#the goblin emperor

[abigailspinach]

#maia was nice to csevet for one minute#and csevet was like “is anyone going to run the covert political machine underpinning the emperor's power” and didn't wait for an answer#when he was like. not only would i read your mail but i wouldn't be a fucking amateur about it#the goblin emperor

the whole courier fleet idea from the goblin emperor is simply so good, like YEAH it's a job for people that would have otherwise been prostitutes and instead only SOME of them are prostitutes but ALL of them are sneaky conniving little runners who know everything about everyone and read your mail

[grendel-menz]

wonder tales and cloud bridges

[aethersea]

A neat thing about The Goblin Emperor is that while it's a classic trope of the lost heir plunged into a morass of courtly intrigue where he has no idea whom he can trust, the very first thing it does is emphasize how much he has to choose to trust anyway. Maia has to trust the head of his household to appoint his body servants, and he has to trust those servants. He has to trust the adremaza to appoint his nohecharei, and he has to trust his nohecharei. Any one of these people could kill him. Any one of them could carry gossip to his enemies, or make him look bad in public and thus weaken him in the eyes of the court. But if he so much as implies a discomfort with these choices, he'll offend powerful people without cause – and anyway, how could he possibly pick better? He has no idea what he's doing. He's forced to rely on people. He's forced to trust. The only person he actually personally chooses is Csevet, and what he chooses to do is essentially hand Csevet the keys to the empire. He got so fucking lucky there, that could have gone so incredibly badly.

But it didn't. Because, as the book emphasizes, trust is the right choice. Even when it does go badly, even when he is betrayed, that doesn't mean the trust was wrong. Because when one person betrays him, every single other person around him shows how truly loyal they are, not only by rushing to his aid, but by caring so deeply and obviously about him.

That's why this book feels so odd for its genre: there's a bunch of complex courtly intrigue going on, but Maia never plays the game. He never schemes, he's never playing 5D chess with his enemies. He has to navigate the factions of the court and try to win them to his side, but he does so by being kind and forthright. He's completely blindsided by the coup attempts, and frankly so are we, because he's just been focusing on other stuff! And he survives them, not through his own cunning, but through the love of those he placed his trust in.

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

I still haven't gotten around to reading the Goblin Emperor but I'm obsessed with how fans talk about it on here they're like NOTHING happens but POLITICS for FOUR HUNDRED PAGES the protagonist is TRAPPED in MACHINES OF POWER and can do NOTHING TO ESCAPE he has NO FREE WILL he also has SOCIAL ANXIETY this is the BEST BOOK I'VE EVER READ

[hapalopus]

"Min Venchin is using you"

"We would have cherished a daughter"

"Quietly, Kiru began to sing."

And since we already have two quotes from this paragraph and I was about to add a third - this entire paragraph:

So many lines from TGE live rent free in my head and they all make me feel every emotion at once. "Tell me your name" "Plainly, I hate him" "She has the sense not to frighten you" "Setheris punished me for talking too much" "We do not find our sister's notions ridiculous" "We consider it cruel" "The Adremaza was wrong" "Study the stars" "We wish to see the bridge work" etc etc

[bobellafofella]

He said lamely, "She is very beautiful." "And she has the sense not to frighten you," Dach'osmin Ceredin said, and Maia took a step back, wanting to protest her deduction, but unable to deny its truth. "We should take lessons from her, we see."

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison is one of my favorite books of all time, and within it, one of my favorite scenes is Maia and Csethiro's first real interaction at Nurevis' party! so i drew it. their slow romance is so delicious.

[mostlyghostie]

New commission!

I had started this in good time, then impulsively peeled off my screen protector because it got too dirty, not realising that I’m now so used to drawing with one on that I was incapable of continuing without ordering another, so I just got finished in time to retain my coveted Etsy perfect shipping record. Stressful!

Which of these have you read?

[asmywhimseytakesme]

I’ve been re reading The Goblin Emperor and having feelings about it.

[ace-artemis-fanartist]

Sad gay and grieving elf man feeding the stray cats every night.

aka Thara Celehar from The Witness for the Dead.

[apollinaresart]

I read The Goblin Emperor last week and it lives in my head rent free now I guess

Csevet is a morning person. Maia… is not

[exercise-of-trust]

more areas of overlap that i don't have room to edit in: unfashionably religious, significant scars, terrifying grandfather, hates killing people, fractious barons, etc etc etc

[hapalopus]

The Goblin Emperor has the funniest answer to "why am I the only one in my family who wasn't assassinated" and the answer is that the assassin forgot you existed. Thought they could overtake the government by killing the entire royal family but oops they genuinely just forgot that the emperor had a 4th son.

[grendel-menz]

it's licherally my calling...

[freckles-and-books]

I’m glad that I trusted I would like this book and bought the fancy editions of it and its companions, because I’m quite obsessed so far.

[calaathmaza]

[ID: a three panel comic depicting maia, cala, beshelar, and eshevis tethimar from the goblin emperor. 1) maia seated at the throne, his nohecharei behind him. he looks very weary and is saying, "what is your concern, dach'osmer tethimar?" the nohecharei look on past maia in suspicion and disapproval. 2) a closeup of tethimar, looking darkly upward and saying, "our concern...? our concern is..." he launches up, pulling a long, thin knife through the air, cloak billowing behind him as he says, "A KNIFE!" 3) cala and beshelar crowd in front of maia, who looks horrified. cala holds up a hand crackling with maz, and beshelar raises one arm in front of him, the other shielding maia. both are yelling, "NO!!!" end ID]

let me see what you have!!!! A KNIFE

this was @lollians 's idea thank you my beloved

redbubble

[eggcats]

In my opinion, the funniest thing is reading The Goblin Emperor and meeting Thara Celehar, who acts like he's fucking ancient and ready to die of old age, and then you get to The Witness for the Dead and you find out this bitch is like, 30 years old