I vigorously recommend it, and I really hope that there’s a sequel in the works. It’s certainly my favourite of the last great while, and though it’s early days yet, I suspect it may be the best single novel I read this year. the best fantasy I’ve read in quite some time. A book you pick up and read when you’re tired and sad, and all unexpected it’s like being wrapped up in a comforting warm fuzzy blanket of glorious worldbuilding and shiny prose and decent people doing the best they know how.

Addison’s worldbuilding is delightfully detailed and thorough. The sheer compelling attractiveness of Maia’s character figures larger. a deeply engrossing read-every time I open a page, I find I simply get drawn into the story, but this is only partly because of Addison’s excellent ability to turn a phrase. The tone is overall much more hopeful, and the main character here far more likable, than in any of her previous novels. Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor is an exciting fantasy novel, set against the pageantry and color of a fascinating, unique world, is a memorable debut for a great new talent. It should be emphasised right up front that while the worldbuilding is every bit as detailed and baroque as her previous solo novels under her other name, the mood leans far less toward the noir than The Doctrine of Labyrinths.

The goblin emperor by katherine addison