![]() ![]() His father the emperor hates him on principle, as Maia was the result of an arranged and loveless marriage for political benefit, and thus sent both wife and son away into exile the first chance he got. Maia is mixed in race, half-goblin and half-elf, with appearances leaning more toward the former. The Goblin Emperor starts with the main character, Maia, in his exiled residence from his neglectful father and the royal court. “The reminder that other lives had tragedies without reference to his own was both salutary and painful.” Whereas intrigue, fish-out-of-water syndrome, and world-building often play second fiddle to action, monsters, and magic, Katherine Addison has flipped the script in this novel which, for all intents and purposes, makes for a story that shouldn’t work, but somehow succeeds. ![]() ![]() ![]() The Goblin Emperor upends standard fantasy by shifting the importance of its components. Magic exists but plays a minor role relegated to the background to fill out the world. Yet, these belie what the novel is at its heart: a coming-of-age story filled with political intrigue. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison is many things a novel about elves and goblins, a story with mages and magic, and a book with a steampunk aesthetic. ![]()
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![]() ![]() It was also with him that he secretly crossed the Pyrenees to London and joined the Free French Forces of General de Gaulle. ![]() A war correspondent from 1939-40, after the defeat, he joined the Résistance (Carte network) with his nephew Maurice Druon. Kessel belonged to the crew that Pierre Lazareff had gathered at Paris-Soir, and which comprised the golden age of the great reporters. After The Crew (1923), he published Mary of Cork, The Captives (recipient of the Grand Prix for the Novel from the Académie Française in 1926), Nuits de princes, Les Coeurs Pure, Belle de Jour (made into a film by Bunuel), Fortune Square (which was the fictional version of his report Slave Market), The Children of Luck, as well as a biography of Mermoz, the heroic aviator who had been his friend, and other books. His first work, La steppe rouge, was a collection of short stories about the Bolshevik Revolution. The son of Samuel Kessel, a Jewish physician of Lithuanian origin, Joseph Kessel lived in Argentina during his early life and was then taken to Orenburg, on the Urals, where his parents lived from 1905 to 1908, before returning to France. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I believe strongly in the importance of revision, but here’s something I believe just as strongly: If you’re not careful, you can revise the life right out of a piece of writing. Any bolded emphasis is mine and I’ve added a bit of commentary within “”. Hopefully by now you know how I feel about quotes – here are some of my favourites. In terms of structure, the book is quite short and most pages contain a single quote from the author or a string of related thoughts. My summary: I really, really, really enjoyed this book. I can’t directly relate to either of these traumas, but I found the takeaways universally applicable. The author had suffered a number of devastating miscarriages and the surprising breakdown of her relationship. Keep Moving is written from a position of vulnerability. (A copy of which, fortuitously, happened to be on the shelf at my local branch how I love the library). A few weeks ago Nicole mentioned the book Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change by Maggie Smith after reading her description of the book, I immediately hopped over to my library portal and placed a hold. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I love the world Tanjlisa created in Fairy Godmother, it was so unique and nothing like I've ever read before and so complex yet easy to follow, which is no east feat. To read more reviews and fun stuff, pop by my blog Drugs Called Books If you like chicks that kick butt, conflicted villains, arbitrary fight scenes, nude fairy godmothers, terminator-leprechauns, pixies, conspiracies, or hot and heavy petting, then this book is for you. As they spend more time together and feelings evolve she soon discovers the life-altering truth, not only about the villainy leprechaun, but about conspiracies surrounding the FGO, and everything she's ever held as gospel. Ciaran, a seasoned seducer gains the fairy godmother’s trust and introduces her to experiences she’s never even contemplated He doesn’t appear to be as menacing as Agent Thunder was led to believe. ![]() While in her fairy godmother protection program, Agent Thunder is eventually tracked down by Ciaran, the alluring terminator-leprechaun that she went into hiding to evade in the first place. Find out what happens when the FGO’s #1 bounty hunter encounters Earth’s most infamous villain and gets Reassigned for her own protection. What do you get when you splice Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft with Tinker Bell? Meet Agent Thunder, a kick-butt Huntress with the Fairy Godmother Organization (FGO). ![]() |