The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison

Again? Yes, again. Technically, my wife was supposed to reread it too, but I don’t think she get round to it… Still, I reread it, and I’m very happy I did, because it really doesn’t lose anything with multiple reads. If anything, it’s easier to get into, easier to remember who is who and what motivates them, and especially easier to get along with the invented language and be attuned to the way formality works.

I don’t think there’s anything new I’ve got to say about this, so I’ll just appreciate all over again the cleverness of the language and world-building; the fact that this feels like a lived in world with history and a future, with science and innovation and politics all moving under the surface. It’s also such a human (ironically, I suppose) approach, because there’s so many people with feelings and conflicting loyalties and differing views of how Maia should rule.

And the thing I appreciate most of all is the way that Maia is a good person, but it takes effort: he has to remind himself that baiting Setheris, even now he can, is a poisonous pleasure — that revenge isn’t something an ethical ruler can indulge in. He struggles with the burden he’s taken up, but he never honestly considers giving it to someone else, at least not someone unprepared. He tries to be polite, he tries to make even the smallest person in the court feel wanted — in fact, does better with those people than the people who have an inflated sense of their own importance.

I just love the way Maia gathers affection and loyalty by being himself and not compromising, and the way he’s so tired and strained but he makes himself keep learning and keep trying.

Rating: 5/5

Planetfall, Emma Newman

I was somewhat hesitant to read Planetfall after all the reviews I read talking about the anxiety issues the main character has, and the effect it had on some readers — it sounded like it might well be something that would make me uncomfortable too, and it’s true it does hit exactly those buttons. There’s one point where Renata is afraid she might have bugs on her, and, ugh, yes, I remember that skin-crawling feeling all too well. Luckily, for me it wasn’t uncomfortable, as such: I certainly recognised the emotions, the way Renata had to grapple with her feelings to get what seems like anything done.

The only thing I didn’t really feel was the motivation behind the big secret which Mack and Renata keep. Their reactions in the present, the way they both grapple with the decision they made, works really well, but I didn’t really believe in their initial decision — or rather, Mack’s: Renata’s choice to keep silent about what Mack has done does ring true. And it’s not that what Mack does makes no sense, but it feels like it’s just… not quite a whole story.

In the end, Planetfall is a colonisation story with a mystery at its heart: it takes a long time to figure out exactly what happened (though the bare bones were apparent early on), and then everything starts coming together with a series of very definite clicks. Motivations make sense, small details come together, everything works… except that one decision which so much of the story hinges on. It’s kind of disappointing, when the rest of it works so well.

I know a few people didn’t like the exploration of God’s city as much, or the way that thread of the plot ended. For me, it reminded me of books like Roadside Picnic, and to me the ending fit beautifully with that kind of story.

There is a companion book for Planetfall, called After Atlas, which I have for review. It doesn’t follow the same characters and threads at all, though, from what I’ve read; I’m definitely interested to see how much it does tie in and illuminate Planetfall.

Rating: 4/5