The Goblin Emperor

I really enjoyed this book. I received a free audiobook copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Listening to this on audio as opposed to reading it physically had pros and cons. First, the narrator was fantastic. I'll be hoping to listen to more from him in the future. The prose of the book combined with the first-person narration also lent itself particularly well to the audiobook format. I also think that this book was extremely light on plot, and while I was entertained the entire time, I might have had a harder time finishing if it was a physical read. However, I am awful with remembering names in audiobook format, and the names in this book are particularly gruesome to try to remember, so it took me a long time to remember who anybody but the central 2-4 characters were. That's an issue for my brain, but it's to be considered when checking out the audiobook if you have similar problems.

Regarding the actual story, I really enjoyed the main character, Maia, and his struggle to deal with the court and palace intrigue that he never thought he'd have to learn. His general goodness juxtapositions himself with the traditions of the empire, and his desire to change these traditions and his gradual understanding of how he wants to lead, is well done. I would recommend this book, but I do have to emphasize again- it really does NOT have a plot. It wraps up nicely, and there were never any spots where I was bored, but it was mostly just random meetings happening and then eventually an event would take place, and then they'd deal with the fall-out of that event. Not particularly recommended for plot-focused readers. This is a character study through and through.