Review: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

Published: Tor, 2014

Awards Nominated: Nebula, Hugo and World Fantasy Awards

Awards Won: Locus Fantasy Award

The Book:

“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.” ~WWEnd.com

This is the first book I’ve read by Katherine Addison, and to be honest I wasn’t sure it was going to be my style. It has shown up on enough “Best of 2014” lists and award lists that I was willing to give it a shot.  It is pretty much the style of story I had expected, but it’s also quite a fun book.

My Thoughts:

The Goblin Emperor seems to me somewhat similar to a Victorian novel, though it is obviously not set in our world’s Victorian era.  I believe this impression was created through the strict social stratification, the focus on class and etiquette, the aristocratic setting and the heavy emphasis on polite dialogue. As in most Victorian novels I have read (admittedly, few), the social situation that surrounded the protagonist was filled with many different subplots quietly moving along. Most of these stories involved dilemmas of class, romance, interpersonal relationships and court intrigue, and it seemed their resolution was mostly achieved through meetings and conversation.  The pace is very slow and measured as Maia goes through his daily life as emperor in a court populated by many, many minor characters. In general, if you’re not a fan of the style or slow pace of the beginning of the book, I would say you’re unlikely to change your mind by the end.  However, if you get into the flow of the story, it is very entertaining to see how all of the different situations slowly progress.

Though The Goblin Emperor is set in a world of goblins and elves, it sometimes felt like it was only barely a fantasy story.  The main fantasy element was that the two cultures chosen as the basis of the story are fictional-- that they are non-human is largely irrelevant, and they do not really map to the standard fantasy ideas of ‘elf’ and ‘goblin’. The cultures are described in great detail and the world that Maia inhabits feels very real and natural, though some details interested me more than others.  For instance, there is quite a lot of information about how one addresses a man or a woman of various rank and marital status, which fleshes out the rules of the aristocracy but is not of much interest to me.  Other things that stay largely in the background intrigue me more, such as the workings of a religious Witness, a kind of supernatural detective.  I enjoyed the more unusual quirks of the elven and goblin culture, but sometimes found myself impatient with the minutiae of social norms.

For me, it was the character of Maia and his growth that kept me interested in the story.  He grew up through grief and then an abusive home to become a very fair and decent young man.  He had not been trained for his new position, but he threw himself into learning his new role, even when it seemed a hopeless task.  I felt for him as he struggled through feeling like an imposter, through processing his old grief for his mother, and through learning that he really doesn’t have to--and in fact, he can’t--please everyone.  As an outsider to the court, he had perhaps more ability to think outside of established norms, and I appreciated his determination to not let tradition replace reason and compassion.  It was a slow story, but it was kind of a coming-of-age story for Maia, with the added pressure of potential coup d’etats and/or assassinations.  I appreciated where the conclusion left Maia, though part of the resolution of the story was a little philosophically unsettling.

My Rating: 4 /5  

The Goblin Emperor is not the style of book I usually read, but in this case I’m happy the Hugo nominations prompted me to give it a try.  The heart of the book is with the character Maia, a truly decent and compassionate person who is thrust into a difficult political situation.  I enjoyed watching him grow and learn how to navigate his new world, and some of the general problems he faces (entrenched traditions, imposter syndrome, a tendency to people-please) are very relatable.  The story focuses on his daily life, and so it meanders along through many subplots with many, many characters.  The story moves forward in a very sedate manner, heavy on dialogue and light on action.  Though things sometimes moved a bit too slowly for my taste, I enjoyed getting to know Maia and seeing his carefully-imagined world.  

Review: Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton

Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton

Published: Tor, 2003

Awards Won: World Fantasy Award

The Book:

“Here is a tale of a family dealing with the death of their father, a son who goes to court for his inheritance, a son who agonizes over his father’s deathbed confession, a daughter who falls in love, a daughter who becomes involved in the abolition movement, and a daughter sacrificing herself for her husband.

Here is what sounds for all the world like an enjoyable Victorian novel, perhaps by Anthony Trollope…except that everyone in the story is a dragon, red in tooth and claw.

Here are politics and train stations, churchmen and family retainers, courtship, and country houses…in which, on the death of an elder, family members gather to eat the body of the deceased. In which society’s high and mighty members avail themselves of the privilege of killing and eating the weaker children, which they do with ceremony and relish, growing stronger thereby.” ~barnesandnoble.com

This is the second novel of Walton’s that I’ve read, the first being her entertaining alternate history/murder mystery novel Farthing.  Tooth and Claw is written in a very different style than Farthing, but it is an equally smooth and entertaining read.  Tooth and Claw was the November selection for last year’s Women in Fantasy Book Club, and with this review, I’ve completed the year of novels!

My Thoughts:

Tooth and Claw has been described as being similar to Anthony Trollope’s Framley Parsonage.  I’m not really a Victorian romance aficionado, so I have no experience with Trollope’s work.  However, I’ve also heard the novel referred to as “Pride and Prejudice and Dragons”.  I’ve read Pride and Prejudice, and I can say that it did feel similar in style to Jane Austen.  Though Tooth and Claw follows the conventions of 19^th century romance novels, it is not a retelling of any particular story. This is not merely a gimmicky dragon-insertion into a Victorian novel, but rather a well-constructed tale with inherent absurd humor that adds rather than subtracts from the story.

Referring to Trollope’s novels, Walton states in a foreword, "People aren't like that. Women, especially, aren't like that. This novel is the result of wondering what a world would be like if they were, if the axioms of the sentimental Victorian novel were inescapable laws of biology." For instance, maiden dragons’ lovely golden scales blush irreversibly pink when they are sexually awakened by close proximity to a male dragon.  Thus the ‘corruption’ of a young lady’s innocence actually has public, physical meaning.  

All in all, I was highly impressed by how well Walton’s idea of dragon physiology fit with 19^th century society, all while somehow maintaining the fundamental qualities of dragon nature.   High society has kind of a veneer of civility over an undercurrent of ambition, and I think the use of dragons as characters highlights these thinly masked predatorial tendencies. In this society, for example, dragons gain rank and respect through growing physically larger, which only happens if they consume weaker dragons. This essential violence is neatly wrapped up in civilized rules that govern who is to be eaten and who is allowed to do the eating.  I would never have imagined that dragon nature could mesh so naturally with Victorian society.

Tooth and Claw features a large cast, and the characters are basically the types you might see in a 19^th century romance. There were pious and impious parsons, low-dowry ladies searching desperately for husbands, an up-and-coming young man out to avenge the wrongs committed against his family, a wayward, good-natured, young nobleman, a ‘ruined’ woman with a mysterious past, and more.  The characters change very little, and that in predictable ways, but that doesn’t stop them from being absolutely charming.  I was surprised by how easy it was to get caught up in each of their hopes and fears, and how quickly I found myself rooting for or against various dragons.  Walton took characters that could have been boring clichés, and made them interesting and endearing.

While this kind of story is usually ultimately predictable, there were pleasant surprises along the way.  The novel mostly followed the stories of Selendra and Haner (the two lady dragons with a dowry problems) and their brother Avan (who takes a powerful nobleman to court over his inheritance).  These three stories eventually came together delightfully well, fitting together like puzzle pieces.  This is the kind of novel where, even if you can see the resolution coming a mile away, the journey is still a pleasure.  

My Rating: 4/5

Tooth and Claw is a charming, funny, and all-around pleasant story.  In style and content, it definitely follows in the footsteps of 19^th century novels.  Tooth and Claw works within the conventions of Victorian fiction to tell a well-constructed, social story of a high society peopled by dragons.  The large cast was full of engaging characters that were easy to either love or hate. I think this is a story that could have come over feeling very gimmicky and forced, but I was impressed by how the dragon society seem to naturally fit both dragon nature and the conventions of Victorian fiction.  I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and I look forward to reading much more of Walton’s work in the future!