Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor
So when the emperor of an elf kingdom (empire?) and his three oldest sons are all killed in an accident, his youngest son--a half-goblin who's been raised basically in exile--suddenly finds himself in the seat of power. His struggles to learn to rule are amazingly compelling, and Addison's world-building is REALLY strong and feels realistically populated (though I definitely got some characters confused a couple of times due to similar names, plus sometimes they're referred to by first names or last names). There's also some very interesting stuff going on here with racial/cultural distinctions, which I appreciated. I did wish there was at least one prominent primary or secondary woman character--it's clearly a patriarchal society, and women's problems are discussed by all the men, but still--though by the end, a few look poised to be more visible in later volumes (and all of those are REALLY delightful!). Anyway, I don't want to give any spoilers or hints, but this was really excellent and I definitely look forward to seeing what Addison does next with this world. (Addison is apparently also author Sarah Monette, whose works I'm not familiar with, but figured I'd mention it anyway.) A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on April 1st.
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