NK Jemisin
Completed 4/17/2020,
Reviewed 4/17/2020
5 stars
This is the third
book in Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy. It
follows Sieh, one of the godlings from the first two books, about one hundred
years after the second book. I found
this installment just as awesome as the other two. The only negative I have for it is that it is
a tad too long. Overall, the pacing was
really good, but during the third part (out of four), I thought it lost some
steam. It does pick up in a powerful
ending, however. Based on this series
and her award-winning Broken Earth trilogy, I’d say Jemisin has become one of
my favorite authors. I’m really looking
forward to her Dreamblood duology.
Sieh, the
oldest of the godlings, is now free from slavery by the Arameri family. He is the god of children, mostly appearing
as a ten-year-old himself. He is also
the trickster. Despite his disdain for
the Arameris, he still sometimes goes to their palace atop the World Tree, known
as Sky. One day, he happens upon two
children, Shahar and Deka. Over the
course of several years, they become friends.
One year, they decide to cement their friendship with a blood oath. They slit their hands and grasp them together. Something terribly explosive happens, putting
all three in comas. Shahar and Deka do
wake up with some wounds, but Sieh wakes up a mortal. Shahar it turns out is the heir to the
Arameri throne. As punishment, Deka is
sent away to scrivener’s school to learn magic, far from his loving sister,
which is her punishment. Sieh, suddenly
an adolescent, stays in Sky, where he tries to figure out how to become a god
again and stop the aging process.
In the
meantime, people in the court are showing up dead. Their bodies are found with masks on. It is unclear how the masks entered Sky, and who
got these people to put them on. Foul
play from one of the kingdoms is assumed, as the Arameri family have many
enemies.
This book has
a lot more substance than these two plot lines.
Eventually, the three main gods come into play, as well as some of the
lesser godlings. Deka eventually comes
back as a powerful scrivener to support his sister. The murder mystery blows up into a nefarious
plot to overthrow the Arameri that involves the three friends and many other
characters. It becomes complicated, but
not convoluted. I found the plot and
subplots pretty easy to follow.
I really
loved Sieh. He’s pretty morally ambiguous,
protecting children, but at the same time, willing to kill someone he thinks is
human trash, or worthy of death. He’s
the narrator in first person. Given his
loves, hates, and prejudices, he may not be so reliable a narrator. Still, we really delve deep into his psyche,
learning what drives him to think and act as he does. Besides being friends with Shahar and Deka,
he falls in love with them, complicating their relationships and the story as a
whole. Sieh is one messy godling who’s
turned into a messy mortal.
I really
loved Jemisin’s writing in this as well as the whole series. I thought her prose was great and the dialogue
was always realistic. I thought the
characterization was great as well. None
of the characters were cardboard cutouts. Even the godlings who have only limited scenes
are realistic. This may be because we were
introduced to most of them in the previous books.
I give this
book five out of five stars. I think it’s
a terrific ending to the series. I was deeply
emotionally invested in the main character throughout the book, even during the
slow part. Initially, I wondered why the
third book had to be so long, but most of it was really necessary. She covers a lot of territory as Sieh grows
from adolescent to old man, while only ten or so years pass for everyone
else. So the book is about growing up. And it is also about loneliness as Sieh
struggles with his love for Shahar and Deka.
I’m still amazed that these are the first three books Jemisin
wrote. I think they were all awesome,
but this one grabbed my heart and wouldn’t let go until the amazing apocalyptic
end.
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