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I read the last of the non-puppy Hugo for Best Novel finalists, Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor. I thought it was really good. It's my favorite to win. (I probably will read the Puppy finalists, and the Kloos book as well, but I still may choose to No-Award them for political reasons even if I like them.)
I think I've read that Addison/Monette considers the book a standalone, which is fine- narratively it stands alone just fine- but the worldbuilding is exceptionally fine and detailed for a single volume secondary world fantasy. There are many regions and world elements that are hinted at in fascinating ways but not developed, all of which serves to make the world feel really immersive. Though it should be noted that the other way to look at it is to say that the novel strongly violates Randall Munroe's Fiction Rule of Thumb, and as GRRM says, it probably needed a map.
My favorite structural thing about The Goblin Emperor is that it's a fantasy world with no humans. This has been a thing I have wanted to see more of for a while. There are goblins and there are elves, and I think they hint at some trolls, but there are no humans and Addison is able to develop the tropey elves and goblins of classic High Fantasy into something richer and more unique by developing them without any consideration of their relationship to humans.
The complaint people have about the book is also its greatest virtue- it is a warm-hearted novel about finding people you can trust and building something together, and even though at times it looks like it's going to be full of courtly intrigue and betrayals, there are no surprising revelations of treachery. Everyone who appears trustworthy is, basically. Everyone who seems like a bad guy is a bad guy, to one degree or another. The result is that The Goblin Emperor is basically a story about a group of friends working together to figure out how government works.
Something I particularly liked about that was the book's curious preoccupation with and fascination with the way large institutions get enough momentum to sort of run on their own. Which of course isn't because institutions actually run on their own, it's because there are people doing things invisibly, and Addison spends a lot of time pulling those invisible pieces out and looking at them, and I thought that was a really interesting and effective approach. The questions Maia is asking throughout the book were things like "How does trade work?"; "How does an emperor influence trade?"; "How do cabinet meetings work"; "How does an emperor influence such meetings?"; "How does class work in an overtly tiered society, and how can one make it work better without offending the people with a vested interest in the system?" Maia brushing up against invisible limits and rules was endlessly fascinating.
I think I've read that Addison/Monette considers the book a standalone, which is fine- narratively it stands alone just fine- but the worldbuilding is exceptionally fine and detailed for a single volume secondary world fantasy. There are many regions and world elements that are hinted at in fascinating ways but not developed, all of which serves to make the world feel really immersive. Though it should be noted that the other way to look at it is to say that the novel strongly violates Randall Munroe's Fiction Rule of Thumb, and as GRRM says, it probably needed a map.
My favorite structural thing about The Goblin Emperor is that it's a fantasy world with no humans. This has been a thing I have wanted to see more of for a while. There are goblins and there are elves, and I think they hint at some trolls, but there are no humans and Addison is able to develop the tropey elves and goblins of classic High Fantasy into something richer and more unique by developing them without any consideration of their relationship to humans.
The complaint people have about the book is also its greatest virtue- it is a warm-hearted novel about finding people you can trust and building something together, and even though at times it looks like it's going to be full of courtly intrigue and betrayals, there are no surprising revelations of treachery. Everyone who appears trustworthy is, basically. Everyone who seems like a bad guy is a bad guy, to one degree or another. The result is that The Goblin Emperor is basically a story about a group of friends working together to figure out how government works.
Something I particularly liked about that was the book's curious preoccupation with and fascination with the way large institutions get enough momentum to sort of run on their own. Which of course isn't because institutions actually run on their own, it's because there are people doing things invisibly, and Addison spends a lot of time pulling those invisible pieces out and looking at them, and I thought that was a really interesting and effective approach. The questions Maia is asking throughout the book were things like "How does trade work?"; "How does an emperor influence trade?"; "How do cabinet meetings work"; "How does an emperor influence such meetings?"; "How does class work in an overtly tiered society, and how can one make it work better without offending the people with a vested interest in the system?" Maia brushing up against invisible limits and rules was endlessly fascinating.