English language
Published Sept. 5, 2010
The Broken Kingdoms is a fantasy novel by American writer N. K. Jemisin, the second book of her Inheritance trilogy. It takes place ten years after the events of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and centers around a young woman named Oree Shoth, who lives in the World Tree-shrouded, godling-inhabited city of Shadow.
While in some ways different than the first book in the trilogy, it still features: - great characters - interesting plot - cool world-building
I love the creativity of N.K Jemisin, this one also has gods and humans interactions/dynamics that I find so interesting^^
Well-written, as always. Not as good as the 1st book, imo. Still an interesting story and vibrant world.
The Broken Kingdoms is damn good. It's driven by relationships and conversation in a way that could slow down a lesser book, but here every interaction is filled with the weight of the past, whether spoken or unspoken. It knows when to rest and to move
Everyone has a past in a way that makes them feel real, like we have a snapshot of their lives and they were here before and will continue on afterwards. This, to me, is a hallmark of a well-written story with complex characters. Oree and Madding had a relationship in the past which has echoes now, but their current dynamic is clearly different than what it must have been before the story started. Shiny knows various people and gods in ways that speak to past relationships, whether casual or intimate, and we have enough information to inform our understanding of what is unsaid, but …
Great sequel that is still completely different. Entrancing.
Overall, this is a great book. In a lot of ways it feels like "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, but a second time" - which is good, because HTK was a very good book, but at the same time, it loses a star from me because it still feels like, well, a bit of a retread.
A song is the door, but belief is the key that unlocks it.
The trilogy rolls along but the story picks up in a spot where you didn't expect it to, and this change makes Inheritance #2 more enjoyable to read.
I will continue on reading and complete the trilogy but the story hasn't grabbed my attention enough to warrant a a proper review.
As a follow to the wonderful "The Hundred Thousand Kindgdoms," this was a book that was, perhaps, necessary. It gave a good glimpse at the repercussions of the climax of the previous book and examined even more deeply the effects of the particular cosmology of The Inheritance Trilogy's world. So there is some satisfaction in seeing more of the interesting mythology that Ms. Jemisin began in her last novel.
However, however...the book itself is fairly lackluster. The main character, Oree, is (much like Yeine from THTK) a complex, real and likable character. But the MacGuffin here, the murder of Godlings and the reason behind them is particularly unengaging. Characters are killed that we barely know, that we do not care for, and the real resolution seems to happen as an afterthought. It feels as if the book began as an escape adventure and became a Bidungsroman at the end.
The …
As a follow to the wonderful "The Hundred Thousand Kindgdoms," this was a book that was, perhaps, necessary. It gave a good glimpse at the repercussions of the climax of the previous book and examined even more deeply the effects of the particular cosmology of The Inheritance Trilogy's world. So there is some satisfaction in seeing more of the interesting mythology that Ms. Jemisin began in her last novel.
However, however...the book itself is fairly lackluster. The main character, Oree, is (much like Yeine from THTK) a complex, real and likable character. But the MacGuffin here, the murder of Godlings and the reason behind them is particularly unengaging. Characters are killed that we barely know, that we do not care for, and the real resolution seems to happen as an afterthought. It feels as if the book began as an escape adventure and became a Bidungsroman at the end.
The emotional life of Gods and mortals presented here is not uninteresting, but the events that lead us into the story (The murder of godlings, the consiparacy to murder a God) are given short shrift and their conflict is indeed resolved basically off screen. So...why have them? Why not just make a romance novel about a woman and her immortal lovers?
In the end, I like Ms. Jemisin's wordcraft and her mythology. Her characters are human, living, and believable. But the plotting and pacing of this one seem off kilter to me, and I was ultimately unsatisfied. That being said, I will be finishing up the trilogy and I do look forward to starting the third book shortly.
Four and a half stars. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about the end.
1. And then Shiny stood up for Oree and she got away from the Arameri, the end.
2. Oh, wait, it's not the end! Doteh came and took them prisoner, and she briefly freed Shiny to be Itempas. They killed the bad guy, the end.
3. Oree and Shiny fall in love and live happily ever after. The end.
4. Oh, wait, they don't, Shiny isn't allowed to be happy. Yeine and Nahadoth won't allow it. The end.
The book would have five stars if I wasn't so ambivalent at the end.
Of the four places she could have ended the book, well. I think it was Oscar Wilde who said that you can always have a happy ending if you just choose where to stop reading. ;) That said, the moral ambivalence of Yeine …
Four and a half stars. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about the end.
1. And then Shiny stood up for Oree and she got away from the Arameri, the end.
2. Oh, wait, it's not the end! Doteh came and took them prisoner, and she briefly freed Shiny to be Itempas. They killed the bad guy, the end.
3. Oree and Shiny fall in love and live happily ever after. The end.
4. Oh, wait, they don't, Shiny isn't allowed to be happy. Yeine and Nahadoth won't allow it. The end.
The book would have five stars if I wasn't so ambivalent at the end.
Of the four places she could have ended the book, well. I think it was Oscar Wilde who said that you can always have a happy ending if you just choose where to stop reading. ;) That said, the moral ambivalence of Yeine and Nahadoth is my least favorite stopping place. I disliked Oree "breaking up" with Shiny, and disliked how easy it was to send him away, too. Although, admittedly, I started wobbling around #3 but made the choice to go with it.
Argh. I don't know. I'm just... ambivalent.
Loved it! A great story :)
