The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

By: N. K. Jemisin

Narrated by: Casaundra Freeman

Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

In this brilliantly original debut fantasy, a young woman becomes entangled in a power struggle of mythic proportions.

Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian North. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother's death and her family's bloody history.

With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate - and gods and mortals - are bound inseparably together. 

The Inheritance Trilogy:

• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
• The Broken Kingdoms
• The Kingdom of Gods
• The Inheritance Trilogy (omnibus edition) 
• Shades in Shadow: An Inheritance Triptych (e-only short fiction) 
• The Awakened Kingdom (e-only novella) 

For more from N. K. Jemisin, check out:

Dreamblood Duology:

• The Killing Moon
• The Shadowed Sun

The Broken Earth:

• The Fifth Season
• The Obelisk Gate
• The Stone Sky

©2010 N. K. Jemisin (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

"In The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin has created a smart, passionate heroine and an extraordinary world. Marvelous work from a marvelous storyteller!" (Carol Berg, author of Breath and Bone)

"Many books are good, some are great, but few are truly important. Add to this last category The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin's debut novel.... This is the must-read fantasy of the year." (Booklist)

"The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is the provocative and exciting debut novel by a writer whose work I hope to be reading for a long time to come." (Kate Elliott, author of Shadow Gate)

Read, don't listen, to this book

This is not a book I would recommend listening to on audiobook. Though the plot itself is relatively simple and straightforward, it is made (perhaps needlessly) complicated with digressive interjections, of which the reader doesn't realize the purpose until later. After listening to this book, I skimmed the ebook to see if these interjections were somehow clearly delineated from the main narration and indeed, in the book, they are marked by spaces between the sections and the use of italics. In the audiobook, little effort is made on the part of the narrator to distinguish between these sections. The only thing I noticed was that a few short parts abruptly switched to second person narration and narrated events/thoughts/feelings that had no relevance to what was happening in the main narration. I didn't realize what these interjections were meant to be and was really confused about the whole thing. I would definitely steer clear of the audiobook for this novel.

For my full thoughts on the book, check out my Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2719384635

48 people found this helpful

A well done, original work of fantasy.

I have listened to several audio books by this author and some are definitely better than others. This is my favorite so far. one thing all of the author's books have in common is unique and careful world-building. if you're looking for a fantasy that does not follow the usual formulas you should definitely give this author a try!

18 people found this helpful

Eh...

After seeing all the good reviews I really wanted to like this book. I listened to the whole thing and it wasn't terrible, but honestly it wasn't great and I'm not quite sure I understand the hype. Not to mention that I was really lost in the book (maybe that is just me) but I don't feel like things were that well explained. Kinda disappointed with it.

5 people found this helpful

Decent story, terrible narration

While certainly not as good as her Broken Earth series, this book was a decent read, if you can get over the ick factor of the weird familial relationships. The narration, however, is horrendous. Her pacing is awkward, all over the place. She randomly pronounces words in strange ways that sound completely unnatural to her, every time she says ‘again’, I cringe. The voices she uses for the different characters are equally cringeworthy, especially the horrible squeaky kid voice she uses for the child character. Her narration nearly ruined the story for me, and definitely kept me from enjoying it as much as I would have with a good narrator. If she’s the narrator for the next book, I’ll be reading, not buying the audio book version.

12 people found this helpful

Loved every aspect!

An original and complete story. The twists and turns are enjoyable throughout. And the story is restless in it's expansiveness. Freeman does a fantastic job at narration and brings life to each character and their respective intricacies.

6 people found this helpful

Interesting Idea Falls Short

Did I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book? No. Was it what I was expecting? Yes.

After reading and loving the Broken Earth trilogy, I'd read anything N.K Jemisin published. So here we are, diving into the Jemisin backlog, starting with the very first book she published.

I am happy to say that even in her early works Jemisin tackles the hard questions. What would a world look like, if the Gods who created it were enslaved by the very people they created? Jemissin starts us off with the approaching death of the current ruler of the kingdom, Dekarta Arameri. An old man, Dekarta summons his estranged granddaughter Yeine Darr and names her one of three possible heirs. What follows is a power struggle for the throne that Yeine does her best to survive. And all the while the once Gods have their own plans for her.

An interesting premise, but it is her first book and you can tell. The execution of the plot and the character development was fairly standard in my book. Of course, I expect things will only get better from here!

1 person found this helpful

Not my thing

I was really interested and excited to read this book and honestly it just wasn't for me found the MC to be boring and the overall plot uninterested.

1 person found this helpful

Hiding in the car good.

This book was creative and beautiful. So many points in the story had me hiding in my car to listen (a mom does what she can for book time, folks)... I can't wait to read the sequel.

1 person found this helpful

Good, but predictable

The story of this books is extremely predictable, and doesn’t lend the figurative steering wheel to the reader making it kind of boring and forgettable.

The performance was great and really made this book good.

So overall a good read at least for one go around.

1 person found this helpful

Narration is somewhat lacking.

The standards for narrative work in the industry have exploded in recent years and I don't believe that is reflected here.