The Broken Kingdoms
I just this moment finished the second book in N.K. Jemisin's trilogy, and Ellen's not home, and I need to tell someone about it, and you all are here, so--Hi!
Once I began to get over the sheer deliciousness of it all (suffering gods and art that is magic and some really flaming hot sex, Goodness Gracious!), I noticed that this is a book written by someone who has thought deeply about religion, its uses and abuses, about love and compassion and hunger (emotional and physical) and power (physical and political), about life and death. I know Nora thinks about these things--we've talked about them. But I'm really impressed at how they permeate her novel without overshadowing the story, the characters, or the sensual delight of her world.
Not everything is to everyone's taste, I know. One woman's feast is another man's WTF (and vice versa). But if you're in the mood for an intelligent, well-written, thoughtful fantasy with a very cool world and real-politik, both temporal and religious, and many truly remarkable characters, both mortal and not so much, you have to read this book immediately. It doesn't even matter if you didn't read the first in the series--the plot and the world are perfectly comprehensible without prior knowledge of Sky and its inhabitants (which is a crafty trick in and of itself, as any writer of series can tell you).
Once I began to get over the sheer deliciousness of it all (suffering gods and art that is magic and some really flaming hot sex, Goodness Gracious!), I noticed that this is a book written by someone who has thought deeply about religion, its uses and abuses, about love and compassion and hunger (emotional and physical) and power (physical and political), about life and death. I know Nora thinks about these things--we've talked about them. But I'm really impressed at how they permeate her novel without overshadowing the story, the characters, or the sensual delight of her world.
Not everything is to everyone's taste, I know. One woman's feast is another man's WTF (and vice versa). But if you're in the mood for an intelligent, well-written, thoughtful fantasy with a very cool world and real-politik, both temporal and religious, and many truly remarkable characters, both mortal and not so much, you have to read this book immediately. It doesn't even matter if you didn't read the first in the series--the plot and the world are perfectly comprehensible without prior knowledge of Sky and its inhabitants (which is a crafty trick in and of itself, as any writer of series can tell you).