The Kingdom of Gods

Too long. Lots of enjoyable bits but I wanted less.

The Kingdom of Gods is a messy novel. It juggles so many different plot points and characters at once, some handled worse than others. It's a disjointed book and the weakest of the trilogy. And yet, for whatever reason, I found myself fully invested for (most of) the duration of the story. There were plenty of things I didn't like (unnecessary characters that only complicated things and added nothing, some general weird character inconsistency), but the beautiful prose and fascinating world kept me interested.

Well this installment was absolutely nothing like I expected. Part of this is that every blurb, even the quote on the cover “She will destroy them all” led me to believe this was going to be a story about Shahar Arameri. She is the character described on the back, and that would fit the theme of Awesome Lady Getting Way Too Involved with Gods theme of the series. I was surprised however when the point of view character ends up being Sieh and Shahar features... hardly at all. If anything Dekarta is the one getting way too involved with gods.

That immediately had me worried, and made this book hard to begin. Sieh is the god of Childhood and generally exists in the form of a child. Any sort of romantic element was going to be incredibly awkward, I felt. Jemisin, as usual, figures out to deal with the maturation of a child as old as the earth. She writes from the first person POV of an immortal brat, and it's entirely believable. Jemisin is a real master of point of view and the wit and charm of her characters (down to Sieh's “annotations” of the glossary in the back) make this book worthwhile. She also pulls off the neat trick of having the exact ending I predicted from the beginning occur in a completely unexpected way. It made the story both satisfying and surprising.

I didn't bond with Sieh quite as much as I did with Yeine or Oree. I might have preferred the book from Deka's point of view, honestly, but I still am impressed at how Jemisin captures the terror or a nearly omnipotent child combined with the fears and realities of aging. It's still emotionally moving and complex, but it doesn't resonate as much with me personally as the first two.

I do recommend getting the edition with the bonus Oree and Itempas story in the extras section. That capped the trilogy nicely for me. It's a fine ending to a fantastic series, and now I'm going to have to pick up The Killing Moon.