To start off: a big thank you to Yulia and Samin for giving me this as a birthday gift! Who doesn't love a book as a present?
Now on to the real business. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is quite amazing. For a first novel, it was really detailed, interesting, and absorbing. It took me a couple chapters to figure out what was going on, who was who, and why things were happening, but after that, I sailed through it and was very satisfied with the ending (which is unusual for me with fantasy/sci-fi novels). If nothing else, Jemisin is an expert at unexpected twists, and each one left me thinking that this woman is a genius with a plot and making me have to catch my breath because I didn't believe what was happening.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is centered around Yeine, a girl around twenty years old (not quite twenty) who is the leader of her matriarchal people, the Darren. Her mother has just died, and she's been summoned to the capital (of the country, union, continent?), Sky, by her grandfather, where she is to learn that she has been named and heir to the "throne." I have to put that in quotes because Yeine's grandfather is not a king; he's just in charge, and the ruling family, the Arameri, are not considered royalty. They're just very, very powerful. Yeine hopes that by going to Sky, she can help her people, and find out who was behind her mother's death.
Once Yeine understands that she is never to return to her home, Darr, she finds herself in a cruel battle for power against the other two heirs: her cousins Relad and Scimina. There two are not people I would want to rule a nation (or whatever the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is). Scimina is cruel, heartless, and deathly ambitious. Relad is a drunk, not nearly as cruel, but his selfishness makes up for that. They both care more about power than anything else, and considering that the winning heir must kill the person closest to them to gain power, that's something that works for them. Contrarily, Yeine is rational, brutally honest, and compassionate. She is by no means weak, but she cannot comprehend the terrible things that the family has done in the name of "peace" and their god, Itempas. Her position is one which she does not want, but cannot escape.
The gods, the Enefadeh, are a completely different matter. I think it would take too long, and take away some of the excitement of the story, to explain them entirely, so I'll try to not be too detailed. There were originally three gods: Itempas (light), Nahadoth (dark), and Enefa (everything in between). For multiple reasons, Itempas killed Enefa and imprisoned Nahadoth and his children in human form, and made them servants to the Arameri. The character of Nahadoth is especially engaging because of the way he is constantly changing. He is almost never the same from one moment to the next, because he embodies wildness and change, but this is what makes him unique and also part of what draws Yeine to him.
Needless to say, the Enefadeh want to recruit Yeine to their side to help regain their freedom and punish Itempas for his evil deeds. Yet, even if she allies herself to them, Yeine has no guarantees that they will keep their end of the bargain. Her life is on the line, and she must trust her instincts to make things right again.
I'm excited to read Jemisin's other novels in this Trilogy, The Broken Kingdoms and The Kingdom of Gods. I expect great things from her and I don't think I'll be disappointed!
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