The Inheritance Trilogy

Wow.That is almost literally all I can say about this trilogy (and the accompanying novella that served as a postscript).I had heard a little buzz about Jemisin being an author to watch a couple years ago when The Fifth Season was published, but this was my first experience reading her, and I can definitely say it will not be the last.It is a difficult series to explain because doing so fully would generate spoilers, but suffice it to say that there is an over-arcing theme of second chances and the possibility of redemption.But these books are about so much more: love, duty, honor, family, gender identity.The first book, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, started a bit slow for me. In fact, I questioned whether I was going to enjoy the book because the beginning had a huge info-dump that detailed a lot of the inner workings and conflicts between the primary regions/peoples that the story involved. I felt a bit overwhelmed with new places, cultures, and names (though I later discovered a glossary at the end of the novel—which I read on Kindle—oops), but I kept going and I am so very glad I did.The first novel deals with Yeine who has been raised far away from the city of Sky where her grandfather rules. Following her mother’s death, Yeine is summoned to Sky and finds herself an unwilling pawn in the middle of a power struggle for control of the family and the weapons (living gods) they have at their disposal.Her family doesn’t play. At all. They ascend to power by killing their competition. So Yeine must deal with their manipulations and betrayals even as she tries to unravel the mystery surrounding her mother’s death.The world-building here is spectacular. I can say without doubt that Jemisin has one of the most vivid imaginations I’ve ever encountered. I did give the first book a rating of 4 of 5 stars because of the heavy info-dump at the beginning—I feel there might have been better ways to distribute that information throughout the story—but it was still an awesome read.The Broken Kingdoms is the second book, and it takes place a decade after the events of the first book, and follows a different protagonist (though several characters from the first novel also appear in this one). This book’s main character is named Oree, and she is a blind artist who has very special abilities, which she will need to help her survive when someone starts killing godlings and she becomes a suspect.This book, even though it barely mentioned my favorite character from the first book, was stronger than the first. It’s not often that sequels—especially the central piece of a trilogy—are better than the first book, but it is the case here.I have a feeling someone might have mentioned the info-dump at the beginning of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and Jemisin is careful to avoid it here. The pacing, characterization, and character growth from the first novel are all amazing. Loved this book. Gave it 5 of 5 stars. Hated for it to end.Until I started book 3—The Kingdom of Gods—and realized its protagonist was my favorite character from the first book. I may or may not have squealed just a little at that moment.But in the final book, a godling encounters a pair of children, and a simple act between them results in the godling being made mortal, and beginning to age at an accelerated rate. What follows is a search for a cure, from gods and mortals alike, but is also a wonderful examination of love and aging and forgiveness. Loved, loved, loved this book. Truly a fitting ending for a great series. 5 of 5 stars.Then there was the companion novella: The Awakened Kingdom. Set an unspecified time following the events of the third book, it follows the adventures of a newborn godling as she seeks to find her place, not only in the world(s), but within her own family. It deals with belonging, acceptance, the struggle to find one’s own identity, gender equality, and so much more. I laughed out loud more than once while reading, and enjoyed the brief dip back into this wonderfully imagined world N. K. Jemisin created. It was also a 5 out of 5 read for me, which was also my overall final rating for the collection.I would recommend this series if you enjoy fantastic fiction or fantasy. There is adult content, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend for younger teens.

It's hard to say goodbye to such a beautifully crafted story. I savored the last book and prolonged the ending. Alas, it came anyway. Would recommend to anyone.

Jemisin’s prose is intoxicating. I read the Inheritance Trilogy non stop. Lost in her creations of new worlds and brilliantly defined characters. So rich and so intricately developed. I was in awe, and I want more. Like nearly all of Anne Rice’s novels, I hope to reread Jemisin’s again and again.

Highly fantastical and brimming with new mythology. Yet,not quite coherent or satisfying. The thread connecting the three books works, but the narrative seems aimless.

People have been recommending this author for years, and I've heard nothing but good stuff about her. So, I felt I was not taking a huge risk by buying the omnibus version of this series, rather than just starting with the first book. I'll discuss these with minimal spoilers.I have since heard some people had trouble getting into book one, but I did not. I was immediately intrigued by the setting, and especially the mythology of it. I right away wanted to know what was going to happen to Yeine as she became involved in a mess of political intrigue. Nahadoth, the god of darkness and chaos, was immediately compelling, and I couldn't get enough of him. There was more romance in this than I see in many other fantasy novels, other than Jacqueline Carey. I appreciated this because I enjoy a good love story, even though I'm don't tend to enjoy romance novels. There was no point in which I was bored with book one. The ending was not entirely unexpected, but I found it deeply satisfying.Book two was from the point of view of Oree, a blind woman who can see magic. I missed Yeine a little bit, but at the same time I was glad she wasn't the main protagonist, because I liked seeing her story as relatively complete. I needed to adjust my mindset to accept Oree as my narrator, but once I did, I liked her a great deal. I initially had a little bit more difficulty getting very involved in the plot of the second book, because I couldn't figure out what it was. Oree seemed to meander from one crisis to another, like a leaf on the wind. But eventually things came together, and it came together as a beautiful and tragic love story that shook up the world the author had established. I cried at the end of this, and I've yet to meet anyone who has read this book who did not have the same response.Book three was from the point of view of Sieh, the Trickster god. I had loved this character from the moment he came into book one, but I was a little bit unsure of how he would work as a narrator. I didn't need to worry, though. His story had a lot going on in it that didn't make sense at first, but came together beautifully in the end. There was a similar leaf in the wind sort of feeling to what I found in book two, but everything made sense with time. Again, there was a beautiful love story, and I cried even harder at the end of this one than I did after book two.And then I got to the book's glossary, covered in Sieh's graffiti, which was wonderful, much-needed levity.I loved this series, and I don't feel quite ready to move on to something else yet. I need a day or two to let my mind adjust so that I can move on to another setting and another story.

Fascinating. A tale to inspire and wonder. Some authors know how to tell a tale. Others know how to make a good story. She mastered both arts.

I just finished book 2 of this trilogy, and I can't wait to dive into book 3, as I am enjoying them immensely. In retrospect though, I would have considered buying the books separately. The three books together are ~1450 pages, so the book is chunky and heavy. The binding is good, the paper is fine, and the font is entirely legible, but this does all lead to a big book. I have wrist problems, so I can only hold it to read for short periods, but with my Bookseat (the most amazing book accessory ever), it is fine. Just be aware that this is more of a read at home book, not a throw in your bag for a day out book ;-)

Done reading this trilogy and I can't wait to read another novel of N.K Jemisin

This was my second series by the author and although I found the world she created very exciting and the topics and concepts she explores throughout the three volumes relevant and super interesting, for several reasons the series could not really wow me on a deeper level. As the three volumes in the series take place in the same place and roughly build on one another but otherwise tell their own contained stories, reviewing the series as one comprehensive entity is difficult, so here's my thoughts on the single volumes:1) The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - 3 starsThis volume follows Yeine, granddaughter to the most powerful patriarch of the Arameri, the human race ruling the world, trying to win her grandfather's succession contest - and survive the plots of the family's Gods and her own murderous relatives while she's at it.Story-wise, this is an absolutely solid piece of high fantasy: It has an interesting plot, a well-crafted fantasy world, and a wilful and magical pantheon of Gods that are not always what they appear to be. The characters are fine as well, though they do read rather YA sometimes, and especially the side characters could definitely have profited from more fleshing-out.However, the execution of the plot, and the writing and narration style do leave quite some things to be desired. Many things are told rather than shown, other things are inadequately or not at all explained, and the writing has an altogether disjointed quality throughout. What's more, the pacing is far from consistent and very often all over the place.Furthermore, the entire story is too contained, the magic seems interesting but is not well explained at all, and, personally, I neither liked the heavy leaning romance as a plot driver nor the (inadequately explained) ending.2) The Broken Kingdoms - 4 starsThis volume takes place 10 years after the first one, and this time the story focuses on one of the commoners living in Arameri's capital city who gets enmeshed with Godlings and their various machinations. This change in angle allows the author to explore and further build her world - this time not through the eyes of the ruling elite, aloof in their floating palace and removed from the rest of the world, but through a member of the common people, which gives a lot of substance and depth to both the world, its magic system, and the everyday lives of the people populating it, and thus makes for a lot more well-rounded reading experience than the first volume.I also enjoyed the plot and the storyline, both of which were more consistent and better executed than in the previous volume. I especially liked the LGBT+ and disabled representation, and (most of) the character arcs.I was fully prepared to give this book 5 stars, despite some minor flaws - until I read the ending, which I HATED! I can see why the author went with the choices she made, but I found the ending she gave to this story way too abrupt and to fit very poorly with the rest of the narrative and the character development - which up until the last 80 pages or so was actually quite good.Generally, same as the first book though to a somewhat lesser extent, this one didn't always live up to its full potential, and it remained ultimately too vague for my tastes.3) The Kingdom of Gods - 2 starsThis volume takes place about 100 years after the first one and follows Sieh, Trickster God of Childhood, and focuses on the connection he forms with two mortal Arameri children and the entanglement of their lives that results from it in the following years.Although, initially, I was intrigued to follow this story from the perspective of one of this world's Godlings, this volume combined and intensified all the flaws of the previous two installments in the series - which resulted in both the storyline as well as the general fantasy world at large making less and less sense as the story progresses and the laws the author stipulated for her universe becoming incresingly incoherent.What made matters even worse was that the characters and their developments were also all over the place, both the plot and the character developments were increasingly badly explained (if at all), and none of the questions introduced at the beginning of the novel were answered by the ending. Yet other aspects of the story were unnecessarily repeated and over-emphasised for no good reason (e.g. the constant racialisation of all the characters and their respective unnecessary romances with each other).Oh, and did I mention the ending? Which I - once again - hated. It was very anticlimactic after the immense buildup throughout the novel and the fact the entire universe as it is known to the characters being at stake. Which makes this volume the least favourite of the three, for me.All in all, I did enjoy the series as a whole, though it does have some serious flaws, and even though every single installment has a lot of potential to make for a great story, none of them could quite live up to this potential.

Interesting characters and creative universe. Thoughtful and enjoyable read