Author: Katherine Addison
Rating: ★★★
Maia is half goblin, half elvish. He is the product of a unhappy, detached political marriage. After his mother's death he lived in near isolation. Raised by his cruel cousin Setheris, he never dreamed of becoming king. When his father and brothers are killed, Maia finds himself in that exact position.He is whisked away to an unfamiliar court with a very big task. His family has no love for him and he in very much alone. He has no friends and certainly no one to trust. The book follows him as he navigates the tough political waters.
The book was not without some bumps along the way. To me, the purpose of developing a culture with specialized names, language, titles, landscape is to create richness in a book. It brings to life a new world, where obviously things are different. That it is one of my favorite things about fantasy books, and a mark of a skilled fantasy author. These things help us visualize this foreign landscape. A book that lacks creative world-building falls flat. On the other hand, a book that is too specialized... Is just annoying.
Instead of enriching book it often just left the reader confused. I found it very hard to imagine the scenes of the book because I never had any idea who the people were. It's impossible to tell whether a character is male or female until the author specifies. The names give nothing away. Some of the names are almost identical. The author includes for us 16 pages at the end of the book listing all the people, places and gods. I found this when I had finished the book-- and at that point I just didn't really care. This all explains how to tell gender/status. These nuances become totally lost to the reader with every thing else one has to figure out. I think the author needed to mindfully choose which part she wanted to go crazy with. If you are going to have 10,000 characters, give them names that are easily distinguished and more familiar. Or, if you want the crazy names, do less characters.
I thought this really held the book back. Sometimes I would just skim a paragraph because I had no clue what was going on, or who was talking. I think this will turn a lot of readers away. It was at times, just tedious to figure out who was doing what.
BUT here is the good news-- the book was actually pretty interesting. The story-line kept the book moving right along. The main characters struggle endeared me to him. Even though it relied on elves and goblins, the author made the races her own. I am glad that I stuck with the book and finished it. I hope Katherine keeps writing interesting books-- but maybe streamlines her ideas.
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