Series: Inheritance Trilogy #1
by N.K. Jemisin
Narrated by: Casaundra Freeman
Review by Susan Stradiotto
I’ve been searching for fantasy authors who have strong and unique voices. To that end, I am immensely excited that I have found N.K. Jemisin and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. I finished this book in June and am about to finish the 3rd in the Inheritance series. I must say that I’m ecstatic that I’ll soon be able to dive into both The Dreamblood Duology and The Broken Earth series. As a bonus, it appears that The Broken Earth is being developed for TV. Once I’ve read it, I’m certain I’ll be binging that too.
Summary (Spoiler Free)
An orphaned girl is summoned by her estranged grandfather to participate as one of three candidates to be his successor. In her experience, she meets gods and mortals alike and must learn about her family’s past as well as the natures of the royal family and the gods they hold prisoner. More importantly, she must make choices about her future with the varying agendas within Sky, each trying to persuade her in one direction or the other.
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What I loved about The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Check out my post: First Person Meaty Fantasy. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and the novels following that in the Inheritance Trilogy are precisely this. However, the point-of-view character changes in each book in the series. I’ll cover more about that with the review of each novel, but it’s a slightly different pattern than I am accustomed to. That being said, I didn’t mind the variance. It allowed me to get up close and personal with three characters rather than one.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is a personal journey, wrought with internal conflict as well as external. Learning about Yeine, the choices she must make, and the emotions that drive her decisions are the real factors that made me love this book. I can’t say that I’d make many of the same decisions that she did, but as a reader, attempting to understand the character and the motivation are fascinating aspects of fantasy–at least for me.
Gods…gods…gods!
Gods participating in mortal lives. In this case, the twist of them serving a particular group of mortal-kind was highly intriguing and really pulled me through this story. I found myself loving one of the gods (Nahadoth) and wondering why I did–just like Yeine did. I’d speculate this is exactly what the author intended.
Worldbuilding
Jemisin has a smooth way of building out her world. It gently introduces you to something new and brings you through it in a hands-on manner through the eyes of the main character. An aspect of this that I thoroughly enjoyed was Yeine’s exploration of Sky…her discovery of the dead spaces, her challenges with the glowing walls as she tried to sleep, and her experiences as she felt a difference between that and her previous life in what felt like a more down-to-earth population. Furthermore, another fantastic aspect of her worldbuilding was Yeine’s introduction to the gods, her coming to understand each of their natures, and her beginning to accept their views of the world. None of this felt heavy-handed, and though her concepts were foreign, it was easy to suspend disbelief and roll with the story.
What could have been better?
I always find it tough to write what I thought could have been better about a story. For one, authors who complete a full novel and publish or have published a novel are highly creative, dedicated, and strong individuals. Fantasy (inclusive of Sci-Fi) authors especially fit this bill as it takes time to build a world. It takes meticulous attention to detail to flesh out all the characters that play within that world and to make sure every bit of the story, people, and setting is cohesive.
While I try to always state what could be better (Everyone and everything can still improve, right?), I would hold that the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is still excellent storytelling and worldbuilding.
That aside, this story is heavy in the standard fantasy tropes of the plot and character. The plot provides a poor girl/guy, average in almost every way, who falls into power or leadership and must navigate through politics to find her true self. The main character is “the chosen one,” even if she was chosen a bit differently. The love interest is “the dark, unobtainable one.”
The main character’s voice and the non-obvious time-shifting took me a bit to get accustomed to. By the end, though, I felt like it was exactly how Yeine’s voice would be. I wouldn’t expect anything different after having completed the book. So if you’re struggling with this early in the book, I’d encourage you to press through it. The trilogy is worth it in the end.
All-in-all
For fantasy lovers who enjoy walking closely with a single character, godly interaction, and a touch (or more) of mysticism, this book is 100% for you!
Link to the Hundred Thousand Kingdom’s author’s website: N.K. Jemisin. Here, you can find her blog (I recommend!) and links to her social.
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