This week, I received some interesting news. A book I’d thought to be a rare standalone fantasy work will be receiving a sequel! I am talking about Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. The sequel is still a long ways off… but it’s also a good opportunity to introduce this book to our readers.
An unlikely Emperor
The titular “goblin emperor” is our protagonist, by the name of Maia. He is, in fact, half-goblin… which brings us to the first peculiarity of the setting. It takes place in Ethuveraz, also known as elflands, an elven empire. Maia is the son of the previous emperor, but his mother was a goblin.
Unlike in most fantasy, though, goblins and elves differ physically about as much as different human ethnicities. Goblins have dark skin, where elves are pale, and their eyes have different colors, but that’s about it. They can mix freely, with many people of mixed heritage appearing all over. Needless to say, political and ethnic tensions happen and in fact play a major part of the story.
When we meet Maia, he’s living in Edonomee, a manor in the middle of nowhere, where his father, Varenechibel IV, had placed him. You see, while a son of the Emperor and thus technically an heir to the throne, Maia wasn’t exactly his father’s favorite. His father married Chenelo, Maia’s mother and the daughter of the goblin ruler, for political convenience and wanted little to do with her afterwards.
When she died, Maia remained in a nigh-empty manor with only a handful of servants and Maia’s abusive, alcoholic cousin (whose placement there was a punishment) to look after him. Maia met his father exactly once, at his mother’s funeral, at which point the emperor remarked that “the whelp looks just like his mother.” Let’s just take a moment to pity poor Maia.
That is, until His Imperial Serenity Varenechibel IV and his three sons die in an airship crash leaving the half-goblin son he barely acknowledged as the sole heir to the throne. Maia is suddenly torn away from his dreary, unhappy home and thrust into the robes of the emperor, despite having no clue whatsoever what it involves.
Indeed, Maia is as clueless as we are about the workings of the Ethuveraz when we begin the story. His father’s concern for his education was even less than his concern for Maia in general. Ending up in a position you have no idea how to fulfill is stressful for anyone anywhere, and poor Maia’s sudden position is that of an emperor. Of an empire that’s not any nicer than empires generally are.
A very thick setting
This is unfortunately where the book’s first flaw comes in. We are introduced to many facts about the Ethuveraz at a break-neck pace. This puts us in the same state of acute confusion Maia is, although of course we don’t get his crushing anxiety, near-constant state of at least mild panic, and a deep wish he were anywhere else. This is realistic, but from a reader’s perspective feels a bit like cramming for a history exam the day before. The names of the people, their titles, the buildings, and the functions all blur together.
Of course, litanies of excessive world-building aren’t exactly an uncommon thing in fantasy, are they? And here at least we have a protagonist as ignorant as we are, so we learn at his pace. Which is considerable. Maia is a clever kid, but this is just too much for him.
But what do we find out as we explore the elven empire with Maia? As I said, it’s not a particularly nice place. It’s rife with social inequity – from the rich, ambitious noble houses to the masses of laborers breaking their backs to support them. It’s deeply patriarchal – a woman is her husband’s property in all but name. Finally, it’s racist – goblins and people with goblin heritage are looked down upon as barbarians.
A somewhat unusual feature of the setting is that it’s industrial. Ethuveraz is full of somewhat steampunk technology, such as the airships. There’s also some sophisticated clockwork contraptions – a fairly major plot in the books is an attempt to build a collapsible bridge. Unfortunately, it also means that the condition in factories and workshops are inhuman… or is it inelven?
Needless to say, the ascension of a half-goblin kid to the throne shakes things up considerably. Maia is ignorant, of course, but he is also not sheltered by the massive wealth and privilege that the noble houses live in. Moreover, he is simply a good, kind person. He wants to be friends with people around him, but unfortunately, to them he’s the emperor now.
Once Maia realizes that he can’t be friends with people around him, though, he never stops thinking in ways that are largely alien to the imperial court. To the highborn, the servants, workers, and commoners are background at best. They enable their lavish lifestyle and political ambitious but deserve no further consideration. Not so with Maia. He sees them as people, which shakes things up more than anyone expects.
I should note here that the message and atmosphere of the book are ultimately optimistic. While Maia goes through many hardships and his attempts at doing good often don’t work, eventually they do. While I obviously won’t go into detail about how it happens, it’s something to remember. Maia is a good and caring person who ends up in the center of a system of privilege, oppression, and tradition. He’s not going to upend it in a day, but he works to face it on his terms.
No humans in evidence
You may have noticed that while I’ve mentioned elves and goblins, I haven’t mentioned humans. That’s because there are none. There’s some mention of another race of people who don’t seem to be elves or goblins, but they apparently have sharp teeth, so they don’t exactly sound human.
You might wonder, why even have elves and goblins if they might as well be just human ethnicities? I think it does add some flavor to the story, myself. It’s a way for us to realize it’s not quite what we’re used to. One feature both elves and goblins display is their expressive ears. They’re described as moving to display their owners’ emotions, such as lying flat on their heads if they’re upset or distressed.
If it’s fantasy, you may ask, is there any magic? There is, but it occupies a curious role, a minor one. There are people who we’d call wizards, but in the book’s copious internal glossary they’re referred to as “mazei.” They do cast spells, but we only ever see one spell, with another one happening off-screen. Nonetheless, one of the emperor’s two bodyguards is a magician (the other one is a soldier). The emperor has four bodyguards, actually, but they take shifts. Two of them must attend him at all times. Including when he sleeps. Or, yes, when he consummates his marriage with his empress. If this sounds incredibly awkward to you, just imagine how Maia feels about the prospect.
Much more important to the plot is the ability to speak with the dead, which a priest of the god of the dead displays. It’s not exactly reliable, but enough so that his visions are legal testimonies (even in one case where he really wishes they weren’t). Does it mean the gods the elves and goblins worship are real? We don’t really get to find out.
Goblin Emperor shows us a fantasy world and a great empire, warts and all. It’s the story of how someone everyone thought was the worst possible person in the worst possible place turned out to be the right person for the job after all. What will the sequel show us? It will apparently take place during Maia’s reign, but he won’t be a viewpoint character. I won’t be surprised if the latter is the case; the first book mostly finishes his character arc. So, I am eager to find out where the next one takes us.
