Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

11 reviews

vigil's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

this book, was not amazing. plotwise, it was very promising and admittedly, i love an

Spoiler

apotheosis

story,  so on this front i was easy to please. that said i don’t think it was done  as deftly as it could’ve been, as any real moments of insight into plot and character developments where easily undercut by scene after scene of yeine’s coochie quaking because of nahadoth, a half baked and unconvincing romance that never made me quite believe that their feelings towards each other where separate from

Spoiler

enefa’s influence

nor that they genuinely enjoyed each other outside of inexplicable horniness. it grew more believable at the final portions, but by then it was too late. 

the romance in general is not to my taste, as i can only liken it to being nk jemisin’s take on a sarah j mass plot, with shoddy the worldbuilding and flat characters included. yeine has moments where she’s almost interesting, as does nahadoth, but then jemisin has them fall back into the role of the new adult jerkass inhuman romance plot (which i must say, an inhuman mortal immortal romance can in fact work, and my prime recommendation is the winternight trilogy, starting with the bear and the nightingale) and then their boring again. the most intriguing aspects of this book happen when they are not involved with one another (and thus the main plot as the two are inextricably tied) such as when yeine is looking into her mother’s past, or her own personal connection with her home country and family there, and when nahadoth interacts with the other gods, particularly the flashbacks. 

this book could’ve been great, and it wasn’t a terrible reading experience, but it wasn’t all it could’ve been.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Colonisation, Death of parent, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Death, Cursing, Grief, Murder, Slavery, War, and Xenophobia

nixieba25f's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Confinement, Body horror, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Bullying, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Death, Genocide, Slavery, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Murder, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, War, Torture, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, and Violence

ecmbeanie's review against another edition

dark lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Classism, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Slavery, Colonisation, and Confinement

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Death of parent and Genocide

brittni_in_ink's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

A fantasy novel with political intrigue, revenge plots, and captive gods, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is a fantastic read. The story follows Yeine, a young woman who is brought to the royal city of Sky after her family was disowned by her royal grandfather. She suspects that her mother's death was not natural and sets out to find out who killed her. The gods who are held hostage in the city offer to help her do more than that - but for a price. 

A slow-burn political intrigue unravels, revealing the truth of Yeine's purpose in Sky and the reason for the gods' imprisonment. The writing is incredible, Yeine's POV offers just the right balance of insight and action, and the relationships that develop leading up to the climax of the book are engaging. And like many of Jemisin's books, there's social commentary on harmful structures of power that are present in our own society.

Definitely one of my favourite reads of the year! I can't wait to continue with the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Colonisation, Death, and Classism

Moderate: War, Violence, Gore, Grief, Slavery, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Sexual content

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Murder, Incest, Kidnapping, and Racism

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Racism, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Incest, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Slavery, Classism, Colonisation, and Torture

carolined314's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Grief, and Torture

Moderate: Death of parent, Stalking, Colonisation, Death, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Incest, Violence, Confinement, and Bullying

Minor: Genocide, Cannibalism, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

kesreads13's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, War, and Sexual content

Minor: Colonisation, Blood, and Classism

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.

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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.

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Confinement, and Colonisation

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

overbooked207's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

📖 The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin Book Review 📖

8th book of January 2022 and 8th of the year:

I finally finished this big book! Once again the story, social commentary, dialogue, scheming and brutal fight scenes, and lore/magic systems were fantastic in an N.K. Jemisin novel! The characters and world were so fleshed out and complex, and I felt like I was right there in the world with them. The audiobook was beautifully done, as were The Broken Earth trilogy audiobooks, and I’m excited to continue reading and re-reading the rest of N.K. Jemisin’s books! TW for murder, death, torture, rape, slavery, explicit sexual content, violence, incest, mentioned cannibalism, body horror, death of a parent, confinement, human sacrifice, racism, war, gore, body horror, vomit, sexual violence, medical content/trauma, misogyny, abuse, alcohol/drug use, classism, colonization, torture, injury detail, infidelity, and grief📚🎧

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Rape, Confinement, Body horror, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Alcohol, Colonisation, Medical content, War, Grief, Vomit, Classism, Sexual content, Gore, Sexism, Drug use, Animal death, Murder, Incest, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Infidelity, Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, Slavery, Violence, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Bullying, Death of parent, Racism, and Kidnapping