The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

It took a couple chapters to warm up the her writing style, but once I did wow. I just flew through the book. It was an interesting in-depth story with excellently developed plot twists. The world building was great. It was a very unique setting that drew me in. I can't wait to get a hold of the next 2 in the trilogy.

Picked this one up after a friend mentioned he might read it, and after having read a few reviews. I like the metaphysics that Jemisin has built–it's an odd mix of classic mythologies and the newest “weird” worlds of fantasy. I like the straightforward storytelling, and even like that Jemisin isn't afraid to flaunt the “show-don't-tell” conventions that sometimes bog stories down. I'm not much for fantasy books that are mostly about kingdom politics, but this book thrusts us into the hot seat in place of the protagonist, so even the political intrigue was interesting.

There are myriad relationships in the book that are fascinatingly complex, but there are also a few that are disturbing to me in ways that I am not certain Jemisin was intending–since this books deals with mortals interacting with gods, themes of what makes us human are explored, but also there's no getting away from the fact that the protagonist is at one point in love with what amounts to a scary, abusive boyfriend who also happens to be a god.

(UPDATE: It's likely Jemisin was intending for the reader to feel some discomfort: “Most of you have read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which was my first attempt to examine rape culture in my long fiction.” http://nkjemisin.com/2012/05/sexual-violence-in-the-shadowed-sun/ )

Despite all of the positives, I wanted more from the writing–this felt like an amazing first novel, which is a pretty good thing for a first novel to feel like. I suspect that subsequent books will have a bit more polish, more cohesive plotting. I'll read the next one to find out...

Jemisin has this trick of writing books that harness the tropes of speculative fiction, such that if you try to describe one of her books it sounds like a generic fantasy novel. However, within that she manages to not just invert or subvert the cliches, but actually build something entirely new, while maintaining enough of an homage to classic fantasy that it feels thrilling the way your first introduction to SF/F was. What can I say about the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms to really capture that? The setting of Sky was refreshing, the Arameri truly cruel & the characters nuanced.