Comments | rymenhild: Review: Katherine Addison, The Goblin Emperor

rymenhild

Review: Katherine Addison, The Goblin Emperor

Apr 10, 2014 12:58

I have been trying to write a review of Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette)'s new novel, The Goblin Emperor, and it's coming out in clichés: A beautiful book, a moving book, a book about loyalty and building cross-cultural bridges and making a place for oneself in a terrifying world, a book I did not want to end.

( More detailed comments behind the cut. Some general, unspecific spoilers for Goblin Emperor; some references to plot and character developments in Doctrine of Labyrinths. )

books, criticism

Comments 6

osprey_archer April 10 2014, 21:31:19 UTC

I've been meaning to read this book! Everyone has said wonderful things about it.

I share your mixed feelings about the Doctrine of Labyrinths. I love the worldbuilding, and Mildmay (and I also loved Kay when he showed up in book 4), and for the first couple of books I though Mildmay and Felix's massively dysfunctional loyalty to each other was sweet in a messed up way. I mean, they're not good for each other, but it doesn't seem like they'd be better off alone.

But by about the middle of The Mirador I was just like, RUN LIKE THE WIND, MILDMAY. Or rather, limp like the wind. Crawl like the wind if you have to, just get away from Felix, because at that point Felix was pretty much emotionally abusive all the time. I could deal with his occasional massive fuck-ups, but the constant drip drip drip of his sneering wearing away at Mildmay's self-esteem, ugh. Especially given that the obligation d'ame makes it impossible for him to leave ( ... )

rymenhild April 10 2014, 23:51:00 UTC

Yes, what you said. Although I think I decided that Felix was in Mildmay's way and needed to get out by early in book 2. As I recall, as soon as Felix was capable of having a conversation with Mildmay, he used that capability to insult Mildmay. I was not charmed.

osprey_archer April 11 2014, 02:36:32 UTC

And right after Mildmay all but carried Felix across a continent, too. What an ungrateful brat Felix can be.

ladybird97 April 11 2014, 00:32:41 UTC

Oh, yay, thank you! This book is sitting in my to-read pile, and I'm glad I won't be disappointed!

Have you read The Bone Key? It's by the same author writing under a different name, and it's really really good - basically, Lovecraftian stories, except without Lovecraft's bigotry and with a really great bi protagonist.

osprey_archer April 11 2014, 02:38:58 UTC

I enjoyed The Bone Key. I didn't find the stories frightening, precisely, but the atmosphere was great, and Kyle Murchison Booth's various anxieties contribute almost as much as the Lovecraftian horrors themselves. (Is he bi? I thought he was gay, in between the incubus and that school friend he was in love with. Is there a female love interest I've forgotten?)

ladybird97 April 11 2014, 02:44:47 UTC

I actually went back and forth before describing him as bi. There was a woman who asked him out, and I thought that his affection/attraction for her was sincere, although not as intense as for the incubus or the school friend. So...maybe gay? Maybe bi, but with stronger relationships with men? Definitely not straight.

And either way, the stories are really good :)