425 pages
English language
Published Aug. 7, 2010 by Orbit.
Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother's death and her family's bloody history.With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate - and gods and mortals - are bound inseparably together.
Really interesting story in a fascinating world. Perhaps a bit too much going on at times as it's a world where everything is so strange and different it can be hard to keep up with what's happening and why. It's also solely told amongst the elite, and that leaves open a lot of questions about how this world works on the ground, but maybe the rest of the trilogy will cover that.
In some ways less polished than Jemisin's later work, this book nonetheless is a world building masterpiece. The horrors of the world are teasingly unfolded before you. The characters are vibrant and compelling, and I never would have guessed the ending. A stellar debut novel.
A great story about the gods order and chaos and a young girl thrust into the deep waters waters of a brilliantly textured world. I want to visit this place again.
Not my cuppa tea. I think I'll skip the sequels for now. The world-building is supposed to be great, but I found it really hard to care about the human characters so I didn't care about their politics either. The Arameri were just so ugly. I might read the Broken Earth series though; it's supposed to be better.
Really liked this. Not sure why this author took me so long to get to.
The "Oh yes, I forgot to tell you" device felt a bit clumsy, but the rest of the novel was bright and lovely. I look forward to the rest of the series.
Good solid fantasy.
This book was good. It was reminiscent of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn for some reason. Creative world building, lots of complex characters and a good "stinger" at the climax. Will probably not continue the series right now if ever--so little time and so much to read! I'd rate this book R for sexual and violent content.
