The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Inheritance Trilogy, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Aug 14, 2009 Wealhtheow rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pocmaincharacters, fantasy

Once there was a woman who was heir to the throne of Sky. But she fell in love with a lowly hunter of the Darr nation, and abandoned her family and powerful destiny to live instead among people who hated and feared her. Her only child, Yeine, grows up as a Darr warrior, fierce and forthright. And then one day, her mother dies, and Yeine is summoned to the palace to meet the grandfather she's never met. He is the man who rules the universe...and possibly, the man who poisoned her mother.

The first ...more

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Oct 15, 2016 katayoun Masoodi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, fantasy

very nicely written and i really like the world and the detail that's got into it, can't say that i love the people there all the time, but then that makes it real, definitely recommend it to all and am happily going on to the next one in the series, which have started beautifully! ...more

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Jun 14, 2012 Nadine in NY Jones rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-and-sci-fi, mythopoeic, gods-known-and-unknown

on NPR's list of 100 best romance books http://www.npr.org/2015/07/29/4267318...

In a child’s eyes, a mother is a goddess. She can be glorious or terrible, benevolent or filled with wrath, but she commands love either way. I am convinced that this is the greatest power in the universe.

This book grabbed me from the first page - I just love the style and the voice, it's a real kapow! opening:

I AM NOT AS I ONCE WAS. They have done this to me, broken me open and torn out my heart. I do not kn

on NPR's list of 100 best romance books http://www.npr.org/2015/07/29/4267318...

In a child’s eyes, a mother is a goddess. She can be glorious or terrible, benevolent or filled with wrath, but she commands love either way. I am convinced that this is the greatest power in the universe.

This book grabbed me from the first page - I just love the style and the voice, it's a real kapow! opening:

I AM NOT AS I ONCE WAS. They have done this to me, broken me open and torn out my heart. I do not know who I am anymore. I must try to remember.

My people tell stories of the night I was born. They say my mother crossed her legs in the middle of labor and fought with all her strength not to release me into the world. I was born anyhow, of course; nature cannot be denied. Yet it does not surprise me that she tried.

I had to find out more after reading that!!

And while I love the style and the feel and the world created and the gods who intermingle with the people and the general cruelty that Yeine must struggle against, I do find the story is slow to move along.

The story is powerful, and I loved the beautiful creation myth that Jemisin presents. But by the halfway point, I found my attention drifting. I picked up another book for a little while. The story grinds along slowly, lumbering like some strange and unknown beast, and Yeine is bizarrely affectless, even after she learns that her life will almost certainly be taken as a sacrifice. I know she's trying to act like a cool cucumber while she figuratively swims among sharks, but this is first person POV. We are inside her head. I expect to hear a little silent screaming, a little panic at the thought of her impending death. Instead, this seems to have the complexity and forethought and total lack of excitement of watching someone else play chess.

This is another book in which we are told from the start that the protagonist must die, and a big part of the plot tension is built by the reader's desire to know if the protagonist actually dies. It's interesting, only last night I finished a much different book, The Sculptor, which also announced the protagonist's fated death. Hundred Thousand has little in common with The Sculptor, though. In tone and feel, it is very similar to the fantastic Who Fears Death, another book that starts with the protagonist sentenced to death.

I think if I knew I had a week to live, and I trusted no one around me, I would have a very different reaction. I wouldn't be so fatalistic. And for a hardened warrior and former leader of her people, Yeine seems awfully quick to roll over and show her belly. This made it difficult for me to stay engaged in the story. It is only in Yeine's fated last day that she shows any fear and readies herself to make a stand, and that is when I really sat up and took notice. The last 20% of this book is riveting.

After a long story full of impending doom, the ending felt jarringly happy. I LIKE happy endings, but I wasn't expecting such doom and gloom to suddenly become rainbows and puppies.

In sum, although my attention wandered quite a bit (and that is perhaps more of a testament to my own personal weakness rather than to any weakness in the writing), I was awestruck by the dark beauty that Jemisin spun into her mythopoetic world.

I am completely mystified at how this managed to be included in a list top 100 romance novels. Yes, the word "love" is used, but I would not call this a "romance." ...more

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Aug 14, 2024 emily rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2024, gods-myths-folklore, non-white-protagonist, fantasy-high-fantasy, political-intrigue, afrofuturist-afrocentric, zz-2024-pickashelf-lost, magic-witches-occult

A to Z Challenge: H
Pick-A-Shelf "Lost" Challenge: Read the 10 oldest books on your TBR

This was really cool, a gorgeous world with vibrant characters and a story that surprised me at many turns. Sieh was my favorite part of the book-- what a character! I definitely want to read the rest of the trilogy especially knowing the third book focuses on him. Jemisin's worldbuilding prowess is on full display here from the pantheon of gods to the politics of the world, it's easy to see how she grew from t ...more

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May 02, 2011 Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-fiction

More like 3.5. Clever and interesting dealing with difficult themes and material, without being at all didactic. I didn't think the ending was entirely satisyfing, though. And somehow I didn't feel surprised. ...more

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Feb 25, 2010 Sophia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, sff, 2010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 90% of this book, I adored. The world is great, the characters are great, and I was completely absorbed in the story. Sieh! You are one of my new all-time favorites! And hey, a book about court politics that didn't make me want to claw my eyes out! (Sometimes authors get way too into all the scheming details *coughFrankHerbert* and I get bored.) I got over the "Nahadoth totally = Morpheus" feeling eventually, after googling around and finding that Jemisin only read Sandman last year but worked o 90% of this book, I adored. The world is great, the characters are great, and I was completely absorbed in the story. Sieh! You are one of my new all-time favorites! And hey, a book about court politics that didn't make me want to claw my eyes out! (Sometimes authors get way too into all the scheming details *coughFrankHerbert* and I get bored.) I got over the "Nahadoth totally = Morpheus" feeling eventually, after googling around and finding that Jemisin only read Sandman last year but worked over this story for more than a decade.

However, that leads into part of the 10% of the book I didn't like, which is the romance, which then leads into the rest of the 10% I didn't like, which is the ending. I felt like I'd done the mental work to envision Nahadoth as an immortal being who couldn't possibly feel anything deep or lasting for a mortal, and much as I actually liked Yeine and found her interesting and well-rounded, the romance started verging on Mary Sue territory to me (or at least into Twilight/supernatural romance land, which is nearly as bad). The ending, too, felt like one of those fantasy movie endings where the magical Macguffin somehow fixes everything (the Stone of Earth kills the living and brings the dead back to life, what? and also bestows godhead?), and all the wicked get their just deserts and everyone is happy, lala. I honestly thought for a while that Yeine was going to truly die, but die restoring the exiled gods, which seemed in keeping with the earlier stuff about mortals being of necessity totally insignificant to the gods, and I was OK with that. Turning her into a goddess instead just felt like wish fulfillment.

I also had qualms with Itempas's punishment/road to redemption, which didn't seem to make logical sense to me after all the discussion of how being trapped in flesh made Nahadoth into a psychotic killer, but since the next book involves that I guess I'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

I feel sorry to concentrate on the things I didn't like, since I really did love most of the book, but because it all happened at the end I was left with an unsettled feeling. It's still a four-star rating, but I think I will recommend this with a slight caveat to friends. ...more

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May 13, 2012 Melissa Rochelle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, scifi-fantasy, read-2012, gods

For most of the book, I had no idea what was going on. Most would consider this a bad thing, but I was so interested and invested in the story that I didn't care that it wasn't all clear. I mean, honestly, I think that was the point.

Yeine's story is filled with gods, rulers, family and the world Jemisin builds is fascinating. A great read (a little violent at times, but nothing compared to say...George RR Martin's violence), I can't wait to read the rest of the series. ...more

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Sep 27, 2016 Janet rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

It starts out feeling like it is going to be like a gazillion other fantasies, and ends up taking us somewhere completely different. Solid writing, great characters, and an original plot. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. ...more

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Mar 14, 2010 Punk marked it as find-and-read · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Loved by TFV.

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Apr 18, 2010 Kate Wutz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

We named this one of our "Favorite Works by a Black Writer" over on Literary Transgressions! Mini-review here: https://literarytransgressions.wordpr... ...more

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