disaster is meted out at a tolerable tempo

I check out the Hugo/Locus/Nebula award winners and nominees when they're announced. Partly because I want to know what everyone else is reading. Partly it's how I managed to find some epic reads. Of course, nothing's a guarantee. E.g. I couldn't even get past the first chapter of Seanan McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway even though it sounded right up my alley. Still, I keep tabs on ones that pique my interest, one of which is The Goblin Emperor.

Due to an 'accident' that kills the emperor and his three sons next in line, Maia is no longer the half-goblin in exile but heir to the throne. Getting not just the entire elf empire, Maia inherits a meddlesome royal family, a sexist institution, warring court factions and a brewing conspiracy. Despite how exciting that sounds, The Goblin Emperor consists of 80% meetings and 20% Maia deciding where to host meetings. It is a political fantasy that is definitely more heavy on the political.

Despite the endless meetings, The Goblin Emperor was an engrossing book that proved satisfying to finish. Not long into the story, I got a clear sense that the author had a tight rein and she was confident in how the plot will unfold. I’m reminded of Dani Shapiro’s definition of plot, that it is nothing more than “disaster...meted out at a tolerable tempo” (Hourglass 31). So the end was gratifying not only because I witnessed the final resolution. Moreover, I simply appreciated a well-crafted piece of writing.

As for our protagonist, can we get a slow clap for how unproblematic our hero is? A naive ruler makes a short-lived ruler, or at least that’s usually the case. Maia is inexperienced but he’s got loads of common sense and enough empathy and kindness to save the world thrice over. It just doesn’t seem normal how decent he is for a fantasy hero, which is even more pronounced since I read this in the post-GoT era. He’s not tall, handsome, dark and mysterious. He doesn’t have a penchant for killing people or any secret magic powers. Instead he relies on his common sense and high EQ that enables him to network and make friends with the right people.

It did get a bit eyebrow-twitchingly suspicious towards the end, that good people just congregated around him. At that point, I just went 'meh'. You do that when the hero is not only nice to the ladies and asks them who they want to be. But moreover, when people gives him strange looks for being decent, he shrugs it off and acts like it's just another normal day in his life. If that's not the embodiment of #imwithher then I don't know what is.