The Broken Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin

Title: The Broken Kingdoms

Author: N. K. Jemisin

Date Read: From November 26 to November 30, 2011

On TBR for: 19 days

Format: Physical book

Source: Bought - New








Back to the world of Sky, roughly ten years after the end of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Broken Kingdoms is the story of Oree, a blind artist who lives in the city below the palace-Sky, now turned into palace/tree. She sells knick-knacks and souvenirs to the pilgrims that go to worship the new godlings (and even the old god Itempas). And she paints, but that's just for her.

One day she finds someone in a pile of muck, and like the good person she is, she takes him home and treats him. She even gives him a name: Shiny. Why does she give him a name? One, because he never talks (he can talk, he just chooses not to - this isn't a story about the blind and the mute), and two, because he shines (but only in the morning).

And let me backtrack a bit here, because you surely recall that I told you Oree is blind. She IS blind, but she can see magic, its glow allows her to see parts of the world. It does help her a lot, especially because Sky is so infused with it. And it allows her to become really chummy with all kinds of godlings. So she knows, more or less, what she has in her hands with Shiny. And still adventure ensues.

There is part that is a continuation of the plots of the previous book, but The Broken Kingdoms is a book on its own. I found myself hating characters I once loved, and loving characters I once hated, just because there was a shift in perspective. And I loved that it happened.

Oree as a character captivated me like Yeine never did. She is spunky and feisty, and more importantly, gets things done. The big problem with this book is, having read the first one, the mystery of Shiny is no mystery at all (except for Oree, of course). But I did like to see his character unfold, and was surprised by how much I ended up liking him.

And that surprise is not exclusive to Shiny. I was surprised how much I ended up liking this book, considering that the first one didn't blow me off my feet. I really liked the ending, and I am now ready for the next/last one in the series, The Kingdom of Gods.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Other Reviews: Cuidado com o Dálmata | Fantasy Café | Libri Touches | The Broke and the Bookish

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The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

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 - a palace above the clouds where gods' and mortals' lives are intertwined. There, to her shock, Yeine is named one of the potential heirs 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 a pair of 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. But it's not just mortals who have secrets worth hiding and Yeine will learn how perilous the world can be when love and hate - and gods and mortals - are bound inseparably.


The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is the story of Yeine, told by her, but it is also a way to present the world of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (yes, it's actually called that) and its history. The story in itself only spans two weeks, from the day Yeine arrives at Sky, to the day of the succession ceremony, but those are two weeks filled with action.

Yeine is, at best, an unreliable narrator. The story is being told from a point somewhat towards the end of the book and, as I read on, I could start to put the pieces together about what would happen. But most of the times it did confuse me (and sometimes not about the plot, but about whether I had a faulty print or not).

What I loved the most in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms were the gods and its mythos. I am a sucker for creation myths and all the different ways the gods make the world. In The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms the creation of the Universe is more of a by-product of the gods fights and quarrels and games, than a desire to create something new and alive – with a few exceptions, of course. And this plays right into the way they relate with the mortal humans, how they see them, how they use them. A part of the past of this world, the Gods' Wars, is also told, as a lot of the plot is a consequence of something that happened then. It would make a nice prequel to this book, the story of how it happened.

Every god that appears in this book has a personality of his own, and none of them are black or white (in the moral sense), even if there is a strong symbolism associated with the light/day god and the darkness/night god – meaning that colour and affinity with either night and day are not a sign of good and evil. Of all the gods that appear, the one I loved the most was Sieh who, for most of the book, is a child and trickster. Nahadoth comes in close second, for all his different sides, depending on the time of the day and his mood.

It makes sense to like these two the most, they are the most drawn out, the most important, the ones who actively contribute to the plot. But that would mean that I would also love Yeine, which is not true. Is not that I dislike her, but I never really cared for her fate. Or her love life and her troubles (thankfully there weren't many – just big ones). Maybe because, thinking about it, there is not much of consequence that she does. She follows leads and learns things, and is harassed by relatives and gods, but there are only a few points where I could say "there you go, you've done something to make sure you are not going to die in the end".

As for the story itself, there were good points, but by the end I felt it had all happened too fast. I was glad for its resolution, and happy with its ending, but had it taken longer to reach it, I would probably like it more.

But it was a nice fantasy novel, filled with action, and a lot of hints to its history and mythology that would love to see expanded in the following books.


Rating: 4 out of 5

Other Reviews: A Few More Pages | Book Lovers Inc. | Fyrefly's Book Blog | Good Books & Good Wine | Jawas Read, Too! | Libri Touches | To Read or Not to Read 

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