Title: The Broken Kingdoms Series: Inheritance Trilogy #2
Author: N.K. Jemisin
Published: November 3, 2010
Genre(s): Fantasy
Page Count: 384
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:In the city of Shadow, beneath the World Tree, alleyways shimmer with magic and godlings live hidden among mortalkind. Oree Shoth, a blind artist, takes in a homeless man who glows like a living sun to her strange sight. This act of kindness engulfs Oree in a nightmarish conspiracy. Someone, somehow, is murdering godlings, leaving their desecrated bodies all over the city.
Oree's peculiar guest is at the heart of it, his presence putting her in mortal danger -- but is it him the killers want, or Oree? And is the earthly power of the Arameri king their ultimate goal, or have they set their sights on the Lord of Night himself?
This companion novel to The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is, overall, probably a much better attempt on Jemisin’s part. I felt that she’s matured in her craft from one book to the next, and as a result, The Broken Kingdoms is a very strong novel.
Beginning about ten years after the close of the first book, The Broken Kingdoms tells the story of a blind young woman who paints and sees magic. Yes, I know. As much as I admire Jemisin, I was not at all satisfied with the way she portrayed her main character, Oree. A blind woman who paints is one thing, but a woman who can see as clear as you and me, so long as what she’s looking at is magical? Unacceptable. Oree hardly ever seemed truly incapacitated, either, since she was always surrounded my godlings or magic in some way. Just, in general, I really did not appreciate the special snowflake qualities Oree exhibited.
Other than that, the story and narration were good. Some of the twists felt a little forced or amateurish to me, but I enjoyed reading this book for the most part. I appreciated the way Oree was her own woman and saved the day (even if she relied on her special snowlfakeness to do so). The way the relationships between characters were handled was also good, I thought. The “bad boy romance” that went down in the first book would not have been appropriate in The Broken Kingdoms.
And as always, N.K. Jemisin’s world-building is very interesting and creates a pretty vivid backdrop for the character and the action. All the godlings, gods, scriveners, etc., each had an interesting, thoughtful place in the story, and I thought the world the author created made sense as a whole.
So overall, I really enjoyed The Broken Kingdoms. It was a pretty fast read, and though I didn’t outright adore it, due to the main character’s presentation, I still thought it was a fun, entertaining read that really showcased the author’s talent.
