#the goblin emperor

[grendel-menz]

wonder tales and cloud bridges

[bicokun]

I was kind of surprised this was an American novel, because it sounds exactly like what I’d expect in one of those Korean isekai on Webtoon.

imagine: you're a minimum wage mail carrier. you have to deliver a letter to some guy's house WAY out in the middle of nowhere. the letter tells him he was elected president. the guy didn't know he was running for president. a month later you're secretary of state and directly advising the president on nuclear policy.

this is the plot of the goblin emperor from csevet's point of view.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[stitchlingbelle]

Oh Csevet was 100% smashing them together like paper dolls. Saw the chance to make his ship happen and he took it.

There is no way it's an accident that Maia and Csthiro got along so well.

Maia: Who should I marry? From a political standpoint?

Csevet (who has been reading all these people's mail for years and gossiping with the other messengers about them): Well mending bridges with the Ceredada would be good, I think

Csevet in his head: Csethiro is either going to stab him or become his best friend. Possibly both.

[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

[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.

[siena-sevenwits]

Any storyteller at all: Do you want to hear a story about a guy who was never meant to be king, but ended up having to take the throne? And it was hard.

Me: Oooooooh?

The storyteller: And not just hard in itself - there was sinister plotting beneath the surface, and interpersonal stuff was complicated too.

Me: Oooooooooh!

[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

[hapalopus]

[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

[nerves-nebula]

losing an ideological debate against the guy who killed my dad and put me on the throne because he believes that I will be a good change in this world and I'm trying to convince him that the people he killed weren't worth it but he's actually kind of 100% correct in saying that what I'll do for the common folk will save way more lives than he killed and he's satisfied with that and he's kind of got a crazy look in his eyes but that doesn't mean he isn't right