The Goblin Emperor

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison.

What if the emperor was a decent guy?

Poor Maia is the 4th son of the elvish emperor, consigned to a remote manor with his abusive uncle for the crime of being born to a wife the emperor didn't like very much. Or at least he was, until the airship his father and three brothers were on exploded, making him the new emperor.

Growing up with no one to talk to other than a drunken uncle who beats you for fun is perhaps not the most standard training for emperorhood, but Maia does his best regardless. His lack of courtly manners and knowledge of 'how we do things here' may cause an occasional faux pas, but he quickly proves the worth of listening to people who know more than you (even if he got very lucky having anyone loyal to him at all, let alone someone as competent as Csevet). There are quite a few things which just kinda... work out for him, but there are also enough instances of him taking the initiative and doing the right thing to make them feel earned.

I came here expecting to find out more of Celehar's backstory after reading The Witness for the Dead, but it turns out I wasn't missing much I couldn't infer from the few scraps in that book. There's a bit more info on how he got roped into investigating the airship explosion and some clarification of who Evru was to him, but not much.

Despite not getting what I came for I'm happy I read this, once again I can't put my finger on why but it was a nice read. Maia is just a generally good dude thrust into a situation he's not at all equipped to deal with, and watching him slowly work through it and settle into his role was a relaxing, satisfying journey. I'll keep going with the series (from the start this time) and see how it goes.