I read this book quickly because I hated reading it and just wanted it to be over. To be honest, I was also skimming in parts despite my attempts to pay attention because the book was so eye glazingly dull and impenetrably written. The Goblin Emperor has been on my radar since it came out two years ago. I love reading about court intrigue and I was thrilled at the thought of a fantasy novel rooted in the details of governance. I have no problem putting on my political science hat when reading fiction. The plot synopsis sounded awesome to me. 
 I thought the premise of this book had such potential, which is why I never totally abandoned it despite the fact that I never enjoyed it and it never held my attention for more than a few pages at a time. Sadly, reading this is such a chore. There are a million characters with super complex, ridiculous "fantasy" names and the language is ridiculously stuffy and formal and flowery. Since Maia is such a naif you have no idea what's going on just like him. Good luck keeping track of who is who and what is what. The enclosed glossary at the back isn't any help. I understand why Addison made these linguistic choices, but they didn't work for me at all as a reader and made this pretty much unbearable. I could never get into the rhythm of this book, and I was always bored and/or frustrated while reading it. 
 This is just such a tedious slog. Had the cast been cut in half and if they had names a reader could actually remember and personalities maybe I would have cared about some of these people. Had the pacing not been so terrible maybe I would have cared about what plot there is. The world building is overly focused on language and clothing to the detriment of anything resembling a real book. Maia's an improbably kindly protagonist but that's not enough to make such an obnoxiously written book enjoyable.