Just Arrived: NK Jemisin’s “The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms” & Mira Grant’s “Feed”
A while back I posted that it’s currently “reading for the Hugo Awards” time again—and today the first of my two books ‘to be read’ arrived at more door (literally: because they wouldn’t fit in the letterbox the postman hand delivered them to the door.:) )
As you can tell from the title, they’re NK Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (which is up for just about everything this year: a Hugo Award, a Gemmell Award, a Locus Award–and there’s probably more!) and Mira Grant’s Feed. Mira Grant is a nom de plume for Seanan Maguire, who won the John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer last year.
I am very much looking forward to reading both these books, as well as the other Hugo Award nominees—although I am not quite sure when I am going to get to them while the Great Revision is ongoing. But they’re here and on the TBR table: that’s got to be a great start.
I’m still not sure if I liked The Hundred Thousand Kingdom but it is well written. I must have enjoyed it as I read the second in the trilogy. Not a reread though.
Hmm, usually when I say “I’m not sure if I liked” it means, really, I didn’t like … 😉 Your point of view is very interesting though, given it’s had such huge success and press generally. I shall try to read by ConText so we can compare notes.:) (Or you could comment again here to say what you didn’t like so much …?)
I think it was a bit too cryptic for me. It took a while for me to twig to some things. I wanted to read a fluffy book for downtime, not to use my brain. The court she is in is exhausting – watch your back constantly.
It is a new take on the classic ‘girl goes to royal family and regains the throne’. story.
Jan–I know what you mean about sometimes just wanting a ‘light’ read, a book to chill out with. But from what you say, the “watch your back constantly” of the court, and also that the reader has to be alert for what’s going on with the plot—well, it could be the kind of book I enjoy when not in fluffy mode myself. I kind of love intrigue and layers within the plot. I’ll let you know what I think, though, once I’ve read it.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdom has a gorgeous cover. I’d never heard of it before. I’ll be interested to hear what you thought of it, Helen. I have heard of Feed, though. It’s been on my to-read list for a while now.
I’ll let you know for both, Wen …