The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
NK Jemisin's debut novel The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is
different from the majority of fantasy I've read lately. There's no
grand adventure or epic battle.At it's heart, this book has more to do
with family politics than anything else.
Some millenia before this book begins, the three main gods got into a fight that escalated into a war. Ultimately one was killed, one was enslaved in human form, and the third took it upon himself to be the grand ruler of all. The world has been a little off-balance ever since, as exemplified by the cruel and twisted ruling family, the Arameri.
But this story focuses on Yeine, newly named heir of the current ruler, Dekarta, despite the fact that her mother was disowned for marrying her father. She finds herself summoned to the capital city, where she must navigate not only her own family politics, but those of the gods who are kept as slaves.
The story isn't entirely linear, which I usually love. It mostly works here, although there are a few clumsy chapters. Occasionally foreshadowing occurs pages before the event that's being foreshadowed, which tends to ruin the effect. I rolled my eyes a few times when I recognized the emotional manipulation of the text and it drew me out of the story.
But this is a first novel, and for the most part it's very good. The weaving together of the gods' family drama with the nobility's makes for an interesting tale that has some good things to say about family. Especially in the recognition that your parents and older siblings usually had lives before you came along, and details of those lives can be rather shocking.
The second book in this trilogy spends more time with the people in this world who don't rule it. I'm looking forward to see where it goes and whether the gods are ultimately able to put the past behind them or not.
Some millenia before this book begins, the three main gods got into a fight that escalated into a war. Ultimately one was killed, one was enslaved in human form, and the third took it upon himself to be the grand ruler of all. The world has been a little off-balance ever since, as exemplified by the cruel and twisted ruling family, the Arameri.
But this story focuses on Yeine, newly named heir of the current ruler, Dekarta, despite the fact that her mother was disowned for marrying her father. She finds herself summoned to the capital city, where she must navigate not only her own family politics, but those of the gods who are kept as slaves.
The story isn't entirely linear, which I usually love. It mostly works here, although there are a few clumsy chapters. Occasionally foreshadowing occurs pages before the event that's being foreshadowed, which tends to ruin the effect. I rolled my eyes a few times when I recognized the emotional manipulation of the text and it drew me out of the story.
But this is a first novel, and for the most part it's very good. The weaving together of the gods' family drama with the nobility's makes for an interesting tale that has some good things to say about family. Especially in the recognition that your parents and older siblings usually had lives before you came along, and details of those lives can be rather shocking.
The second book in this trilogy spends more time with the people in this world who don't rule it. I'm looking forward to see where it goes and whether the gods are ultimately able to put the past behind them or not.
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