The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Inheritance, #1) in Fantasy-Faction.com

Oct 27, 2009 Liviu rated it it was amazing

Shelves: genre-fantasy, read_2009, 2010_release_read

Superb debut and after a great beginning and a good but slower next hundred pages, it raised its energy and quality higher in the second half and turned into one of the best debuts I read in 2009 as well as one of the best fantasies of the year.

Self contained and with a great ending, it will be followed by another novel in the same setting of which an excerpt is presented as bonus material together with an author interview at the end of the book.

The blurb while accurate is misleading since t ...more

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Mar 10, 2011 Blodeuedd Finland rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

This will again be a hard book to review. Why is it that the good ones are always the hardest ones to review?

There was just something about this book. At times I felt like I should be confused by the writing, by the characters or by how it was narrated, but I never was. I was swept away in a dream and experienced this book as the tale it was. It is being narrated by Yeine as she looks back on what has happened and it just feels so good. The writing is flawless and the tone is just right for this ...more

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Oct 25, 2015 Julia Sarene rated it liked it

Shelves: 1-fantasy-epic-or-high, 1-fantasy-all-subgenres, 1-women-in-sff

In this case, the low rating is especially due to personal taste.
The book is really good, the story interesting and the characters are quite well developed. But it is not so much my cup of tea.

The story takes place almost completely at - let's call it court for easy understanding. So it's about intrigues, one would guess. Yes, those are there, but the focus of the story seems to be on feelings. One of the Gods for example is, what people think of him, and therefore shape him into.
Feelings are a ...more

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Dec 04, 2015 Clarita rated it really liked it

Вярвайте само понякога на издателски анотации,текстове на четвърта корица и т.н. Ако нещата бяха такива, каквито са описани в синопсиса тук, четенето едва ли щеше да е толкова завладяващо, въпреки че повествованието на моменти се "поизморяваше" сякаш, позалитваше насам-натам и все пак:).
Изненадваща главна героиня, която - само боговете от тази история знаят защо:) - често ми напомняше за Фицрицарин на Робин Хоб. Може би защото се самопретърсваше влудяващо в един странен двор, белязан от много по ...more

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Jan 01, 2015 Bernie Charbonneau rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, fantasy, ff-challenge, series

Excellent! This is the first novel of a trilogy by new author Ms. Jemisin and it was superb! This was a monthly pick by a reading group and what a selection it was. I must say that the first couple of chapters had me thinking oh boy, here we go with another new author with a great plot but not great structure. Boy, was I surprised. After letting go and not trying to find fault and just reading, this book is very entertaining. I would even say that this was one of the most memorable stories that ...more

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Jun 27, 2010 Ole Imsen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

This novel starts out looking like standard Epic Fantasy, but it doesn't take long before we are introduced to the gods who make this a departure from the standard Epic Palace Intrigue Fantasy.
The intrigue of royalty is the starting point of the novel, and through the heroine, Yeine, we are introduced into it. That she is both the narrator and an outsider at the palace is a good choice by Jemisin. We get to learn as Yeine does, and this is handled very well. There is never a feeling of Yeine b This novel starts out looking like standard Epic Fantasy, but it doesn't take long before we are introduced to the gods who make this a departure from the standard Epic Palace Intrigue Fantasy.
The intrigue of royalty is the starting point of the novel, and through the heroine, Yeine, we are introduced into it. That she is both the narrator and an outsider at the palace is a good choice by Jemisin. We get to learn as Yeine does, and this is handled very well. There is never a feeling of Yeine being clueless just to get information across to the reader, and we in some way grow with Yeine as the story progresses.

The royals are very much linked to the gods, and they are an integral part of the story. Jemisin handles the gods very well, they come off as very realistic.
Gods aren't really all that uncommon in Fantasy, and you sometime get the feeling that they are carbon copies of the Greek/Roman/Norse pantheon, that is not the case here. Jemisin's use of gods in the story feels very fresh, and they are a very important part of the story - they are in fact central to it. Since they are gods they are of course powerful, but Jemisin has created a nice twist that limits them and at the same time elevates them to more than "just" gods.
This is probably the best use of gods I have ever seen in Fantasy, and for those that are interested in gods they alone make the book worth getting.

The story of this novel is a great journey. As mentioned above it starts out pretty traditionally, but soon takes another turn. There's so many twists and surprising events here, that at times it is almost hard to keep up. This is Jemisin's debut, but she comes off as a so well accomplished storyteller it never really comes across as a first book.
While the story is, mostly, set in just one location it is an epic one in scope. It never feels constrained by the limited setting, and it doesn't suffer from being deprived of the large sprawling world that we get in most Fantasy. Jemisin instead manages to make this a strength, and although we do get quite a bit of history, this is very much focused on the characters.

Yeine and the gods are very interesting characters, and the focus on such a small cast of characters makes this feel very intimate. The first person narrative brings us into the head of Yeine, and as we follow her journey we become a part of it. The gods are also well developed, and they are great characters in their own right.

All in all this is a really great debut. It has a different feel than all the Grimdark, and is a very good antidote for those that feel Fantasy is all about the "gritty". For any fan of Fantasy, and (non-monotheistic) gods in general, this is a must buy. As Fantasy debuts go, this is one of the best.

Review originally published on my blog: http://weirdmage.blogspot.com ...more

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Dec 18, 2010 Benni rated it really liked it

Shelves: novels, sff-horror, upcoming-reviews

http://dabbycool.com/nooblingsnest/?p=244

Yeine was born to an exiled noble mother and grew up in Darre as a warrior to a people others call barbarians. When her mother dies, Yeine is summoned to the city Sky. Her grandfather, the ruler, names her one of three possible heirs to the kingdoms–less flattering and more deadly than it sounds, as the two other named heirs will likely kill her for the chance at ultimate power. But Yeine won’t wait idly by; for one thing, she is determined to solve the m ...more

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May 13, 2012 Chris Conley rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Initially, I wasn't sure about this book. I found the "history" stuff thrown in jarring within a first person narrative, but I'm glad I kept reading. Every time I picked up the book, it got better. By the conclusion, I was a big fan. ...more

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