Book Review: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

Originally published August 6, 2019 on susanstradiotto.com.

Series: Inheritance Trilogy #1

by N.K. Jemisin

Narrated by: Casaundra Freeman

Review by Susan Stradiotto

I’ve been searching for fantasy authors who have strong and unique voices. To that end, I am immensely excited that I have found N.K. Jemisin and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. I finished this book in June and am about to finish the 3rd in the Inheritance series. I must say that I’m ecstatic that I’ll soon be able to dive into both The Dreamblood Duology and The Broken Earth series. As a bonus, it appears that The Broken Earth is being developed for TV. Once I’ve read it, I’m certain I’ll be binging that too.

Summary (Spoiler Free)

An orphaned girl is summoned by her estranged grandfather to participate as one of three candidates to be his successor. In her experience, she meets gods and mortals alike and must learn about her family’s past as well as the natures of the royal family and the gods they hold prisoner. More importantly, she must make choices about her future with the varying agendas within Sky, each trying to persuade her in one direction or the other.

What I loved about The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

Check out my post: First Person Meaty Fantasy. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and the novels following that in the Inheritance Trilogy are precisely this. However, the point-of-view character changes in each book in the series. I’ll cover more about that with the review of each novel, but it’s a slightly different pattern than I am accustomed to. That being said, I didn’t mind the variance. It allowed me to get up close and personal with three characters rather than one.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is a personal journey, wrought with internal conflict as well as external. Learning about Yeine, the choices she must make, and the emotions that drive her decisions are the real factors that made me love this book. I can’t say that I’d make many of the same decisions that she did, but as a reader, attempting to understand the character and the motivation are fascinating aspects of fantasy–at least for me.