Charlotte Kersten

‘We consider it cruel,’ Maia said. ‘And we do not think that cruelty is ever just.’

Year published: 2014

Categories: Adult, steampunk fantasy

Summary: 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.”

My Thoughts: Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a dragon’s hoard of Elf Boys that I would die for. After the first few pages of this book, I was already entirely certain that Maia was going to join the ranks  – he is simply one of the most precious, wonderful characters I’ve ever had the pleasure to read about. There are few characters that I can unabashedly say that I love, and he is now one of them. He is a sweet, kind person who is determined to be good to others around him, and over the course of the novel he overcomes his shyness and insecurity, coming into his own and learning how to better exist in a demanding new world. I loved seeing him grow in capability and self-confidence, and I think the fundamental message is that goodness is ultimately rewarded with goodness in kind, that his unpretentious, genuine way of relating with others around him does truly make a difference. It’s an incredibly comforting, cathartic, hopeful thing to read.

I loved seeing characters gradually come to look past the title of Emperor to come to know Maia for who he truly is and begin to care for him for the wonderful person he is, and it helps that all of the other characters are just as well-written and interesting, from Setheris to Cala and Celehar. The relationship with Setheris is especially interesting, as the formerly abusive guardian figure is suddenly at the utter mercy of the boy that he tormented and despised for years. Not going to lie, this particular aspect of the story is also incredibly cathartic, and I really understood Maia’s choice  to put aside the temptation of revenge, instead arranging circumstances in order to simply be free from Setheris’s influence over his life.

The setting is beautifully realized, opulent and fascinating, but herein lies my main struggle with The Goblin Emperor: the sheer number of incredibly difficult elf names to remember, from courtiers to government members, parts of the world and parts of the government. There is a glossary in the back that was really helpful, and the rest I usually managed to figure out using context clues. Is it just me, or am I getting better and better at understanding complex fantasy world-building?

The Steampunk setting is an interesting one, and I have to say that it stands out among the crowd of Steampunk that I’ve previously read because it manages to make the world all its own while looking past the cool asethetics to get to the heart of what makes the Victorian/industrial setting so fascinating and ripe for exploration: the social tumult and instability and the rapid changes leading to tension and uncertainty. To talk a little more about that, it’s time for the next section!

Part of what makes me love Maia as much as I do is the fact that he is so acutely aware of and empathetic about the plight of people who do not have power in society or are treated as lesser-than, having known this from his own experiences before becoming emperor. This shows in his relationship with his sister Vedero – he refuses to force her into marriage, instead encouraging her to continue in her pursuit of astronomy. The women in this book are all women who fight to find a place for themselves in a patriarchal world, from his fiancee Ceredin who swordfights and speaks her mind to Vedero and her scholar friends determined to find a place for women outside marriage and motherhood, the woman who was overlooked for the honor of becoming his personal guard until Maia chooses her and the opera singer who tries to use Maia’s crush on her to get him to learn about her sister’s plans for a bridge. Maia respects and understands them in a way that his father did not.

The last thing that I want to discuss in this section is the group of people behind the bombing that leads to Maia’s reign. I would have loved to see this bit of world-building developed in more detail, and it would have been