The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by NK Jemisin

[sophia_sol]

I picked this book back up because I want to read the sequels but I felt that would go better if I reminded myself what happened in the first one.

So this was my second time reading this book, and both times I found myself stopping halfway through the book for a very long break (like, multi-month), long enough to mostly forget what happened in the first half, before finally finishing the book. Usually I only do this kind of thing if I'm finding a book unusually stressful (eg The Tenant of Wildfell Hall or The Reverse of the Medal), but I don't find The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms to be that stressful, so there's clearly something else going on...? I said the first time I read this book that I loved it, and I think that's true, but it seems that there's something about it that doesn't work for me, even if I'm not sure how to articulate what.

I'll be interested to find out what I think about the sequels.

Comments

[sophia_sol]

OH, "very intense and yet sort of detached", that was exactly my experience, yes!!

[melannen]

There's a certain style of fiction like that which is always really well written, but leaves me feeling not so much stressed or exhausted as, idk, butter-over-too-much-bread? :D And Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was one of those.

[sophia_sol]

Hmm, interesting! I definitely see what you mean. Though the comparison that more came to my mind is to Robin McKinley, which isn't the same butter-over-too-much-bread thing but instead manages to feel detached despite seeming like it ought to be immersive.