The Broken Kingdoms

The first book in the Inheritance Trilogy was told by its main character, Yeine, in recollection. I read it a second time almost immediately and was blown away by all the clues to the slowly, deliciously unravelled mystery that Jemisin so carefully and subtly wove into the story. You’d think reading a book a second time within that many months would mean boredom, but instead, it was an eye opening experience.

The Broken Kingdoms is a similar and yet entirely different experience that takes dramatic irony to an entirely new level. Oree Shoth, like many of the other inhabitants of this world, has no idea what went on ten years ago in Sky. She knows only that politics and worship has changed by the say-so of the powers that be. No longer is Bright Itempas the "All Father." There are now two mysterious others. And the godlings have returned, though only in Shadow, the city beneath the World Tree that grew when the Gray Lady was born ten years ago. While curious, none of this is a surprise to the reader, not even the strange, mute man whom Oree has jokingly named “Shiny” because of the way his aura glows at dawn.

I am too emotionally involved in this trilogy now to determine this, but I would be curious to know if this book could stand alone. I would be curious to see how a reader reacts, reading this first, then going back and reading it again after reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Would they see it all with entirely new eyes?

Eyes. Sight. Seeing. This is a fascinating aspect of this book because Oree is blind. She is not merely unable to see, but her eyes are actually deformed. She is, as she is told, a very beautiful woman, but for this deformity that she refuses to hide. Jemisin establishes her blindness from the beginning, but makes it very clear that it is not a disability. She is not coddled by those around her and her other senses have done their duty and taken up the slack and Jemisin skilfully paints words of scent and sound and feel to help us see the world that Oree cannot.

But Oree is not completely without sight. She is able to see magic, which draws her to Shadow, which is filled with magic and with godlings. Unsurprisingly, she becomes very much involved with them. Jemisin uses this sixth sense to further paint the scenes and people, even including emotions and expressions. Painting is a very important part of this story, with each chapter named as if it were a painting or sculpture, complete with the kind of mediums used. Lee Moyer so perfectly brings Oree and her world to life in this image:

And with this image, the rational part of my review - as written within the first one hundred pages of the book - comes to an end, but I will spare you the flail and possible reaction GIFs this book elicits. Just assume that the rest of my review dissolves into the tears and emotional twirling that ought to explain why it's taken me a year to read The Broken Kingdoms, after the emotionally draining experience of its predecessor.