The Goblin Emperor

Executive Summary: The second half of this book is far superior to the first half making for a rather enjoyable read for me in the end. It won't be for everyone though.

Full Review
I must say I'm surprised to be giving this such a high rating. And not a 3.5 rounded up, but a solid 4. At the start of the book this was more like the 2.5 area.

The writing is fine. The world building, though sparse was decent. And I liked Maia from the start. With the reading funk I was in, this seemed like a good option to get me out of it. But despite all that I was bored. I barely touched it for a week. I'd read maybe one chapter a night. I skipped a few nights without reading it all. There just didn't seem to be much plot. Maia kept meeting a bunch of people whose names I still can't keep straight.

Then somewhere around the midway point, the plot finally seemed to kick in and I was hooked. I read the first 200 pages in 12 days. I read the rest of the book in 2. I was hoping to put a good dent in this book this weekend because it's due back to the library soon. I wasn't expecting to finish it.

If it hadn't been a group pick, I might have quit on it. I haven't quit on a book in years though, and I didn't hate it, I just wasn't really into it either.

I'm really glad I stuck with it. It was a lot of fun. I just wish the first half of it hadn't been so slow. I think that may turn a lot of people off who might end up liking it in the end as I did. There are just too many books out there to stick it out.

I'm not sure if this deserves the Nebula it's been nominated for, but I can see why it was nominated. But I expect a lot of people will question it however. The sense of danger prevalent in most fantasy novels is never really there. The conflicts may be a bit too light/easy for some. For me though, it was just what I needed.

And I'm glad that it's a stand alone. That is so rare these days. I'd read more books about Maia, but I think sort of coming of age/learning how to rule story is sufficient as it is.