Book Log 22/2011 - N.K.Jemisin: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

[jacey]

Yeine Darr is a warrior and minor ruler from the barbarian north. Soon after her mother dies under mysterious circumstances she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky, seat of the ruling Arameri family. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress (one of three) to the king, her maternal grandfather. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with a pair of cousins she never knew she had. To lose is to die.

The unassailable Arameri power comes from four enslaved gods, childlike Sieh, his two sisters and Nahadoth, by day a man and by night the Night Lord, elemental, barely-contained and dangerous. They must obey the Arameri, but wording a command wrongly may just give them the leeway they need to kill, or worse.

Yeine has little time to unlock the secrets of Sky before the day of choosing and her relationship with Sieh and Naha draws her to make dangerous choices and alliances. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother’s death, her family’s bloody history and the truth behind the cataclysmic gods' war.

I'm not surprised this book seems to be on every awards shortlist this year. It's stunningly well written, lyrical and mysterious without sacrificing dramatic tension. The world building is fascinating with its city-on-a-stalk, its political machinations and its god-legends Though it's book one of a trilogy, it reads perfectly well as a standalone. I hadn't intended to read it in a weekend, but I couldn't put it down.

Comments

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

Funny, I had the exact opposite reaction.

I found the world totally unconvincing, the characters unengaging and the writing blah. There you go.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I won't say it was instant or easy-access because it took a while for me to grok the weird asides and the two way conversations that were not written as conversations, but then there was the 'Oh yes' moment when it all made sense. I was probably about a third of the way in when I realised how deeply it had grabbed me and after that I pulled an all-nighter to finish it.