BOOK REVIEW: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (No spoilers)

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

by NK Jemisin

 

 

RATING: 4/5

 

DESCRIPTION: Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother's death and her family's bloody history.

 

With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate - and gods and mortals - are bound inseparably together.

 

 

"And that [Knowledge] is picked and sorted, trimmed and twisted to suit the tastes of those in power."

 

DISCUSSION: I love this book! And that was something I doubted when I first started reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. The beginning was confusing. Both of the story, and how it was written. The structure of the book was so unique it took a while for me to adjust. Some of the words didn't make sense for me, not because I lack the vocabulary, but because they were presented in a weird way. On page 47 of my copy, there was a line that goes...

The ink splattered across the tabletop like

like

and then Viraine touched my hand.

It was literally presented that way. I don't know if it was of my own fault, perhaps I'm just really oblivious. Some sentences hang like riddles, and I still can't tell whether I like it or not. It's certainly why I only gave it 4/5. Another problem rose when the main character and I didn't seem to connect on the first 100 pages. When her thoughts say she understands, I don't. We're like two heads with one body. And it's difficult to read on her perspective.

 

Eventually, though, I got the hang of it. I later forgot another one of my initial thoughts - that the story lacked support. That events were jumping after events. It was a little hard to catch up in the beginning. However, the other half of the book made up for it. And soon, all of my questions were answered, with the basis I was so desperate for on the first few pages.

 

Now you might be wondering, after all the flaws I saw, what was it that made me love the book? The story. The twists. I think the description provided for the book is misleading. When I first saw it I immediately thought of palace life; one of those girly princess-meets-prince-and-rises-on-top kind of book. But it wasn't like any of that. It surprised me. And the surprise was good.

 

By the way, I love Nahadoth too.

 

I finished the book hoping to dive in to its sequel, The Broken Kingdoms, but apparently, Jemisin's surprise didn't just stop on the first book. I found out that the sequel was told on a different perspective, 10 years afterwards. That's something I'm still unsure of what to say.

 

Seriously? After trying so hard to understand Yiene? And now that I've invested on her character, you're giving me a new one? One that is alien to me? I'm not sure I can carry the weight.

 

So I've decided to wait, perhaps a few weeks, for the feels to die down before I proceed to the other two books. And then we shall see where it goes from there.

Until then, I think The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms would be a great stand-alone book.