Fantasy Annotation: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
Synopsis (Spoiler free): Long ago there were three gods, the god of day, the god of night, and the goddess of twilight. These gods lived in harmony until Itempas', the god of the day kills the goddess of twilight and enslaves Nahadoth', the god of night. Nahadoth' and several of his godling children are under the control of the Arameri, a group of humans that worship Itempas' as the one true god. Thousands of years later, the Arameri have conquered the world and their leader, who is nearing death, summons Yeine, his estranged granddaughter, back to the palace. Yeine must now discover the true reason that she was brought into a family that she has never known and if she is lucky maybe figure out who murdered her mother.
Pacing: Fitting peferectly within the fantasy genre, the pacing of this book starts out slow establishing much about the world and the situation that Yeine finds herself in. As time goes on the pace increases from an action packed ending where events are happening very quickly.
Storyline: Sarrick's says that fantasy books are about a battle between good and evil and this book fits that perfectly. Yeine, a barbarian warrior, is brought into the world of the Arameri, which is full of secrets, abuse of power, and hedonism. As she tries to survive her new surroundings she is often shown as the only decent human within the walls of the palace. She does find some allies but her enemies are truly terrible willing to do anything and everything to get what they want.
Characters: As stated above, the characters in this book are easy to place on sides. Yeine is the side of what is good where the Amameri are on the side of evil. There is some nuance to characters but it is easy to place who is the main hero and the main villain of the story from the very beginning.
Setting: As with many fantasy books, magic plays a large role in this setting. There is magic that is done by a few talented humans but more apparent is the presence of actual gods that are able to preform mighty feats as easily as breathing. Additionally, N.K. Jemisin spends a lot of time setting up how this world functions and describes a large portion of the history that lead to the setting being the way that it is.
Tone: There is not a standard tone for fantasy novels like some other genres. This means that regardless of tone it is a fantasy book. That being said the tone of this book tends to be a bit bleaker with one of the first things that you learn about Yeine is that her mother was murdered. There is still hope in it but it has that sacrificial hope (a hero achieving their goals through sacrifice) feel that is prevalent in many fantasy novels.
Language: The language of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is very descriptive and at times foreign. There are terms and phrases that were developed to make this feel like a completely different place rather than something that could happen in our world.
Read-alikes:
Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
References
Saricks, J. G. (2009). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction. Chicago: ALA.
Photo from goodreads.com.
I've been wanting to read this, I'm glad to hear a review of it. Did you enjoy it? How does it compare to the Mistborn series? The tone of 'Alloy of Law' and 'Mistborn' were a little bleak but not overwhelmingly so, or at least I didn't think so at the time. Is the magic in Jemisin's series as systematic as Sanderson's?
ReplyDeleteSo I think that this is around the same tone as Mistborn, only you are following from the side of the oppressors more so. Jemisin's magic is less systematic than Sanderson's especially in this series. In the Broken Earth Trilogy it is much more defined but that series is very bleak. It is very good but dark. I think that she is my second favorite author after Sanderson though.
DeleteThis book sounds interesting, and judging from goodreads, very popular. How's the writing style of the book? Is it comparable to any other authors you have read? I love fantasy novels but there is a fine line between too descriptive and not descriptive enough. That's a big part of fantasy for me because I feel like it can make or break the story. If the world they built doesn't match up to the story being told within it, it's not properly balanced.
ReplyDeleteSo I liked the writing style of this book. The main character is telling the story to you and I enjoyed that. It is a good way to show flashbacks without breaking the flow, at least in my opinion. That being said it is her first published book and I think the prose was better in her more recent Broken Earth Trilogy. Regardless, I think both are very much worth the read.
DeleteI'm really interested in Jemisin's Broken Earth series, but I was unaware of her Inheritance trilogy. Yet, other than the Nebula and Hugo awards, I don't know much about any of her books. How much would I need to invest in this series? Is it "High Fantasy?" Do I have to take notes? Because I'd rather listen to the audiobooks if I can manage.
ReplyDeleteKatie, I haven't read the Inheritance trilogy (this one) but I did read the Broken Earth trilogy and it was AMAZING. It is definitely high fantasy and I would highly recommend investing as much as you can. It's certainly not a light and breezy read and the names of people and locations can get a bit confusing if you don't keep it in your active memory. I can't speak to how they would come off on audiobooks since I hardly ever use that format, but it might be challenging not being able to go back and reference things from earlier in book. I wouldn't say you would need to take notes per se, but it's not something you can just blitz through if you want the full effect. Hopefully that helps!
DeleteThat's what I feared, but yes, it did help. Maybe when I have more free time! Thanks!!
DeleteSo I know that I am slower on responses but I listened to them all as audiobooks. I read the three of them over the course of a month. They are about 9 to 12 hours each if I remember correctly. I think that they are worth the time. I have a hard time classifying fantasy since the the sub-genres often mix (case in point Dungeons and Dragons is both High Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery though Wikipedia says they are opposed) but I consider it to be human fantasy. I did not take notes on any of the books and I feel like I have a good understanding of the books. As I said in a different comment, she is my second favorite author after Brandon Sanderson. This series the names are a bit more confusing but listening to them I think helped me. Also if you are interested in mythology and religion this series has more of a focus on it than the Broken Earth trilogy.
DeleteExcellent annotation! You did a great job outlining a complex storyline and highlighting the appeals. This book sounds great! Full points.
ReplyDelete