Didn't Measure Up: The Hands of the Emperor

Two days late, but here's day 5 of the book meme:

5. A book where you loved the premise but the execution left you cold

The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard

Here's part of the author's summary:
Cliopher Mdang is the personal secretary of the Last Emperor of Astandalas, the Lord of Rising Stars, the Lord Magus of Zunidh, the Sun-on-Earth, the god.
He has spent more time with the Emperor of Astandalas than any other person.
He has never once touched his lord.
He has never called him by name.
He has never initiated a conversation.

One day Cliopher invites the Sun-on-Earth home to the proverbially remote Vangavaye-ve for a holiday.

The mere invitation could have seen Cliopher executed for blasphemy.
The acceptance upends the world.

I love books about people forming friendships around/across status differences and social taboos, so I thought this would be right up my alley. Turns out, if it's up anyone's alley, it's one fifty miles away from me, across state lines and a major waterway.

As soon as the book started dealing with wider political issues – about 15% of the way in – it lost me. The takeaway I got was "Authoritarianism is OK as long as The Right People are in charge," which is something I fundamentally disagree with. chestnut_pod described Cliopher in their excellent post about this book as "Good Bismarck (Who Can Also Dance and Make Boats Perfectly)," which is absolutely spot on.

Plus, the worldbuilding wasn't very fleshed out, which is okay in a shorter book but becomes tiresome when something is over 900 pages long.

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Exceeded Expectations: Enemies to Lovers

Here's yesterday's answer:

6. A book where you were dubious about the premise but loved the work

Enemies to Lovers by Aster Glenn Gray

Honestly, I expected Enemies to Lovers to be unbearably corny. The summary begins like this: "Handcuffed together. Only one bed. Which will win: Megan and Sarah's sizzling sexual attraction, or their compulsion to correct each other’s atrocious fandom opinions?" Books about fandom are often pretty bad (think Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl), so I read Enemies to Lovers out of almost morbid curiosity.

Folks, it's good. Really good. It offers a nuanced and realistic picture of fandom drama, including a culture clash between journal fandom and Tumblr norms, and the characters are impressively well developed for such a short book. Gray plays with familiar tropes in a delightful way to create what is in some ways a love letter to fandom – a love letter that does us all the courtesy of taking fan culture seriously rather than making it a punchline.

(I also reviewed this book here back in August.)

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