This book. Oh this book. I classify a good story as one that is so compelling, that I immerse myself in so thoroughly, that when it ends I am sad to have to leave. It doesn't happen frequently, but The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is one of those stories. There aren't a ton of fantasy novels out there that deviate from the usual western influences. The world, the characters, the plot, even the language are unique and fresh. And what can I say, the chemistry between Yeine and Nahadoth is pretty hot. Still haven't read the rest of the trilogy, but it's on my to-do list. ( )

This is one of the best fantasy novels. Have read n the last five years. It completely subverts and toys with the genre. I love books that don’t play by the rules. This one takes the rules out back and lights them on fire. ( )

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is the first in the Inheritance Trilogy by NK Jemisin. The plot is fairly straight forward - Yeine Darr is summoned by her grandfather, the ruler of the world, to the ruling city of the kingdom to be named one of his heirs and told she's now in a weird 3-way duel to the death to see who will be the next ruler. Can Yeine, who has never been to court before since her mother was banished before she was born, survive?

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I first started this and I found myself surprised by how much of a YA read this is so be prepared for some YA tropes. The story is told primarily by the main character is a bit jerky, which was confusing at first but makes much more sense half way through after the first reveal. The plot is slower and gradually revealed over time Yiene is a decent enough protagonist and, while I can empathize with being put into a situation you're unprepared for, I initially had a harder time buying into it at first. We are told Yiene has been trained as a competent ruler by her mother, has been running her small kingdom for a little while and is also a warrior, none of which serve her as she thrust into court life. I guess I expected Yiene to be slightly better at politics than she was initially. The character eventually grew on me as she learned the ins and outs of court life.

The part I enjoyed most was how this story felt a lot like the telling of a myth. The three gods, their interactions with each other and how they interact with mortals was fascinating and reminded me of Greek gods with their meddling ways.

The ending seemed to tie up the story nicely and I think could be read as stand alone. I'm not entirely sure where the second book would go next unless it's more like a trilogy of loosely related stories instead of one story arc in three books. ( )

While I really wanted to like this more, I'm giving the same score as I did the last time. I remember skipping over paragraphs when I read this book that time but I found myself doing the same thing this time around, the story just didn't grab me as for example te Fifth season did. The reason I think is that Jemisin spends a lót of time inside her characters heads and I think that left too little to my imagination character-wise and too much world-wise.
That being said, I found it not a bad book at all and I will probably give the sequel a shot as well. ( )

What a strange and captivating story with even stranger and more captivating points of view! I'm reading this after The Broken Earth trilogy, so I expected some manner of play with voice and POV, but this was an absolute delight! Definitely give it a read. ( )