Saturday 22 December 2018

Book review: N K Jemisin

A few months ago I read about N K Jemisin winning her third Hugo Award in a row.  Apparently this is a first -- no one had ever won three in a row before.

I'd never heard of Jemisin, but the blog post was provocatively enticing, and her acceptance speech was funny with bite.

Curious, I requested one of her books from the library.  I was hooked.  I requested more.  I've now read:

Inheritance Trilogy:
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (2010)
The Broken Kingdoms (2010)
The Kingdom of Gods (2011)
The Awakened Kingdom (2014)

Dreamblood duology:
The Killing Moon (2012)
The Shadowed Sun (2012)

Broken Earth series:
The Fifth Season (2015)
The Obelisk Gate (2016)
The Stone Sky (2017)

And I'm still wanting more.  I have to say, Jemisin is now one of my all-time favourite authors.  When I run through in my mind the various aspects of what, to me, makes a good book, these books have it all to near perfection.

I won't suggest Mulan read them just yet.  There's some challenging stuff in there.  But in another five years or so she might be ready for it.

So, what's so good about Jemisin's writing?  Saying everything would take way too long, but I'll say a quick few things.

First off, a good novel needs to have plausible, interesting, three-dimensional characters.  Jemisin's books have those.  In fact, Jemisin is one of the best writers I can think of who can get into the heads of her characters.

This isn't all that surprising.  Apparently, before becoming a fulltime writer, Jemisin was a counselor.  Her first couple of book series above were written while also working fulltime.  I can only assume that over the course of many, many hours of helping people, she has built up a pretty good understanding of what makes people tick.  And then she is able to put that into her characters.  Her characters are uniquely flawed, contradictory, whole, real, relatable people.  It is a pleasure to spend time with them.

On top of that, Jemisin is a wonderfully creative world-builder.  For those who are not aware, the Hugo Awards are for science fiction works.  Jemisin's books (at least all those above that I read) are squarely in the speculative fiction camp, either fantasy or science fiction or some sort of mix.  Each of Jemisin's three series above are set in a uniquely different world -- each amazingly creative and unique in themselves.  That Jemisin has managed, in such a short writing time, to develop not one, but three fascinatingly complex worlds is impressive.

(Mama tells me that one of the big praises Chinese readers have for Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem is his creative world-building.  They should read some of Jemisin's novels to get an idea of what real creative world-building is about!)

The third big thing I noticed about Jemisin's books is her mastery of stringing words together.  She shows her expertise in the rules and history of writing.  And then she breaks the rules to make it even better.  Reading her writing is a true pleasure.

Fourthly, Jemisin's stories are un-put-down-able.  There are plot twists and turns and excitement galore.

Fifthly (and finally), Jemisin's stories quite clearly have social and moral messages.  Her books are not merely entertaining stories set in another universe (although they are that, too).  They also have plenty to say about our world, our society, and real people.  The Broken Earth series is her most mature work (although the other two series are excellent in this regard, too).  Part of it's message is a subtle and sensitive commentary on US race history.  It is well worth reading for this alone.

(And then we read true stories like this one.  All in combination, it hits hard.)

UPDATE 15/1/2019: I've just finished reading Jemisin's Mass Effect Andromeda Initiation, which she co-authored with Mac Walters.  It's a pretty dull read, and is absent all of Jemisin's usual distinctiveness.

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