just as much, and am just as awed by the narrator's smoothness and ability to wrangle complex names. I see more of Maia's fight to keep himself from acts of pettiness against his cousin Setharis (who quite frankly deserves all of Maia's pettiness and more after what he put Maia through over the course of his childhood) because he is so determined to be good. That goodness is Maia's underlying character trait and despite what people in the court keep telling him, it serves him well.

*Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for providing an audiobook arc to review.

𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒢𝑜𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃 𝐸𝓂𝓅𝑒𝓇𝑜𝓇- 𝒦𝒶𝓉𝒽𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝒜𝒹𝒹𝒾𝓈𝑜𝓃 (𝒶𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀)

🌟 🌟.5

First off I have heard over the years this was a wonderful epic fantasy so I was actually pretty excited to see that there was a new audio version on Netgalley! But unfortunately it was only just ok for me 🤷‍♀️🙈

Let’s talk about some things I did like:

I really enjoyed the court life in this book, along with the world building itself of entertaining and really what kept me going! There were lavish creatures, and vile creatures all mixed in. I liked watching the main character try and figure where he fit in after being exiled for so long only to be brought back into the mix to rule over everyone! I also liked that the MC wasn’t the type of power hungry ruler we often see in epic fantasy, he was genuinely a good character, and that was very refreshing ! He was someone I really wanted to cheer for and see a happy ending!

What I did not like:

The overall flow of this audiobook was kind of just blah 🙃 I felt there was no real high points or low points and there was kind of the same repetitive motions 🤔🤷‍♀️ The voices were done well but I still felt confused or bored part of the time .. I almost DNF the audio because after halfway through it was just the same .. but I pushed through and sometimes it did get better but overall I’m sadly underwhelmed with this one 🙈

I would recommend this book to someone who likes world building, and MCs that are an under dog you want to root for❤️

In The Goblin Emporer, Katherine Addison sets up a dazzling world that will leave you wanting more!

For a (relatively) short fantasy epic, an impressive amount of worldbuilding and character development occurs. The protagonist very quickly shows himself to be the kind of person we all should aspire to be: kind, compassionate, long-suffering, humble. And yet he is called upon to step into a position of power. The magic occurs as he attempts to reconcile who he is with who he has to become.

Big thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio book ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So... this was a DNF at 60%. I tried but it was the same thing over and over again.
Maia is the ignored son of the reigning Emperor until the Emperor, and his wanted heirs (trained from birth to become the next Emperor) die in a transport accident. Maia is thrust into a world he is neither prepared for, nor wants.
.... and that is the entire first 60% of the book. Maia is unprepared because he wasn't trained, and varying situations in which he is unprepared to handle court life as Emperor because he wasn't trained. Oh and he wants to have sex.

I had higher expectations for this one based on other reviews but I found it really dry. It was a lot of in depth explanations as to why Maia shouldn't do something, after he's done it.. because Emperor.

The voice actor was fine, did a decent job of accents and voices.

Maybe this just wasn't 'my type' of book. It could be yours!

The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison, tells the story of Maia, the youngest half-Goblin son of the Emperor, who has spent his entire childhood in exile. After the unexpected death of his father and his three older half-brothers, Maia is thrust into the confusing, overwhelming and sometimes dangerous life at court and crowned the new Emperor. Surrounded my courtiers, none of whom he feels he can trust, and the complex interwoven court dynamics, Maia must navigate his way through challenging waters to keep his throne. Added to the court intrigue is the overhanging suspense of knowing that his father and brothers' deaths were no accident, and that in order to stay alive, he must figure out who assinated them. This review will relate to the audiobook version of this title.

I would categorize this as fantasy, appropriate for YA or adults, with a bit of sci-fi and a bit of steampunk thrown in. While definitely accessible for a YA audience, the story is complex and interesting enough to hold an adult reader's attention.

I was disappointed there was not more emphasis placed on steampunkery. I think it would have been a great character/plot expansion tool and it was one of the reasons I chose to read the book. There are mentions of the ever-present dirigibles/airships that are found in most steampunk worlds, as well as some interesting tidbits on the pneumatic tubes for delivering letters, a telescoping spider-like bridge design, and a few other items, but nothing that really made me feel that these advances were integral to the society. Other reviewers have also mentioned that the names - both place names and character names - were confusing. I agree wholeheartedly with this assessment. I think it was probably even more confusing in the audio format since I didn't have a way to reference a list of names as I was listening. Some of the names have more than one form as well; there are honorific titles used in the public rooms at court versus in private, versus the actual personal name of the character. I found myself having to pick up queues from the dialogue to figure out who the character was that Maia was speaking to, which was frustrating. This last detail is the primary reason I gave the book the rating I did.

On the positive side, this is a lush, richly built world. I found the character of Maia to be engaging, interesting and sympathetic. I was cheering for him by the end of the book, and enjoyed the descriptions of life at the court, and the trappings of emperor-hood. The narrator did an excellent job bringing all of the characters to life. The voice he used for Maia reflected perfectly that balance of a 19-year-old hanging somewhere between his childish thoughts and his new, more adult responsibilities and reflections. Each of the characters the Emperor interacts with most frequently had a distinct voice character which helped underscore the dialogue and descriptions of them. I immediately fell in love with Maia's grandfather, who is King of the Goblins, when he comes to visit for Maia's birthday and Winter Night, and the sparkling, glittering court celebrations capped off their encounter with a flourish.

The plot describing the investigation into the death of the previous Emperor and his heirs was a bit less interesting. Most of the action took place outside the palace, and was performed by other characters. I actually would have enjoyed hearing more about the back story and the adventures of the Witness for the Dead who is charged with figuring out who killed the Emperor. He is an intriguing character and one I'd like to know more about. The author now has a second book in this same world out and I'd definitely give that one a try in the future.

Overall, an enjoyable read with amazing world-building and a solid set of characters. My rating was 3-1/2 out of 5 stars, with points taken for the confusing and convoluted naming system.

Rating: Really Enjoyed It

I received an advance copy of the audiobook from Netgalley and MacMillan audio in exchange for an honest review.

Maia is the youngest, half-goblin, son of the elvish emperor who was essentially exiled from court after his mother died. Nobody expected that an airship accident would claim the lives of his father and all his older brothers, leaving him as the Emperor. Maia is caught up in a world of politics and intrigue as he attempts to adjust to the learning curve of life at court, discover who is responsible for the deaths of his father and brothers, and survive all the political and more dastardly plots. This book is highly political and does not have a lot of action. I enjoyed Maia as a character and learning more about the court and all the different workings of the world along with Maia, but if you are looking for something that has a lot of action, this will not be it.

What I liked:
- I came to really care about Maia and the people around him. it was a lot of fun seeing him grow into his role when he was so very self-deprecating to begin with
- Katherine Addison built an extensive world that extends to language customs, history, and various workings of the court. Although we never leave the palace, I felt that I learned a lot about the world that she created and got to "see" a lot of it
- The cultures that were created in this book for the elves and the goblins were really interesting - I enjoyed learning more about each and the different customs that went along with each court as well as trying to understand everything that went with the language customs.

What I didn't like:
- At times the language and the names got clunky and confusing, particularly listening to it via audiobook and not having a glossary to be able to easily reference
- It is a very formal court, which I feel like the author reflected very well in the way that she chose to write; however, I felt that the more formal feeling kept me a step removed, and I wasn't as invested as I potentially would have been

Overall, I think that this was a fun story, and one I enjoyed reading. I am certainly glad that I had the opportunity to read it.

The Audiobook:
- The narrator was chosen perfectly for this title. It was Kyle McCarley who narrated it in a British accent, which fit perfectly with the feel of the story. He was able to distinguish between different characters with specific voices, that were very helpful when the names kept mixing together.
- Something that I had a lot of difficulty with was listening to this via audio due to the similarity of the names to each other, and how out of the ordinary they all are. I was having a hard time keeping the players straight and because I usually listen to audiobooks on my commute, I didn't have the ability to take notes or reference anything to keep everyone and their roles straight. I think that I would have gotten into the book much more quickly had I been reading it in print format rather than audio because I would have had an easier time keeping everything straight.
- A huge benefit though because the names and words are so very unusual and are part of a language created by the author with a glossary and guide to pronunciation in the back of the book, was that I didn't have to guess how anything was pronounced or spend time trying to train myself to say the names the correct way.
- When listening to the audiobook sped up, there was a weird echo that could have been due to listening at increased speed, or it could have beens something that was added to enhance the narration that when sped up was just somewhat distracting, but not a deal-breaker.

Overall it was a great audiobook for a great book, and I am glad to have had the chance to read it.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for giving me a copy of this book for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings expressed are my own.

I loved this book so much. I think that Maia is just the sweetest person ever. There is a scene in the book that really cemented this for me but I can’t exactly tell you without spoiling what happens. Just be assured he has a heart of gold.

Maia is the youngest son of the Emperor and has essentially been banned from the court for his entire life. At the age of eight Maia’s mother dies and he is left in the case of an abusive drunk. So he is vastly unprepared for being thrown not only into life at court, but to hold the highest position there. Maia constantly checks himself because he wants to be a good person and knows what it feels like to be on the wrong end of an angry person. It would be so easy for him to be the person they expect him to be as a half-goblin emperor, but time and time again he shows patience. Maia’s character shows that we do not have to be a product of the way we are raised everyone has a choice and it is our choices that make us who we are. Through his journey, you see how wonderful a person he really is. The world would be a better place if we had more people like Maia.
Maia truly has a heart, which you can tell is unexpected. Even his sister was surprised when she realized that he really cared about what she wanted to do with her life. He saw her as a person and not just a pawn to be used. Part of what makes Maia such a good emperor is due to the fact that he was not raised to be above everyone. He is more accepting of what previous emperors would not have allowed to happen. For example, by the end of the book, one of his guards is a woman.

Maybe what I needed at this time was Maia. No matter how horrible his past was he is trying so desperately to be a good person. He is a good reminder that no matter what situation we are in or who we are dealing with we can always strive to be better.

Wow! Maia was so gentle and genuine. I just wanted to bundle him up and never let him face any hardships. The telling of the story could have gone faster but I liked the dynamic relationships between Maia and his court. Pacing was a struggle but it got to where it needed to be. Lots of allegories for racial tension and what it means to be of a different race than everyone around you and their prejudices. 3.5 rounded up to 4 for narration!