The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. JemisinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy a few years ago and was blown away by it. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is her debut novel and the first book in her series, The Inheritance Trilogy. That it is a debut novel shows a bit, especially already having read her later, more developed and more perfected work. It was actually interesting to see similar themes and ideas from the later series get played with in Kingdoms. It would be inaccurate and short-selling this book to say it was just a first pass with these themes, but Jemisin is definitely exploring similar ideas but without as much skill and depth as she is able to bring to Broken Earth.
Like in the Broken Earth trilogy, the theme of power and who controls that power are central. The Fifth Season (Book 1 of Broken Earth) begins with the end of world, but eschatological themes run throughout The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms as well.
Nevertheless, I loved this book. I really love the way the story is told. At first, it can be confusing, even disorientating because the narrative perspective is not entirely clear. But there is a good reason for that and it soon makes sense.
It is a such a creative and novel world. While there are echoes of different mythologies from the real world, these are remixed and reimagined in new and inventive ways. The cosmology, if you will, are intriguing. And Jemisin doesn’t go overboard. As with The Fifth Season , the world building is subtle and piece meal. You got what you need for the story while knowing there is so much more.
The ending had a few great twists and was satisfying. Tied things up nicely, maybe a bit too neat, but overall it worked. I’m excited to see where the next books go.
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