The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I must say that this is the best of all three.

Sieh.

He touched me just as much as he touched Shahar or Deka. And before you start going on about how that's nasty, I mean it entirely metaphorically! Gosh, you people. I was damn close to tears an unknowable number of times while reading this. It was special in a way that all deeply mythological tales can be special, even when they tear a hole in reality to let in the Maelstrom, borrow from so many sources, and yet manage to be fully creative and original all on their own.

Was I genuinely surprised by some of their choices, or by the events that happened, or the way it finally got resolved? Yes, to all three.

I cried. It was just that good.

As for some of the things that some of you might be looking for in a progressive tale: There is offhand and natural relations between the sexes that I've come to expect from gods and godlings, only it is is a bit more down to earth with more of the mortal flavor in this novel. Traditional love story, this isn't.

What it really manages to be, spectacularly, is a novel about growing up.

That in itself is the biggest source of all conflict, of course, and made so much worse because it is the god of childhood and mischief that has to undergo such a nightmare of losing everything that he is.

What an emotional ride.

Plots and other storylines were very interesting and held the rest of the tale together as tightly as anyone could desire, and there were some rather huge events that happened, satisfying my ever-increasing desire for "More, More, More" mind-blowing greatness. I truly couldn't put the novel down for the life of me. It was intelligent, so well-crafted, wise, mischievous, and eventful. And best of all, it had one hell of a great story underneath everything else that was popping.

I already knew that Jemisin was one hell of an artist, from the first novel that I read, The Fifth Season, to this third book in the wonderful The Broken Kingdoms. She's now become my go-to mastermind for brilliant storytelling, huge worldbuilding, and mythopunk craving.

So damn wonderful!

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