2019/16: The Goblin Emperor -- Katherine Addison

2019/16: The Goblin Emperor -- Katherine Addison

"I can already see the changes," Shulivar said. "You do not hold on to power as your father and grandfather did. You are not afraid to let it go. And you have new ideas, ideas that no emperor before you has ever had. ... No other emperor would ever have attended the funeral of his father's servants. No other emperor would have accepted a woman as his nohecharis. You bring change ..." [p. 398]

Confession: I started this novel more or less when it came out, and abandoned it because I found the plethora of names and terms confusing. (I don't think I was at my best that spring.) Also, I had somehow missed the fact that 'Katherine Addison' is a pen name for Sarah Monette ...
( no spoilers )