The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin is a book I stumbled across in the audio section of the library while looking for something to occupy me during a long drive.
Started: 1/15/2013
Completed: 2/2/2013
Recommendation: Fun Read, worth the time
Recommended By: Nobody
Review:
The female protagonist was nice and, frankly, the female characters seemed to dominate both the book and the story lines. Most of the fantasy I read is swashbuckling male stuff, but it was nice to see a new angle. Don't get me wrong, plenty of sword and sorcery remain for those who live on that, but there wasn't any "save the princess." In some ways this story reminded me of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant in that the protagonist was weak. In this story, however, the protagonist is compelling and her story doesn't leave you hating her (like Covenant).
A lot of the story focuses on mortals interacting with gods and the interactions are largely reduced to mortal comprehension. The author gives a nod to this in the last chapters and offers a reasonable explanation although it was uncomfortable until the explanation was given. I understand why the author waited, it was pretty necessary for the story, but it stretched my ability to suspend disbelief.
The prose was not compelling, but the audio version brought life to some dreary interactions and while it created some confusion when the protagonist was talking with herself (or sort of interacting with someone else in the future while treating the story as a retrospective) it could be confusing, I'm not at all clear how that could be clarified.
The female protagonist was nice and, frankly, the female characters seemed to dominate both the book and the story lines. Most of the fantasy I read is swashbuckling male stuff, but it was nice to see a new angle. Don't get me wrong, plenty of sword and sorcery remain for those who live on that, but there wasn't any "save the princess." In some ways this story reminded me of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant in that the protagonist was weak. In this story, however, the protagonist is compelling and her story doesn't leave you hating her (like Covenant).
A lot of the story focuses on mortals interacting with gods and the interactions are largely reduced to mortal comprehension. The author gives a nod to this in the last chapters and offers a reasonable explanation although it was uncomfortable until the explanation was given. I understand why the author waited, it was pretty necessary for the story, but it stretched my ability to suspend disbelief.
The prose was not compelling, but the audio version brought life to some dreary interactions and while it created some confusion when the protagonist was talking with herself (or sort of interacting with someone else in the future while treating the story as a retrospective) it could be confusing, I'm not at all clear how that could be clarified.
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