Book review: The Killing Moon & The Shadowed Sun
The Killing Moon & The Shadowed Sun, both by N.K. Jemisin
I know a lot of people who enjoyed Jemisin's first books, The Inheritance Trilogy, myself included. I think this duology, dubbed The Dreamblood, is even better. I feel a bit pretentious saying this -- really, who am I to judge? -- but the thing that really struck me here is how much more mature Jemisin's voice is. While I like The Inheritance Trilogy, I felt it's only drawback was that the plots were composed of elements that have already been exhaustively covered in fantasy literature (particluarly the "low-status innocent with hidden power gets caught up in the intrigues of the elite" theme of the first book). I had no such complaints with The Dreamblood.
Well, except maybe for the setting. ;-) It's set in a Northern-Africa-esque world, which seems to be the latest thing in fantasy books. On the other hand, Jemisin handles the setting well without resorting to stereotypes (as far as I can tell without being a member of any of those cultures), and overall it is nice to see fantasy branching out from Medieval-Europe-esque, all-Caucasian worlds. The "self-interview" included at the end of The Killing Moon shows that she's done a lot of thinking about these issues.
Like in The Inheritance Trilogy, the first book of The Dreamblood charts the dramatic collapse of a centuries-old sociopolitical order, and the second book looks at the chaotic aftermath that leads to the emergence of something new and improved. Apparently Jemisin's research on the Anasazi was the inspiration for both series. (And while I do like what she did with it in both of them, I also hope she'll branch out to other themes for her next series. ;-)
One of my favourite things about these books is that the "bad guy" is sometimes hard to identify. The first book does have a definite antagonist, but it takes a while to figure out who that is -- although the various main players are clearly acting at cross-purposes, each of them appears to have decent motives at first. The second book takes that even further: there's no bad guy at all, just people who want different things and are prepared to go to war with each other to get them. Wait, no, I lie -- there is a bad guy who is unquestionably bad -- but he's not all that central to the plot. He actually gets forgotten by the main players during the climax of the story, which makes it all the more ironic that I also just forgot about him while writing this.
So, highly recommended. Only one caveat, which is a strong child abuse/rape warning on the second book. The good news is that if that's an issue for you, you could just read the first one and not feel like you'd been left hanging.
I know a lot of people who enjoyed Jemisin's first books, The Inheritance Trilogy, myself included. I think this duology, dubbed The Dreamblood, is even better. I feel a bit pretentious saying this -- really, who am I to judge? -- but the thing that really struck me here is how much more mature Jemisin's voice is. While I like The Inheritance Trilogy, I felt it's only drawback was that the plots were composed of elements that have already been exhaustively covered in fantasy literature (particluarly the "low-status innocent with hidden power gets caught up in the intrigues of the elite" theme of the first book). I had no such complaints with The Dreamblood.
Well, except maybe for the setting. ;-) It's set in a Northern-Africa-esque world, which seems to be the latest thing in fantasy books. On the other hand, Jemisin handles the setting well without resorting to stereotypes (as far as I can tell without being a member of any of those cultures), and overall it is nice to see fantasy branching out from Medieval-Europe-esque, all-Caucasian worlds. The "self-interview" included at the end of The Killing Moon shows that she's done a lot of thinking about these issues.
Like in The Inheritance Trilogy, the first book of The Dreamblood charts the dramatic collapse of a centuries-old sociopolitical order, and the second book looks at the chaotic aftermath that leads to the emergence of something new and improved. Apparently Jemisin's research on the Anasazi was the inspiration for both series. (And while I do like what she did with it in both of them, I also hope she'll branch out to other themes for her next series. ;-)
One of my favourite things about these books is that the "bad guy" is sometimes hard to identify. The first book does have a definite antagonist, but it takes a while to figure out who that is -- although the various main players are clearly acting at cross-purposes, each of them appears to have decent motives at first. The second book takes that even further: there's no bad guy at all, just people who want different things and are prepared to go to war with each other to get them. Wait, no, I lie -- there is a bad guy who is unquestionably bad -- but he's not all that central to the plot. He actually gets forgotten by the main players during the climax of the story, which makes it all the more ironic that I also just forgot about him while writing this.
So, highly recommended. Only one caveat, which is a strong child abuse/rape warning on the second book. The good news is that if that's an issue for you, you could just read the first one and not feel like you'd been left hanging.