BooksOfTheMoon

The World We Make

By N.K. Jemisin

Rating: 3 stars

Jemesin says in her afterword that this was a difficult book and that she made the decision to cut the story from a trilogy to a duology. Unfortunately, I think that that shows a bit – Jemesin is good, but the book still feels a bit rushed, particularly towards the end. We were building up to a big climactic battle (which I assume would have been awesome but inclusive, leading to the real conclusion, a book later) but it’s cut short to a bit of talking and a rather anti-climactic conclusion.

It was nice to get into Padmini’s (aka Queens) head a bit more, even if the subplot that started with her seemed to just fizzle out. Another possible victim of having to cut the series short. At least Manny still got a decent plot, as we find out more about who he was before New York claimed him. This could have been a whole book in its own right, with the tension between him and his family, and the choices he makes. The relationship between him and Neek (the primary avatar, who spent most of the first book in a coma) is tense, although it’s pretty much resolved in the coda (again, something that could have been much longer).

This is still an enjoyable story and a good follow-up to The City We Became. Even though Jemisin says it was difficult, that doesn’t really show in the writing, other than the truncation of the story. Definitely worth the read, if you enjoyed the first one.

Book details

ISBN: 9780356512723
Publisher: Orbit

The City We Became (Great Cities #1)

By N.K. Jemisin

Rating: 4 stars

I read Jemisin’s collection How Long ‘Til Black Future Month and very much enjoyed it, especially The City Born Great, so when I heard that this was an expansion and extension of that story, I was excited. Some cities are alive, and their souls are human avatars. New York is just being born, but it’s already under attack by extra-dimensional horrors. Its new avatar manages to fight them off, but it’s too much, and he falls into a coma. But he’s not alone – the city has five other avatars: one for each borough. They need to come together to find the primary and to defeat something that wants to destroy them all.

I really enjoyed this book. Most of the urban fantasy that I’ve read tends to centre on London, so having this one focus on New York was a bit more “exotic”. I mostly know that city through Hollywood films, but Jemisin is deft enough to take you with her as she explores the city, even if you’re not familiar with it. We’re introduced to the avatars one at a time, starting with Manny (aka Manhattan), and we have different ideas of what it means to be a New Yorker – the bright-eyed newcomer; the up and coming; the hard as nails, takes no crap; the immigrant.

And then there’s Staten Island. I have to assume that Jemisin is being fair in her assessment of Staten Island: a haven of conservatism, inward looking, and which doesn’t want to be part of New York. Staten Island’s avatar is a young white woman called Aislyn and the chapters from her point of view are, for want of a better word, sad. She’s living with her parents, particularly her overbearing cop of a father, and is terrified of everything that might be different or foreign. I feel desperately sad for her, but also want to shake her and tell her to get a grip.

Something I quite liked is that the Lovecraftian horrors from Beyond Reality get their own avatar, and she’s quite talkative. This lets us see things from their point of view, and you actually sort of think that she’s got a point. Although her solution is terrible, it feels like the sort of thing where it might be possible to try and work out a solution, if everyone wasn’t so busy trying to kill each other. It’s something I hope will develop over the course of the trilogy.

For a book with five nominal protagonists, someone was bound to get the short straw. In this case it was poor Queens. Being an immigrant of Indian descent, she was the one I was most interested in, but apart from being young and good at maths, we don’t get much about her at all. Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn, as well as Staten Island get a lot more screen time. In fact, I think Queens only gets one chapter from her PoV (each chapter is from the PoV of one of the characters). I hope that this will change in later books.

Apart from that minor quibble, it’s greatly enjoyable book, and I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the series.

Book details

ISBN: 9780356512686

How Long ’til Black Future Month?

By N.K. Jemisin

Rating: 4 stars

I approach every NK Jemisin story I read with trepidation that is mostly undeserved. The reputation of the Broken Earth books casts a long shadow, and to me, the author has the kind of reputation that meeting her would lead to me cowering, in the submission position, while backing away as politely as possible. This reputation, if it exists outwith my head, is undeserved, if this collection is anything to go by. Yes, it has the (deserved) anger of a black woman who has finally found a voice, but there’s joy and playfulness in there too. Stories such as L’Achimista, about a chef given a chance to prove her greatness, after a fall from grace; and The City Born Great, telling of the birth of the soul of the city of New York are beautiful and joyful.

There’s conversation within the genre, with responses to Heinlein and Le Guin and there’s dread, pain, death (and other anthropomorphic personifications) and, of course, hope.

I wish that Jemisin had provided a few words on each of the stories. I always enjoy hearing the context in a which a story was written, to help foster a deeper appreciation, but although it’s something Asimov did a lot, and did well, I’m not sure how common it is these days.

I’ve encountered a few stories before in other forms (often in audio form on Escape Pod and its siblings), but there was only one story which I skipped entirely because it was difficult enough first time round (Walking Awake, where alien Masters possess human bodies like puppets, if you’re wondering). And despite my memory, Sinners, Saints, Dragons and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters is a fantastic story and a great way to round off the collection. Oh, and this story also has the most memorable metaphor in the whole book: “blue sky hard as a cop’s eyes”. Ouch.

So 4.5 stars, rounded down. A fantastic collection, with just one or two stories that just didn’t gel for me.

Book details

ISBN: 9780356512549
Publisher: Orbit
Year of publication: 2018

The Broken Kingdoms (The Inheritance Trilogy, #2)

By N.K. Jemisin

Rating: 3 stars

I’m not sure if it’s just down to my state of mind at the time of reading, but I didn’t enjoy this as much as its predecessor. Our environment and the things going on in our lives definitely affect how we consume media and I feel that possibly that I wasn’t quite in the right frame of mind for this book. It’s set about a decade after the events of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms as Oree Shoth takes in a strange, homeless man and, as a result, gets drawn into a plot that starts with killing godlings, but has much bigger implications.

We get to see many more of the godlings in this book than we did in the previous one. That one was focussed entirely on the imprisoned ones, but the others had been banned from coming to the mortal realm. With that injunction gone, they flock there. We see gods of hunger, shadow, debt and more. Jemesin plays them with a light touch; although they supported Itempas in the Gods’ War, they don’t necessarily love him. And speaking of, we get some insight into the mind of Bright Itempas as his time with Oree starts to help heal him. Despite his terrible actions as revealed in the first book, we end this one feeling pity for him, even as Oree does.

And Oree is an interesting protagonist. Not as hard as Yeine from the first book. She’s a blind artist who was never near the halls and corridors of power and finds it difficult to cope with everything that happens to her, although when push comes to shove, she does have the strength to deal with it.

While I wasn’t completely wowed by this book, I’ll still look out for the final book in the trilogy.

Book details

ISBN: 9781841498188
Publisher: Orbit
Year of publication: 2010

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

By N.K. Jemisin

Rating: 4 stars

Yeine Darr is an outcast, chief of a faraway kingdom and is shocked to get a summons by her grandfather to the capital. She’s even more shocked to find that she’s been named as his heir, to fight with the other two such named for the privilege of taking his place. In the city of Sky, effective capital of the world, she must learn politics and intrigue and strive to tell her pitifully few friends from her many foes. And that’s before the imprisoned gods get involved with anything.

I hadn’t realised until I read the interview at the end that this was Jemison’s debut novel. It is well-written and assured throughout. If this is her at the start of her career, I can definitely see why she ended up winning a trifecta of Hugo awards for her Broken Earth series. I’ve avoided that as everything I’ve heard suggests it’s extremely dark, and that’s not for me. You can get a foretaste of that here, in the coldness and ruthlessness of the Arameri (Yeine’s estranged family and erstwhile rulers of the world), and it’s something Yeine herself has to learn quickly as well.

Some of the other reviews here have commented on the sex in the book. I must say that this took me aback, since it mostly passed me by. Yes, there was some, but it wasn’t something I thought was particularly graphic or excessive. The line about the god’s phallus did make me giggle though, which may not have been the intention!

In a lot of ways this book reminded me of Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor, it also has a distant scion of a powerful family thrust into the centre of the political world and having to adapt quickly to changed circumstances. But both Yeine, and the story itself, is much harder than Maia and Emperor. That book left me feeling sort of warm and fuzzy; this one has a satisfying ending, but I wouldn’t call it warm or fuzzy.

The worldbuilding here is fantastic, with its central Three gods, and the story of how one overthrew the others woven into Yeine’s story. How the idea of light, dark and balance is central to the whole book. The characters are all fascinating. Most of the human ones, other than Yeine, don’t get a lot of characterisation (although her dead mother is a central driver and we learn more about her than about many of the living people) but the gods and godlings are brilliant. Nahadoth, god of night, and Sieh, the childlike god of mischief are particular standouts.

Excellent worldbuilding, great characters and a definite page turner. I enjoyed this a lot, and I look forward to reading the others in the trilogy.

Book details

ISBN: 9781841498171
Publisher: Orbit
Year of publication: 2010

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