The Kingdom of Gods by N. K. Jemisin

[lightreads]

The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read this months ago, and haven't managed to review it because it turns out to be totally true that the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference. This is the conclusion to the fantasy trilogy about the ruling family who enslaved the gods, and just how badly that went for everyone. And I just . . . I don't . . . there's a density to this fantasy world I'm not used to, like the society is a true outgrowth of the metaphysics, instead of just a shiny foil wrapping on vaguely medieval western European-flavored whatever. And the gods really are strange and great. And the sexual politics is refreshing.

But all that said, this trilogy never got me where I live. Not even the same zip code. And I'm left staring around at, like, everyone I know, wondering what the big fucking deal is.

Seriously. What's the big fucking deal?




View all my reviews

Comments

[ellen_fremedon]

I had a similar response-- I got less invested in the world with each book. I think a big problem for me was that the world may be dense, but we only get to see such a tiny slice of it. The exposition is pretty much limited to things of immediate importance or interest to the POV characters, and the the POV characters are all either self-centered or really preoccupied or both.

This may be the one fantasy book series that actually would have been better at doorstop length.

[lightreads]

Huh, you know, I think this is spot on.

I also stand by my previous observation, which is way more stereotyped. That is, this whole thing felt like anime to me, and I can almost never get into anime.

[eagle]

That was my reaction to the first one, which is why I haven't read the other two yet. It was interesting and had some really neat bits, but it didn't set my world on fire like it apparently did for a lot of other people.

[cahn]

I found all the characters in the first book one-dimensional. I started rolling my eyes hard when the villains had this party to put puppies in blenders torture some guy in a cage, because clearly evil people couldn't possibly do anything else for fun but torture people. I never made it to the second book.

[sashajwolf]

I had much the same reaction to the first in that trilogy, except that these days I don't bother to read things that don't excite me - life is literally too short for that - so I gave up after the first chapter.