#also definitely felt different from iskryne and doctrine of labyrinths. obviously

[wiltking]

finished the goblin emperor. pretty much only have good things to say about it. did not expect it to be so wordy and dare i say crawling at times, but i appreciate how it dared to keep to its own pace and say everything it wanted to say and i was never bored with any of it. also enjoyed how the chapters were (mostly) contained to their own little event in maia's new life as an emperor with the cute detail of chapter titles. the characters also felt very effectively characterized, even the ones who only had a few lines or pages to make their presence felt. the world, too, felt very detailed and well thought-out without hammering a whole bunch of lore onto the reader. you can really feel the enthusiasm and curiosity katherine addison had for this world and its characters, but the way in which it was presented felt very... contained? strange to say for a 400+ page book, but i mean it had a very satisfying balance of presenting us the most interesting parts of these character's personalities and histories and society without overloading us with, what i am sure, was a very extensive worldbuilding document. very satisfying read for enjoyers of immersive fantasy court politics. with goblins and elves front and center!