Mandaris

This was a delightful combination of palace intrigue, mystery, and exploring how we deal with grief and abuse. All of it self-contained and easy to follow from start to finish.

Set in a fantasy world with elves and goblins, I feel that you could swap out the races with anything and it would still feel as familiar as the author deals with how people look at different races and cultures and how they apply to class.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book is the perspective of the main protagonist, Maia. He’s thrust into a very precarious position of becoming a ruler of an empire that he’s only been given a hint of during his joke of an education¹. Although there are some emotional outbursts, I’m honestly impressed he didn’t immediately order heads to roll as soon as he was in command; history has shown worse examples.

Another thing about this book that I enjoyed is that it has a mystery that is being solved but doesn’t have the perspective of the detective in the narration. I think of it as if I were the police chef and having Columbo or Sherlock come to me and report every once in a while. It’s important that the mystery is solved but a large part of what occupies the main protagonist is dealing with the responsibility of being a ruler. I don’t know if I’ve ever read so much about what is involved in clerical duties in a fictional setting.

Overview

The book tells the story of Maia, a young man of mixed Elven and Goblin heritage, who unexpectedly becomes Emperor of the Elflands, and has to contend with the court's byzantine power structure as well as racial and social tension in his realm.

Overall, I feel this is a very nice, fairly low stakes read and would recommend it.