The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
Yeine Darr’s mother was once the heiress to Sky, the most powerful kingdom in the world, but she left (and was subsequently disowned) to marry the ruler of an obscure barbarian kingdom. But now Yeine’s mother is dead, and her grandfather has summoned her to Sky as one of three potential heirs. Of mixed race in a rather elite society, Yeine is an outsider in every possible way, not only in appearance, and in how she thinks.
On a certain level, it’s a reversal of “Euro-based white man in Exotic society” on uultiple points, and, like many overused tropes, all it would take is a direct reversal of tropes to add a level of interest. But neither Sky nor Darr have easy real world allegories, and the world as a whole sees to have been made from scratch. The politics and rivalries, however are only scratching the surface, as the plot really revolves around the world’s pantheon of fallen gods, and their fall and creation.
It’s a difficult book to talk about in any depth without spoiling, and y corner of the blogosphere has been talking about it so much that I almost feel like there’s not much left for me to say that hasn’t already been said, and better, so here are links to a couple of reviews:
starlady here
wordsofastory here
My only criticism is one that I haven’t really seen made elsewhere, and that is that, while the book succeeds on many, many levels regarding race and gender, it seems epic fantasy is still denied matriarchal societies that do not involve institutionalized rape and the oppression and subjugation of men (though, thankfully, the typical “and this is so much worse than the other way!” attitude is nowhere in sight), and that while the mythic aspects (both with the gods and the more modern, “mundane” mythic aura surrounding Yeine’s mother) are centered around women, the vast majority of the cast still seems to be male.
On a certain level, it’s a reversal of “Euro-based white man in Exotic society” on uultiple points, and, like many overused tropes, all it would take is a direct reversal of tropes to add a level of interest. But neither Sky nor Darr have easy real world allegories, and the world as a whole sees to have been made from scratch. The politics and rivalries, however are only scratching the surface, as the plot really revolves around the world’s pantheon of fallen gods, and their fall and creation.
It’s a difficult book to talk about in any depth without spoiling, and y corner of the blogosphere has been talking about it so much that I almost feel like there’s not much left for me to say that hasn’t already been said, and better, so here are links to a couple of reviews:
starlady here
wordsofastory here
My only criticism is one that I haven’t really seen made elsewhere, and that is that, while the book succeeds on many, many levels regarding race and gender, it seems epic fantasy is still denied matriarchal societies that do not involve institutionalized rape and the oppression and subjugation of men (though, thankfully, the typical “and this is so much worse than the other way!” attitude is nowhere in sight), and that while the mythic aspects (both with the gods and the more modern, “mundane” mythic aura surrounding Yeine’s mother) are centered around women, the vast majority of the cast still seems to be male.