I just finished reading The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison, for the second time.

To put it simply, I love this book.

There’s a certain subgenre of fantasy story that is about an outsider to the court being summoned to the seat of power and being told that they’re the new queen or emperor or whatever. I’ve read a few of them recently. It’s the old daydream about finding out that you’re really the heir to the kingdom, except then the author takes it further and examines what that would actually be like, with all the reactionary factions who don’t want an outsider on the throne, all the politics and intrigue that follow, and all the weird little customs of whatever fantasy nation they’ve created. The Goblin Emperor is the best example of this niche subgenre I have ever read, and if you read many of my other reviews you’ll have noticed that it’s the book I inevitably compare every similar novel to.

There’s just so much delicious detail in this book. Everything, from the language to all the little rituals of being emperor of the elves, has been given careful attention. The most dramatic situations are all conversations full of nuance rather than straight-up action scenes, and they’re all great. I cannot emphasize enough how well this book works despite being entirely about subtle court intrigue and bureaucracy. The workings of the government and the logistics of turning an exile into an emperor and the emotional tolls and rewards for everyone involved are explored with a thoroughness that is never boring, never dry or dull, and always fascinating (EDIT: to me, at least. I recommended this book to a friend who couldn’t get through it because of the same things that I love about it, so maybe attune your expectations accordingly).

Maia, the titular goblin emperor, is a character who I really wish I could spend more time with, even after reading a full novel that never deviated from his perspective. He’s a bewildered and at times petulant young man, but his extreme self-awareness of his own flaws, his willingness to correct them, and his earnest efforts to change his inherited government into something a little more democratic and a little friendlier towards its subjects, makes following his arc endlessly delightful. It’s a feel-good, optimistic story hidden behind a lot of tragedy and formal details about life in the grand palace of the Elflands. I really wish I could spend more time with this kid, and with the rest of his court, because they’re all such perfectly developed characters that I feel like I know them all even if they only showed up for a handful of scenes.

While writing this review, I popped over to Google for a bit to see if there were any plans out there for a sequel, and discovered to my delight that one was announced just this past year. Apparently it’s going to be a detective novel set later during Maia’s reign, focusing on “a minor character” from The Goblin Emperor. Which means that at some point I’m going to get to read a book about noir elves written by an author who has enough attention to detail to do a genuine fantasy police procedural justice. I’m excited.