Hugo Nominee: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Our protagonist Yeine lives in relative obscurity until she discovers she's an heir to the kingdom of, well, the whole world. It's a standard fantasy idea covering some big issues and brought to a non-standard conclusion in this beautifully written debut by N K Jemisin.
There are palaces and gods and scheming courtiers, but this is a modern fantasy, which means the protagonist has not been gifted with a +10 Bladder of Holding.
Actually, a word about Yeine. I didn't exactly warm to her. I tried, seeing as I was spending hundreds of pages inside her head, but it didn't work and I quite liked that about the book.
I'm going to copy the Book Smugglers' review and give you the opening paragraphs:
I am not as I once was. They have done this to me, broken me open and torn out my heart. I do not know who I am anymore.
I must try to remember.
My people tell stories of the night I was born. They say my mother crossed her legs in the middle of labor and fought with all her strength not to release me into the world. I was born anyhow, of course; nature cannot be denied. Yet it does not surprise me that she tried.
P.S. I didn't realise this was the first book in a trilogy but that's okay, there's a proper ending, one which will reward rereading of the book. I'm really looking forward to the second book which still has the gods but outside the palace.
There are palaces and gods and scheming courtiers, but this is a modern fantasy, which means the protagonist has not been gifted with a +10 Bladder of Holding.
Actually, a word about Yeine. I didn't exactly warm to her. I tried, seeing as I was spending hundreds of pages inside her head, but it didn't work and I quite liked that about the book.
I'm going to copy the Book Smugglers' review and give you the opening paragraphs:
I am not as I once was. They have done this to me, broken me open and torn out my heart. I do not know who I am anymore.
I must try to remember.
My people tell stories of the night I was born. They say my mother crossed her legs in the middle of labor and fought with all her strength not to release me into the world. I was born anyhow, of course; nature cannot be denied. Yet it does not surprise me that she tried.
P.S. I didn't realise this was the first book in a trilogy but that's okay, there's a proper ending, one which will reward rereading of the book. I'm really looking forward to the second book which still has the gods but outside the palace.