The Hands of the Emperor with Judith Mortimore

This Book I Read...

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This month CM Lowry is talking to author Judith Mortimore, about The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard in ‘This Book I Read…’

Topics covered include:

Judith reads veraciously and found that The Hands of the Emperor stood out so profoundly that she went off and read everything else by Victoria Goddard
The Hands of the Emperor is about a bromance, a plutonic relationship between two male characters, The Emperor and His Secretary. It’s a cosy, joyful and lyrical story about loneliness, friendship and a meeting of cultures.
Goddard’s writing style makes for ease of reading, Judith had just completed a re-read that only took her 14hrs to cover all 700 odd pages!
The beauty, tension and deeply involved relationship between The Emperor & The Secretary
Judith’s favourite think about The Hands of the Emperor is how different it is – I doesn’t conform to any of the writing structures that are enforced upon authors. She also enjoys how delightful the characters are – they are utterly real and relatable.
The Hands of the Emperor takes place in a world that has experienced some sort of cataclysmic event, known as The Fall, but that is not a somewhat idyllic place where there is a lot of kindness. This places the book within the Cosy Sci-fi sub-genre of science fiction writing.
Judith highlights a couple of small issues with the book, some her own and some brough up by others. Some people feel it is a little slow and repetitive and others don’t enjoy the platonic aspect of the relationship between The Emperor and The Secretary. Judith’s personal concern is more of a frustration with some of the characters themselves, that they don’t seem to understand the role that Kip, The Secretary has. However this is not an issue with the book per se, as it shows the engaging nature of the writing.
The world building within the book and the wider saga that comes in the books after it, is somewhat lacking. This is perhaps based on the authors own personal experiences in Polynesia, which much of the book is based upon, and assumed knowledge.
Judith also shares some personal recommendations for those who read and enjoy The Hands of the Emperor as well as some of her own books and her love for literature that inspires the reader to be positive and hopeful.
Here is a helpful illustration regarding the order in which to read the works of Victoria Goddard: