Blackveil by Kristen Britain

WARNING: I try to avoid spoilers, but they are possible (even probable), since this is the fourth book of the Green Rider series. Green Rider (review here) is the first. I recommend reading them in order.

This review actually has some spoilers (clearly marked). I appreciated the warning on the crazy shit that goes on in this book, so I imagine there are some others out there too that prefer to know what they're getting into before taking on a book like this.
Once a simple student, Karigan G'ladheon finds herself in a world of deadly danger and complex magic, compelled by forces she cannot understand when she becomes a legendary Green Rider-one of the magical messengers of the king. Forced by magic to accept a dangerous fate she would never have chosen, headstrong Karigan has become completely devoted to the king and her fellow Riders.

But now, an insurrection led by dark magicians threatens to break the boundaries of ancient, evil Blackveil Forest-releasing powerful dark magics that have been shut away for a millennium. 

I think the subtext "long-awaited sequel" has been on every Kristen Britain book since Green Rider. Here are the respective publication dates of each Green Rider book:

Green Rider (1998)
First Rider's Call (2003)
The High King's Tomb (2007)
Blackveil (2011)

To be a Kristen Britain fan, one must be very patient to wait 4-5 years between books. That said, though, it's easy to be patient generally. Britain has always made an effort to wrap up at least some plotlines and let the reader have a sense of closure, even if the story is still ongoing. No such luck with Blackveil. Ginormous cliffhanger at the end, so if you have a problem with that I'd hold out for the next one to come out first.

This book was a lot darker and more mature than previous books as well. Be prepared for travel into "ookey" territory more than the other books. Still on the PG-13 side though, imo. All in all, I enjoyed it immensely, more than the third book that's for sure. Aside from tying up some messy, random plotlines from #3, it was a cleanly written and a fast read (for such a long book that is.) I couldn't put it down. Very refreshing after #3.

Once again, the romance aspects and character interactions make the book feel sort of light, but the rest of the plot is very dark and lends some depth to the book.

THAR BE SPOILERS AHEAD

So there are some odd things about this book. First, Zachary gets shot in an assassination attempt, and for the good of the country (mostly), his advisers decide to conduct a sham marriage between him and Estora, with Colin saying "I do" for the king, since he's out cold. There's some sort of ritual where some people have to watch the king and queen do it for the first time, and this ritual still occurs even though Zachary is delerious. Estora and Zachary are both drugged, and they have sex...Zachary thinking Estora is Karigan, and Estora being blackmailed by her cousin. It's really weird, and I think that surely there was some way for the story to go the same general way that didn't involve this weirdness.

END SPOILERS

So other than some strange twists in the story, I really liked Blackveil a lot. It brought me back to the first two books, and there was never a dull moment, that's for sure. I could see hints of how the book series might end too, which was nice. I am hoping that the fifth will be the last. As much as I will miss new books, I think it's time for the series to conclude. Blackveil feels like the beginning of the end, and I hope not to get another "let's drag this out and make more money" book after this one being so much better than The High King's Tomb.

Bottom Line

 To sum it up: Exciting, dark, and memorable.

Overall Rating: 4 / 5

Buy or Try? Buy

More? 4 / 4 so far. Unsure of how many there will be total...it was initially to be a trilogy.

Content

Plot: 4 / 5

Setting: 4 / 5

Characters: 3.5 / 5

Style
Pace: Fast
Descriptiveness: Prose

Fantasy factor: High Fantasy

Amazon.com link

Challenges: 2011 Fantasy Reading Challenge

High King's Tomb by Kristen Britain

WARNING: I try to avoid spoilers, but they are possible (even probable), since this is the third book of the Green Rider series. Green Rider (review here) is the first. I recommend reading them in order.

A thousand years ago the armies of the Arcosian Empire, led by Mornhavon the Black, crossed the great sea and tried to conquer the land of Sacoridia —and during Karigan G'ladheon's early years as a Green Rider, Mornhavon's spirit, sensing weakness in his prison walls and seeking vengeance, began to wake. With the ghostly help of the First Rider, Karigan had managed to drive off the spirit of Mornhavon—but for how long, no one could know. And now, the descendants of those Arcosians are ready to strike, reaching out to claim the land their forebears had tried to conquer. Worse, these vengeful enemies had spent generations honing their powers of dark magic—a force against which the Sacoridians had no defense…

I love this series. Really. I do. But it should have been a trilogy. I think someone was trying to get their money's worth out of this author, so she was signed up for a 90 bazillion book deal instead of what she had originally planned to do, which simply wasn't making them enough money.  

The Green Rider series was supposed to be a trilogy, as far as I know, up until the second book. In my opinion it shows. First Rider's Call reads like a good second book...things are coming together, almost ready to be tied up and brought together in the final volume. 

However, The High King's Tomb takes all of that and spins off in another direction. I felt like the plot of this one was kind of out of left field, and now that I've read the fourth (review forthcoming), I think this book was just a way to extend the series. It didn't really move the plot along, and more served to introduce more characters and plotlines that couldn't be resolved in just one more book.

Godbeings were introduced as well, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Again, it just did not seem like it went along with where the second book was going. That said, with the fourth book now out, the third book is a nice tie-in to the series, although it seemed to have more "filler" than the rest. Filler for this author, though, still makes for an entertaining read.

Bottom Line

 To sum it up: If you like this series so far, don't stop now. :)

Overall Rating: 3.5 / 5

Buy or Try? Buy

More? 3 / 4 so far. Unsure of how many there will be total...it was initially to be a trilogy.

Content

Plot: 2.5 / 5

Setting: 4 / 5

Characters: 3 / 5

Style
Pace: Middlin'
Descriptiveness: Prose

Fantasy factor: High Fantasy

Amazon.com link 

Challenges: 2011 Fantasy Reading Challenge, Read Me Baby One More Time

The Broken Kingdoms by NK Jemisin

WARNING: I try to avoid spoilers, but they are possible (even probable), since this is the second book of the Inheritance Trilogy. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (review here) is the first. I recommend reading them in order.

I know it's only been a couple days since my last review, but I just could not put The Broken Kingdoms down. I thought about it when I was driving to work. I thought about it at work. I wished I could read it on the treadmill and at dinner tonight. And now I'm really sad that it's over. From the back cover: 

In the city of Shadow, beneath the World Tree, alleyways shimmer with magic and godlings live hidden among mortalkind. Oree Shoth, a blind artist, takes in a strange homeless man on an impulse. This act of kindness engulfs Oree in a nightmarish conspiracy. Someone, somehow, is murdering godlings, leaving their desecrated bodies all over the city. And Oree's guest is at the heart of it. . . 

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was only the second book I ever reviewed for my site. I remember enjoying it, but being slightly put off by the tone of the novel. I think, in truth, it may have been the protagonist was not one I could relate to easily. I found Oree a much more likable narrator. I was very impressed with the fact that although this novel is also narrated in first person, like The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Oree is very obviously a very different voice from Yeine. I imagine that it is very hard to pull off two distinct first person accounts.

As in the previous novel, I found this world to be incredibly intriguing and complex, I think even moreso. I was a bit lost at the very beginning because it's been a good long while since I read the previous novel and this one takes place 10 years after the events of the first. However, Jemisin throws little "reminders" in there for recurring characters and continuing story arcs, so I was able to follow the plot without feeling the need to run out and read the first one again. That's a pet peeve of mine, given the enormous gaps there usually are in between series releases. It's also not a clumsily thrown in explanation either...very artfully done.

As I had mentioned in my review of the first book, the author inserts a lot of sidenotes and afterthoughts into the narrative. In The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, that was somewhat distracting. I didn't feel like the sidenotes and afterthoughts were necessarily relevant to the story. In this case, each seemed very pertinent and seemed shorter. This was probably one of the things that gave Yeine and Oree their distinct voices.

I just love this series. It's a unique perspective on divinity and their interactions with mankind. I am especially intrigued by the gods' interactions and relationships to each other. I always finish these books and start to think about the nature of gods, their nature, and find myself comparing the theology to current, real world theology. I enjoy books that have meaning, and that cause you to walk away thinking. Although I must say, the emotional side to this story makes it hard to walk away.

I think NK Jemisin has really hit her stride with this book. The third will be The Kingdom of the Gods, released in September (click here for a synopsis). I have a feeling I will be even more upset when the series ends.

Bottom Line

 To sum it up: Gods + humans. Hilarity does not ensue.

Overall Rating: 5 / 5

Buy or Try? Buy

More? 2 / 3 projected

Content

Plot: 5 / 5

Setting: 5 / 5

Characters: 5 / 5

*Yes really. I waffled about giving out a perfect score out of principle, but I just didn't have anything to complain about at all.*

Style
Pace: Fast
Descriptiveness: Prose

Fantasy factor: High Fantasy

Amazon.com link

Challenges: 2011 Fantasy Reading Challenge

The Child Thief by Brom

This may be stereotypical of me, but I love fairy tales, and I especially love new twists on fairy tales. This particular novel is a much darker version of Peter Pan than the one you see in Disney movies, although the original tale hints at some darkness as well.

Peter is quick, daring, and full of mischief—and like all boys, he loves to play, though his games often end in blood. His eyes are sparkling gold, and when he graces you with his smile you are his friend for life, but his promised land is not Neverland.

Fourteen-year-old Nick would have been murdered by the drug dealers preying on his family had Peter not saved him. Now the irresistibly charismatic wild boy wants Nick to follow him to a secret place of great adventure, where magic is alive and you never grow old. Even though he is wary of Peter's crazy talk of faeries and monsters, Nick agrees. After all, New York City is no longer safe for him, and what more could he possibly lose? 

There is always more to lose. 

Accompanying Peter to a gray and ravished island that was once a lush, enchanted paradise, Nick finds himself unwittingly recruited for a war that has raged for centuries—one where he must learn to fight or die among the "Devils," Peter's savage tribe of lost and stolen children. 

There, Peter's dark past is revealed: left to wolves as an infant, despised and hunted, Peter moves restlessly between the worlds of faerie and man. The Child Thief is a leader of bloodthirsty children, a brave friend, and a creature driven to do whatever he must to stop the "Flesh-eaters" and save the last, wild magic in this dying land.

I don't think I've ever read a book written by an illustrator before, and The Child Thief has several of Brom's illustrations throughout the book, including the cover art. They're beautiful, and really help the reader picture the characters.

That said, the prose does not suffer at all. When I first heard that Brom was an artist first, I was somewhat skeptical about his writing ability. Oh how wrong I was. This book was a page-turner without having a simplistic writing style, and moved along without skimping on description. Without the illustrations, I still had a good idea what characters and places looked like and I was never bored.

The characters and the plot were where Brom shone, I think. The plot twisted and turned until I wasn't sure who to cheer for. By the end, it's unclear who is the "good guy" and who is the "bad guy." Everyone (for the most part) thinks they're doing the right thing...but who really is? I love authors that are unafraid to deal with the sometimes ambiguous nature of morality. 

The world Brom opens up to the reader is dark, there's no question about that. From the beginning, the dregs of society are the center of our outside world. Peter brings children into Avalon from horrible situations, but that's not even the worst, most graphic part of the book. People are flayed alive, intestines are eaten out of live people, there are horrible descriptions of rape, torture, and one character is crucified. This book is not for the faint of heart, and this is not an uplifting book for the most part. Be prepared for main characters to be killed.

The book ends on a relatively good note though, though it may not be a happily ever after ending. I didn't walk away feeling depressed though...that's a pet peeve of mine with novels.

While the book was dark and gruesome, to the point where I thought about throwing in the towel a few times, it is definitely worth the read. I am so glad I kept reading. Brom's exploration of a tale that was already sort of creepy was amazing. I enjoyed the fact that I had to think about the subjective nature of right and wrong.

Bottom Line

Overall Rating: 4 / 5

Buy or Try? Try, merely because of the violence
More? Standalone

Content

Plot: 5 / 5

Setting: 4 / 5

Characters: 4 / 5

Style 
Pace: Fast 
Descriptiveness: Middlin'
Fantasy factor: Magical Realism to Low Fantasy

Amazon.com link

Angelslayer: The Winnowing War by K Michael Wright

The problem with obscure books is it's next to impossible to find a decent cover image. Nonetheless, I found one. I find the cover to be a little over the top, but I'd never heard of this author before and that doesn't happen very often with fantasy novels.

Set amidst an eerie and distant future, this novel tells the story of Etlantis-the mother city built in the shadows of Mt. Arom-and the possible end of the world. Believing in their right to rule the planet, the people of Etlantis sent ships to hunt the Western Seas. In them were the Nephilim-sons of Angels who had become addicted to human flesh and blood through the curse of Enoch. In the wake of their terror, the earth's human population has neared extinction. Unless the survivors can band together to destroy the monsters that ravaged their home, the end is all but certain. Featuring an imaginative range of characters and concepts, this is a harrowing vision of the line between heaven and earth.

I don't know about you, but I still don't get it the gist of the story from that description. Not to mention in my copy, it's partially covered up by a label. Still, everywhere I turned, it seemed like there was a positive review of Angelslayer, so I gave it a go.

I'm sure you noticed my last review was a full month ago. I've renewed this book 3 times, and I incurred a 20 cent fine. But I was determined not to put two books in the "could not finish" pile in a row...regardless of how slowly it dragged and how very much I wanted to read something else. Needless to say, this will be a short review because I spent way too much time trying to read this book already.


The writing style is very flowery. The scenes are gory. The cruelty and mutilation exhibited by the bad guys is...nauseating. Truly nauseating. And I'm a nurse. There are people who are drawn and quartered (and still alive and talking), nearly decapitated, drained of blood so it can be made into fine wine, stripped of all organs, bones etc and still alive, dead but kept alive by demons for organs...it's a horror book, really. Pure and simple. The story was confusing at best, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out who was fighting for whom and why they were fighting in the first place. I skimmed the last 200 pages or so, at least.


I think people who like Guy Gavriel Kay a lot might like this book. Also, people who like really gory horror or long drawn out battle scenes. I just did not enjoy it.

Bottom Line

(I am trying hard not to get wrapped up in the frustration of it taking so long to read and be objective)

Overall Rating: 1.5 / 5 

Buy or Try? Try
More? 1 / ? It's supposed to be a series. We'll see.

Content

Plot: 1 / 5 (lul whut?)

Setting: 2 / 5 (again, whut?)

Characters: 2 / 5 (Some weren't so bad I suppose.)

Style 
Pace: Slooooow.
Descriptiveness: Poetry
Fantasy factor: High Fantasy

The Red Tree by Caitlin R Kiernan - RIP V Review V

I picked up The Red Tree for the RIP V Challenge. I had gotten it from the library because it was recommended by amazon, but never got around to reading it. It was a perfect Halloween season book for sure. From the back cover:

Sarah Crowe left Atlanta, and the remnants of a tumultuous relationship, to live alone in an old house in rural Rhode Island. Within its walls she discovers an unfinished manuscript written by the house’s former tenant—a parapsychologist obsessed with the ancient oak growing on a desolate corner of the property. And as the gnarled tree takes root in her imagination, Sarah risks her health and her sanity to unearth a revelation planted centuries ago…

At the beginning of the novel, you are immediately told on the first page that Sarah Crowe is dead, and she has left behind this diary which was later apparently published. The editor makes some notes, but for the most part the novel is all snippets of Sarah's journal.

I don't really know what I was expecting from this book, honestly. I don't generally read horror books, but this sounded almost...noir. Gothic. Overall, I really enjoyed it. At first, the writing style grated on my nerves. It's a very informal narrative, as you'd expect a journal to be. Also, Sarah goes off on tangents like you wouldn't believe. It makes the narrative confusing, and after awhile I started to skim.

You slowly get impressions of something...wrong. Snippets. A lot of the creepyness comes from legends that the previous tennant had collected. There are weird things that happen actually in the narrative, but alone they really aren't all that scary. The prose that Kiernan uses is original and elegantly done.

There's never really any explanation of anything. I kept waiting for it, because I wanted to know more about why these things were happening, not just that they were. The reasons never came. I sort of feel that that was done on purpose, and that Kiernan was relying on the anticipation of being scared shitless rather than actual events.

Something that is worth mentioning is some explicit content in this book. Sarah is a lesbian, and that plays a fair role in this book. She thinks about sex a lot, there are some fairly graphic descriptions of some really...strange sexual practices. Putting it mildly. It seemed like they were just tossed in there for shock value. I consider myself fairly worldly and a few pages had me a little squicked. Sarah also curses like a sailor, so if that bothers you I'd recommend steering clear.

I'm glad I gave this a try, but I'm also glad to be moving onto another book. It gave me the willies but it won't keep me up tonight. There were a couple of scenes that had me on the edge of my seat, but for the most part this wasn't un-put-down-able. I'll probably pick up another Kiernan book at some point, but I'm not in a hurry.

Bottom Line

Overall Rating: 3 / 5

Buy or Try? Try
More? Standalone

Content

Plot: 3 / 5 (pretty predictable, really)

Setting: 4 / 5  (creepy, and beautifully "illustrated")

Characters: 3.5 / 5 (I really didn't like her, but Sarah was well-written)

Style 
Pace: Slow
Descriptiveness: Mix of poetry and prose
Fantasy factor: Magical Realism

Amazon.com link

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: RIP V Review IV

I know I'm a little late on the uptake with this book, but I hadn't even heard of it before I started blogging and following book bloggers. Apparently there's a huge hullabaloo about The Hunger Games. I can't say I particularly understand that, but I'll explain a bit more later. I have mixed feelings about this book. From the cover:

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with every one out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

The first thing I noticed about this book was the tense which the author uses: present tense. As in, "I grab the book, and open it to page 233." Katniss is the narrator, and the writing is very informal.

I had a really hard time getting into The Hunger Games basically until the games themselves started. Katniss is clearly a very damaged girl, she's had a rough life. At first, I didn't really like her all that much, but as the Games wore on I started to like her a little more. I feel like despite the book being narrated by her, despite flashbacks, despite the fact she takes her sister's place, you really don't know much about Katniss until the Games begin. I understood a bit more about how she felt. I immediately liked Peeta, however. I think that distinction between Katniss's personality and Peeta's was well done. Their difference in upbringing and struggles is obvious.

You can't beat this story for originality. Sometimes dystopias can become routine when it's the same societal structure over and over. The Hunger Games is unlike anything I've personally ever read. I think that is at least part of why this book has garnered so much praise.

It is also an easy, fast read. It's exciting and it's brutal and it's dark. If I had children, I'm not sure I'd recommend they read this until they were older because it is pretty violent and...well...dark. Despite not maybe wanting to be friends with Katniss, I wanted her to succeed, and I wanted that shell of hers to crack and let Peeta into her heart. I got fairly into the book and I just had to stay up late last night and see what happened to the characters.

Personally, I want to know more about how all of this happened. How the heck the Capitol ended up the way it is, and who the rulers are that of 12 districts full of about 8,000 people, not one person seemed to rise up and rebel against their children being taken away.

But I'm not in a huge hurry to find out. Catching Fire has 30 people ahead of me to read it, Mockingjay has 57. As previously mentioned, I have mixed feelings about The Hunger Games. I enjoyed it, and it was entertaining. I can't say it was particularly well written, I'm afraid, but it wasn't a total train wreck either. I also hesitate to judge based on the writing, because I know it's a YA book and it's from the perspective of a very damaged and probably uneducated 16 year old girl. The story was very interesting, but the world wasn't as fleshed out as I like. I'm hoping that in subsequent books we'll find out more about Panem.

Overall, I enjoyed it while I was reading it. But when I go back and think about it, there are some things that could use improvement. I will read the subsequent books, but I'm not really rabid to get them, and I definitely don't understand the fuss surrounding these. I didn't love this book, but I did like it. Perhaps that will change after Catching Fire.

Bottom Line

Overall Rating: 3.5 / 5

Buy or Try? Try
More? 1 of 3 in The Hunger Games trilogy

Content

Plot: 4.5 / 5 (some plot holes, but not glaringly obvious)

Setting: 3 / 5 

Characters: 3 / 5

Style 
Pace: Fast
Descriptiveness: Prose
Fantasy factor: Not Fantasy (dystopian)

Amazon.com link

Cover Her Face by PD James - RIP V Review I

My very first RIP V challenge review! Woot!

This novel is not what I generally read. I'm a fantasy/scifi girl to the core. Back cover description:

Headstrong and beautiful, the young housemaid Sally Jupp is put rudely in her place, strangled in her bed behind a bolted door. Coolly brilliant policeman Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard must find her killer among a houseful of suspects, most of whom had very good reason to wish her ill.

 I am a sucker for Masterpiece Mystery!, the BBC show that comes on every Sunday on the educational television channel. As I was reading this, I was reminded of those little stories I watch every week and tried to imagine what it would be like acted out. When I later discussed the book with my parents (who both love PD James), I realized that my gripes really don't have anything to do with the book itself, but rather mostly the genre. I'm just not a mystery reader. I like watching them, I even like listening to them on podcast or CD, but I'm just not crazy about reading them.

I got a bit lost in her descriptions sometimes. I noted that sentences could be as long as a paragraph in some places. Along the same lines, I felt like there was a lot of extraneous information. I would have thought that the story would follow Dalgliesh closer, but he doesn't even show up until the middle of the book (understandable) and even then there are some scenes that he is not even present in which seemed unimportant anyway (less understandable). I will say that the characters were diverse and well fleshed-out. I could picture these people, and their mannerisms were consistent and varied.

All in all, I struggled with this book a bit, and was glad it was only 250 pages. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I'd gotten it on tape/CD/podcast. It wasn't a bad book, just not my taste. I will still try Death in Holy Orders by PD James, but it probably won't be the next book I read.

Bottom Line

Overall Rating: 2.5 / 5

Buy or Try? Try
More? 1 of 14 about Adam Dalgliesh

Content

Plot: 3 / 5 (solid, but not exciting)
Setting: 2 / 5 

Characters: 3.5 / 5

Style 
Pace: Slow to Middlin' 
Descriptiveness: Poetry 
Fantasy factor: Not fantasy

Amazon.com Link

The Last Will of Moira Leahy by Therese Walsh

This book is certainly outside of the genre I usually read. Granted, there are some mystical elements in The Last Will of Moira Leahy, but I don't think I would classify it as a fantasy novel. The description on the hardcover edition is long, so I'll only post part of the shorter version from Publisher's Weekly:

Walsh's satisfying novel follows Maeve Leahy, a brilliant young professor, in her pursuit for answers about her family and herself. When she impulsively bids on a keris—an ancient Javanese dagger—at an auction house, Maeve's orderly life spins out of control. Anonymous notes appear on her office door, with provocative hints about the origins of the keris, unleashing memories of Maeve's onetime musical ambitions and the loss of her twin, Moira. When a note urges Maeve to visit Rome, her best friend, Kit, persuades her to go. There she finds Noel, her rakish love interest, who is trying to solve his own family's mysteries. He helps Maeve navigate the bewildering questions and characters in Rome while making his romantic ambitions clear, much to Maeve's indignation and secret fascination. Walsh ably shifts between Maeve's current quest and flashbacks showing the twins as children, revealing little by little the story behind Maeve's grief.

One of my favorite books, and indeed one of the few I have read outside of the fantasy genre, is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. This book was recommended to me by Amazon and LibraryThing due to my interest in The Thirteenth Tale, and so I put it on my wishlist.

I'm so glad I did. The novel started out sort of slow and confusing, but I always have trouble beginning a book. After the flashbacks of the twins' life together though, I started to get into the story a little more. About halfway through, I couldn't put it down. This book reads somewhat like a mystery, because you really have absolutely no idea what's going on or what happened between the twins probably 3/4 of the way through. The author slowly drops breadcrumbs until you're sure you know what's going on.

When the twist finally came though, and the entire history was revealed, I must admit I thought I had everything figured out. I definitely did not.

While this book is easy to read and I didn't get lost in big words and pretentious descriptions, there is an exactness to the writing. It was very obvious that I was not reading a silly or fluffy book. If more authors wrote stories like Therese Walsh (and Diane Setterfield) I might branch out into non-fantasy novels more often.

Bottom Line

Overall Rating: 4.5 / 5 

Buy or Try? Buy
More? Stand-alone

Content

Plot: 4.5 / 5
Setting: 4.5 / 5
Characters: 4.5 / 5

Style
Pace: Middlin'
Descriptiveness: Poetry
Fantasy factor: Magical Realism

Amazon.com link

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin

I've wanted to read this book for a long time. I've been trying to remember how I found it, but the truth is I really can't recall how I was introduced to The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.

From the back cover:

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. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle.

The first thing I noticed when I began reading was the very informal tone of the novel. It's narrated by the protagonist, Yeine Darr. At first I was unsure of the writing style because of the informality of it. Despite my last book, Black Ships, being narrated in first person, I have very little experience with first person accounts. Sometimes when I read, I feel as if I'm missing a lot because of the narrow point of view.

She also goes back and fills in information and there are lots of side stories and sidenotes that don't really have much to do with the story at hand. I looked back through some of them after I finished the book, because Yeine says they will be important later, but in most cases it was extraneous information. I found that it really didn't bother me, though. I was able to follow the story easily, regardless of the tangents. This is the beginning of a trilogy, so I wonder if those side stories will be important to those books instead.

Also, I took a look at the next book in the trilogy. There's not much to go on as it's not published yet, but it is apparently about a totally different character. On the author's site, the tagline for the trilogy (called The Inheritance Trilogy...that might lead to some mix ups) is "In the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, gods dwell among mortals and one powerful, corrupt family rules the earth. Three extraordinary people may be the key to humanity’s salvation."

I'll be marking down the date for the second book, that's for sure. The story was familiar, but the world that Jemisin creates is certainly not. I'm also interested to see how the voice of the protagonist changes between two very different characters.

Bottom Line

Overall Rating: 4 / 5 

Buy or Try? Buy
More? Book 1 of 3 expected

Content

Plot: 3 / 5
Setting: 5 / 5 (I was really impressed with this world)
Characters: 3.5 / 5

Style
Pace: Fast
Descriptiveness: Prose
Fantasy factor: High


Amazon.com link