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Sep. 12th, 2021 12:23 pmThe Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard (2019)
A brick of a book (900 pages) that I read for book club. I found this readable and entertaining, and recommend it with caveats if you feel like reading the particular iddy thing that it's doing, which feels a lot like kinds of some fan fiction. It is a wish-fulfilment fantasy and id-fest with some enjoyable world-building, but has terrible and unrealistic politics which the author (going by the dedication) takes seriously as good and well-meaning.
It is very like The Goblin Emperor, in that it has:
- a lonely and isolated character in power who finds friendship and appreciation,
- someone from a marginalized group in an empire coming into power,
- benevolently meant top-down political reform.
The book is about Cliopher "Kip" Mdang, from a Pacific Islander-inspired culture on the outskirts of the empire, who works his way up through the imperial bureucracy to become secretary to the emperor. He becomes friends with the emperor, who is lonely and isolated by custom and by magic, and also he gradually implements his grand plan of political reforms (which resemble some sort of social democracy). Also the book is about his complicated relationship with his own culture and his family.
The friendship with the emperor is told with all the loving tropeyness of a romance, and I quite enjoyed it. The emperor does have a female love interest, but she turns up only very briefly, and, it feels like, only in order to have the emperor cry in Kip's arms (with a blanket in between--the emperor can't touch anyone because of magic). I'd say it felt like old-fashioned slash, except that queer relationships are accepted in this culture, which makes it feel more like an actual friendship.
Towards the middle of the book, the theme of Kip's relationship to his family and culture becomes more central. I know very little about Pacific Islander culture, but I thought the worldbuilding around that was enjoyable! But Kip's relationship with his family...well. Kip is close to his family and his innumerable cousins, but for plot device reasons and for family dynamics reasons, it takes a long time for them to realize that Kip is in fact the second most powerful person in the world. The scene where his family finally realize that he hasn't in fact thrown away his life and abandoned his culture, but recognize and appreciate him for what he is, goes on for over two hundred pages. I was sitting there boggling and wondering how long she could draw it out! It culminates with the emperor visiting Kip's family in person to tell them that Kip is in fact the greatest statesman in recorded history. And Kip blushes and is modest and soaks in his family's warmth and recognition. If this sounds like something your id would enjoy, you are in luck!
Besides being the greatest statesman ever, Kip has also followed his people's traditions better than basically anyone ever, which his family also come to realize. He has sailed across the ocean in a boat of his own making! He can dance over glowing coals in his family's very difficult traditional dance! Etc.
So, to the politics. Kip (and the emperor) are basically benevolent dictators who impose the perfect political system on the world from above. There's no indication of any popular movements making demands from below. At one point Kip by the power of his arguments convinces a council of hereditary wealthy aristocrats to vote through a universal income reform! Really?? This is not how politics works. Also, I don't think the population is legible enough to the state for such a reform to be possible. Kip says that he has worked through the budget exactly to prove how well the reform will work, but on the islands where Kip is from, there are people living in semi-self-sufficiency who give no indication of being integrated into the imperial bureaucracy enough for the state to know how much they produce, how much they should pay in taxes, or even probably how large the population is. No way could he make that budget.
I could say more about the politics, but, well. The book ends rather abruptly, but I see that there are sequels. Perhaps the 200-page curtainfic ending that I had expected, where Kip and the retired emperor are roommates and play the harp and oboe together, and the emperor gets to know Kip's family and impress upon them even more how great Kip is, etc, will be in one of the next books?
A brick of a book (900 pages) that I read for book club. I found this readable and entertaining, and recommend it with caveats if you feel like reading the particular iddy thing that it's doing, which feels a lot like kinds of some fan fiction. It is a wish-fulfilment fantasy and id-fest with some enjoyable world-building, but has terrible and unrealistic politics which the author (going by the dedication) takes seriously as good and well-meaning.
It is very like The Goblin Emperor, in that it has:
- a lonely and isolated character in power who finds friendship and appreciation,
- someone from a marginalized group in an empire coming into power,
- benevolently meant top-down political reform.
The book is about Cliopher "Kip" Mdang, from a Pacific Islander-inspired culture on the outskirts of the empire, who works his way up through the imperial bureucracy to become secretary to the emperor. He becomes friends with the emperor, who is lonely and isolated by custom and by magic, and also he gradually implements his grand plan of political reforms (which resemble some sort of social democracy). Also the book is about his complicated relationship with his own culture and his family.
The friendship with the emperor is told with all the loving tropeyness of a romance, and I quite enjoyed it. The emperor does have a female love interest, but she turns up only very briefly, and, it feels like, only in order to have the emperor cry in Kip's arms (with a blanket in between--the emperor can't touch anyone because of magic). I'd say it felt like old-fashioned slash, except that queer relationships are accepted in this culture, which makes it feel more like an actual friendship.
Towards the middle of the book, the theme of Kip's relationship to his family and culture becomes more central. I know very little about Pacific Islander culture, but I thought the worldbuilding around that was enjoyable! But Kip's relationship with his family...well. Kip is close to his family and his innumerable cousins, but for plot device reasons and for family dynamics reasons, it takes a long time for them to realize that Kip is in fact the second most powerful person in the world. The scene where his family finally realize that he hasn't in fact thrown away his life and abandoned his culture, but recognize and appreciate him for what he is, goes on for over two hundred pages. I was sitting there boggling and wondering how long she could draw it out! It culminates with the emperor visiting Kip's family in person to tell them that Kip is in fact the greatest statesman in recorded history. And Kip blushes and is modest and soaks in his family's warmth and recognition. If this sounds like something your id would enjoy, you are in luck!
Besides being the greatest statesman ever, Kip has also followed his people's traditions better than basically anyone ever, which his family also come to realize. He has sailed across the ocean in a boat of his own making! He can dance over glowing coals in his family's very difficult traditional dance! Etc.
So, to the politics. Kip (and the emperor) are basically benevolent dictators who impose the perfect political system on the world from above. There's no indication of any popular movements making demands from below. At one point Kip by the power of his arguments convinces a council of hereditary wealthy aristocrats to vote through a universal income reform! Really?? This is not how politics works. Also, I don't think the population is legible enough to the state for such a reform to be possible. Kip says that he has worked through the budget exactly to prove how well the reform will work, but on the islands where Kip is from, there are people living in semi-self-sufficiency who give no indication of being integrated into the imperial bureaucracy enough for the state to know how much they produce, how much they should pay in taxes, or even probably how large the population is. No way could he make that budget.
I could say more about the politics, but, well. The book ends rather abruptly, but I see that there are sequels. Perhaps the 200-page curtainfic ending that I had expected, where Kip and the retired emperor are roommates and play the harp and oboe together, and the emperor gets to know Kip's family and impress upon them even more how great Kip is, etc, will be in one of the next books?
