{"id":6807,"date":"2011-07-16T01:30:03","date_gmt":"2011-07-15T13:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=6807"},"modified":"2011-07-15T22:44:20","modified_gmt":"2011-07-15T10:44:20","slug":"hugo-awards-reading-report-1-the-novels-the-hundred-thousand-kingdoms-by-nk-jemisin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2011\/07\/16\/hugo-awards-reading-report-1-the-novels-the-hundred-thousand-kingdoms-by-nk-jemisin\/","title":{"rendered":"Hugo Awards Reading Report 1: The Novels—“The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms” by NK Jemisin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>May the Reporting Begin \u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Today I am beginning my reporting back on the novel finalists for the Hugo Award for Best Novel<\/strong><\/a> in 2011 with NK Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms<\/em><\/strong> (Orbit.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just as a reminder, the complete list of finalists, by book title, comprises:<\/p>\n

Blackout\/All Clear<\/strong><\/em> by Connie Willis (Ballantine Spectra)
\nCryoburn<\/strong><\/em> by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
\nThe Dervish House<\/strong><\/em> by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr)
\nFeed<\/strong><\/em> by Mira Grant (Orbit)
\nThe Hundred Thousand Kingdoms<\/strong><\/em> by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)<\/p>\n

My Criteria, As A Reader, for Evaluating the Hugo Award Nominees for Best Novel<\/h3>\n

An aspect that I consider very important with evaluating the Hugo finalists, as a reader and voter, is that the award is being made for excellence in speculative fiction. So while I need to consider whether the stories are compelling, well written and engaging as stories, I also need to give thought to strength\/use of genre in the work.<\/p>\n

In terms of what makes a story compelling, well written and engaging, my subjective preferences include that I really like emotional depth; I also really like interesting ideas. But I\u2019m not so much into clever ideas for their own sake: without characters and a storyline that both engage me, cleverness alone won\u2019t cut it. Something that really matters, though, is continuity\/consistency of both characters and plot. Even if I really like the characters or find the idea of the story fascinating, if there are plot holes I can drive a bus through, then I\u2019m not going to rate that story. One possible exception just might be if there is a lot of humor to gloss over those holes. And I always award extra points for stories that raise a smile\u2014and bonus points again for a read that makes me laugh out loud (“coughs”: intentionally, that is.)<\/p>\n

So those are the broad criteria and I’ll certainly specify if something else comes up as I go along.<\/p>\n

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms<\/em>, Book One of The Inheritance Trilogy<\/h3>\n

To start, a brief synopsis from the back cover (ie I’m trying not to do spoilers here):<\/p>\n

“Yeine Darr is an outcast \u2026 summoned to the majestic city of Sky \u2013 a palace \u2026 where the lives of gods and mortals intertwine. There, to her shock, Yeine is named one of the potential heirs to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle \u2026”<\/em><\/p>\n

I think the other important plot element it helps to know is that the backstory on which The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms<\/em> is founded is that of war between gods, which has ended with the defeated gods being made slaves to the human priests of the victorious deity. It is for control of this power that Yeine finds herself competing.<\/p>\n

It’s an interesting premise to start with and I have to say right up front that I liked this book\u2014rather a lot, in fact. It “checked” all my boxes of interesting plotline and emotional depth of story combined with engaging characters. The central character of Yeine is very well drawn, as are other core characters such as the bound gods Nahadoth and Sieh\u2014but this is not one of those novels where a few compelling central characters are accompanied by a host of “paper cut-out” lesser characters. In fact, there are no “lesser” characters in this book, although some are clearly of secondary or even tertiary importance to the unfolding story\u2014but all are interesting and well drawn for the period that they are on the page.<\/p>\n

Here’s the thing I really liked about The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms<\/em> though: plot-wise, the author managed to surprise me. I apologise if this sounds a little conceited, but it really doesn’t happen often. Even George RR Martin has only managed to do it once, so far, in the A Song of Ice and Fire Series<\/span> and he can be fairly ‘tricksy’ (as Gollum would have it. \ud83d\ude09 ) In The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms<\/em> I definitely knew that something ‘tricksy’ was up\u2014it was getting toward the final denouement after all\u2014and there were any number of characters to be suspicious of, but I still didn’t foresee the final plot-within-plot revelation. As a reader, I found that very satisfying. Although I am not a reader who needs surprises in my stories—good characters and a good story well told are generally enough for me—I still enjoy a good twist in a tale, especially when I haven’t picked it in advance.<\/p>\n

In terms of use of genre, I think the fundamental idea of the book, ie war in heaven and how this has subsequently played out on the mortal plane; as well as the way the magic of the bound gods and the world works, eg the floating city, all held together well. And as aforesaid, I found the basic premise interesting. I have heard that criticism has been levelled against The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms<\/em> by some genre readers because of the romantic elements in the story, but in my view the book is still unequivocally Fantasy and not Romance. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms<\/em> is also far from being alone in being Fantasy with clear romantic elements. All Anne McCaffrey’s books are distinguished by this characteristic and romance is also a very strong element in much of the writing of leading names such as Guy Gavriel Kay, Robin McKinley, and Patricia McKillip. In terms of genre, therefore, I see The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms<\/em> as definitely part of a well-established and honourable SFF tradition.<\/p>\n

What didn’t I like about this book, then? The answer is: no major quibbles at all. I did have a small smile at the very\u2014um\u2014cosmic, major sex scene—but I could blame that reaction on Hemingway*: he still has a lot to answer for in terms of sex scenes where the earth\u2014or cosmos\u2014moves for the protagonists. And it is a very small quibble.<\/p>\n

So there you have it: my report back on The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms<\/em>. I think it is a very enjoyable read and well-crafted SFF novel and a strong contender for the Hugo Award for Best Novel.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

All going well, I should be back with Reading Report 2, on another of the finalists for best Novel, next Wednesday.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

* For Whom The Bell Tolls<\/em>\r\n<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
May the Reporting Begin \u2026 Today I am beginning my reporting back on the novel finalists for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2011 with NK Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Orbit.) Just as a reminder, the complete list of finalists, by book title, comprises: Blackout\/All Clear by Connie Willis (Ballantine Spectra) Cryoburn by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-awards","category-what-im-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6807"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6833,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6807\/revisions\/6833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}