The Goblin Emperor by Katherine AddisonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
"It is the nature of all persons to hold on to power when they have it. Thus it stagnates and becomes clouded, poisonous... You do not hold on to power as your father and grandfather did. You are not afraid to let it go. And you have new ideas, ideas that no emperor before you has ever had."
This was a beautifully written fantasy novel that is rather unlike the grand epics that populate the genre. But in a good way. This is an intimate book in scale, about the trials of a lonely boy forgotten by the world, untrained for his royal destiny. Will he rise to the occasion, or will he be done away with by those mad for power? The author focuses the lens of her pen on one person, on one location. But if it is the royal palace full of noblemen who bristle at an outsider's rule, then of course there is no shortage of intrigue and murderous violence that truly surprised this reader (I yelped quite a few times because of the KABLAM-ASSASSINATION-ATTEMPT-THAT-I-NEVER-SAW-COMING moments)!
One thing that sets the novel apart: its protagonist is downright ugly (He's half goblin). The racism in the book comes from the more beautiful elves who look down on the "uglier" goblin race.
But then one terrible murderous assassination kills the reigning emperor and his three heirs simultaneously. And thus the fourth son -- whom the father addressed as "that damned whelp who looks just like his mother" and banished for 18 years -- is suddenly next in line for the Untheileneise throne.
Addison's world building is immense. Hers is a world with hundreds of characters, all of them with specifically chosen names that bear no resemblance to names in real life. And so many traditions and proper nouns are also named, helpfully listed in the 14 page appendix at the back. The sheer force of imagination that went into this book is remarkable, as the details are dense and shimmer and breathe with a life of their own. However, as a reader unfamiliar with these elvish and goblin names, I would recommend setting it aside for focused, straight reading on a weekend. Don't make the mistake I did: finishing 5 chapters, putting it down and picking it up again after 22 months. I had to start again from the very first page, hehe.
The theme of reluctant-yet-virtuous-ruler seems particularly timely in a weekend that will go down in Philippine history as one of the most dizzying in politics.
I knew this book was special because, when I put it down, I found myself truly caring for the innocent king. True, he knew nothing of politics, but that made him purer and with a heart bent towards serving instead of being served. Cynics around him scoffed and said he wasn't fit to rule, but those in his innermost circle saw that this innocence was worth protecting, that he hadn't been corrupted by all the power-grabbing in court.
Instead of focusing on vengeance and chess moves, he spent his time learning about what his people needed. He sought to bring elf and goblin closer together. He hadn't wanted this power, but now that he had it, he tried to use it to bring order to a fantasy world that so closely resembled our real one.
And all I could think of during this political circus of weekend was: perhaps this is the kind of leader that we need.
"He knew that if the rest of his life was spent in building bridges, it would be no bad thing."
Looking forward to reading Book 2 (The Speaker for the Dead), which came out this year!!
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