ashleighmo's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-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? It's complicated
3.25
A little disappointed with the ending. It also describes a much bigger world, but the setting for the story is very small. Perhaps the remaining books in the series will explore that further. Wanted to love it, but it fell a bit flat for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Emotional abuse
Minor: Rape
mxkanteven's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Torture, Gore, Confinement, Body horror, Classism, Death of parent, and Slavery
Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Murder
Minor: Pedophilia and Rape
mossgoblins's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Although N.K. Jemison’s Broken Earth trilogy is one of my all time favorite series, I didn’t resonate strongly with this book. It is one of her first books, so perhaps it is simply that she has grown so much as an author since, but I found the characters less complex in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, the plot confusing, and the setting merely satisfactory. I can’t recommend this book as more than just a mildly entertaining read, but I do highly recommend Jemison’s later works- in particular: The Fifth Season.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, War, Blood, Emotional abuse, Incest, Torture, Confinement, Body horror, Death, Violence, Injury/injury detail, Gore, Grief, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Slavery
Minor: Pedophilia and Rape
rexpostfacto's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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? Yes
4.5
This was a delightful read. A bit slow moving in the beginning, but once it got going, wow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Classism, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: War, Torture, and Rape
mostlyvoidpartiallystars's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: War, Child abuse, Rape, Xenophobia, and Sexual violence
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
thoughtsontomes's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? Yes
3.75
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Torture, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Rape and Death of parent
incest - in the way the Greek gods do incestkingsteph's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Rape, Death of parent, Sexual violence, and Pedophilia
laguerrelewis's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, Torture, Grief, Slavery, Body horror, Gore, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Incest, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape
readwithria's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.5
This book is weird, and I'm not sure how I feel about it.
There are things I liked, and there are things that were bizarre, and there were things I didn't like. It didn't stick with me all that much.
Things I Liked:
- The worldbuilding was extremely well done. Everything made sense, and the gods felt well fleshed out.
- Seih! Seih was by far my favorite character.
- The ending was quite satisfying. It felt a little deus ex machina but there were literal gods involved so I have no complaints.
Things I Wish Were Different
- I don't know if I'm supposed to like the matriarchal society structure, but it feels scummy and gross.
- Y'all, the romance was SO WEIRD. The sex scenes were bizarre, and some of the phrasing was the least sexy spice I've ever read.
- The mortal characters didn't feel very fleshed out for some reason, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Did they matter? Would their actions have changed the outcome of the book? Having the gods be central characters makes that a weird thing to grapple with.
All in all, this book was fine. I don't know if I will read the rest of the trilogy, but I'm not ruling it out. 3.5 stars.
There are things I liked, and there are things that were bizarre, and there were things I didn't like. It didn't stick with me all that much.
Things I Liked:
- The worldbuilding was extremely well done. Everything made sense, and the gods felt well fleshed out.
- Seih! Seih was by far my favorite character.
- The ending was quite satisfying. It felt a little deus ex machina but there were literal gods involved so I have no complaints.
Things I Wish Were Different
- I don't know if I'm supposed to like the matriarchal society structure, but it feels scummy and gross.
Spoiler
Having a coming of age ceremony that ends in one combatant raping the other is just not cool. But also I don't think it was written to be a good thing? I don't know, but Darr is a weird place- Y'all, the romance was SO WEIRD. The sex scenes were bizarre, and some of the phrasing was the least sexy spice I've ever read.
- The mortal characters didn't feel very fleshed out for some reason, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Did they matter? Would their actions have changed the outcome of the book? Having the gods be central characters makes that a weird thing to grapple with.
All in all, this book was fine. I don't know if I will read the rest of the trilogy, but I'm not ruling it out. 3.5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Confinement, and Colonisation
Minor: Pedophilia and Rape
idogrocker's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Slavery
Minor: Rape