Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

I can definitely see how Jemisin's writing style has changed over the years. In this book, she experiments with a slightly unreliable narration that can be a tad unclear at times. She also jumps into the story in a bit of a weird spot, which left me feeling a bit distant from our main character for a good part of the book. But there are a lot of tropes here that I love. There are the gods walking among us. Death and the maiden (or night and the maiden in this case) - which did read as a bit of instalove but it makes a bit more sense as the plot unfolds. The need for balance in a universe. The idea of something adjacent to reincarnation. Some court intrigue. And although parts of the story were slow, I did like the ending enough to continue. All of these books seem to be a bit self contained though as well so I don't feel the need to rush into the next book.

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kingsteph's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.25

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laguerrelewis's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Is anyone surprised? This book has all the hallmarks of why we love Jemisin: a rich, exciting, creative world, compelling characters, and a narrative voice unlike any other I’ve read period, much less in this genre. I have the whole trilogy, and I’m excited to see where the story builds from here. It’s great to see where Jemisin began to carve out her place in the line of great novelists, and she popped out almost fully polished and ready to go.

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idogrocker's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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whatcassiedid's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'm really confused by why this has so many mixed reviews, I really loved it. As with every other N.K. Jemisin book I've read, the world was so beautifully written and every smallest detail thought out perfectly. There is technically incest in this but it's the same type as among the Greek gods and goddesses so it didn't bother me too much. Nahadoth had big demon daddy energy.

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literelli's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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buck50's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Tense from the first page, paranoid and claustrophobic. Byzantine political machinations. A feeling of pervasive hopelessness made even more so by occasional narration that reminds you the main character is dead. Like a lot of Jemison's books, it can be a struggle to get to the end- the feelings of being trapped in a system the heroine wants no part of can be overwhelming to the point of "why am I even reading this?"- but push through and it's a beautiful story, more like Hamlet than not and frustrating in the same way- You find yourself wanting to scream "JUST DO SOMETHING" to the main character as she fumbles her way through a world of captive gods and vicious families. It's an excellent book, and as usual with Jemison's writing, there's a lot about class and power and keeping power from others.

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