Gujaareh, the city of dreams, is suffering. It has been ten long years since the events of The Killing Moon; ten years in which the once great city has now been occupied by Kisua – a people that know nothing of peace and worship false gods. The result of this is a decadence of the likes Gujaareh has never known: there are starving homeless on the streets, crime has risen and the great anger of violence is beginning to take root in the hearts of its people. In short, the peace of their daily lives – peace which is valued above all else as the basis of their religion – is beginning to shatter.
Worse still, a strange plague is spreading through the city that kills those infected in the sleep. Its victims die alone and in agony, too distressed to ever find their way into the eternal peace of Hananja’s afterlife. The narcomancers that serve Hananja – devout priests that follow her teachings in their dream magic – are at a loss and grow ever more concerned as the plague resists every attempt they make to cure it.
But Guraajeh faces more problems that it knows: the heir to the city’s throne still lives – a young prince who has grown up among a barbaric race of warriors, where he has done nothing but cultivate his anger and hone his prowess for war…
The Good
Just like its predecessor, The Shadowed Sun is both imaginative and enjoyable to read. N. K. Jemisin has really gone wild while she delved into the dream magic her world uses, showing once again how devastating its power actually is. Jemisin’s rather unique form of magic is definitely interesting to read about and she’s really managed to weave it into the daily lives of her characters, adding to the plausibility of Gujareen culture.
Furthermore, Jemisin’s point of view characters have been developed well in themselves and I found that I was able to warm to them quite quickly. Jemisin has managed to create very distinctive personalities that are very evident while reading and really seem to affect the events of the story in a believable manner.
The Bad
One of the only things I didn't like about The Shadowed Sun, is that is barely featured any of the characters from the previous book. Although these characters do appear and Jemisin has developed her new characters well (which actually fit in perfectly with story), it would have been nice for the ‘familiar faces’ to have had more of a prominent presence.
Another major issue that I had with The Shadowed Sun was in its lack of action. Although this didn't actually make the book any less interesting to read, it would have been nice to have actually read some of the battles and fights in ‘real time’, rather than reading about them post-hoc once they had finished. Admittedly, some of the action was ‘real time’, but I feel that Jemisin could have made the book much more engaging if they all were – one bit (which I won’t reveal) in-particular!
My Thoughts
Overall though, I enjoyed reading The Killing Moon and think that it’s a satisfying ending to Jemisin’s Dreamblood duology. The book is sensual, filled with stunning imagery throughout and really gives the sense of a suffering people that need to be liberated. In fact, I would go as far as saying that Dreamblood is a rare gem of a duology that you should seriously consider investing your time in – N. K. Jemisin is definitely a very talented writer that we should all look out for over the years to come!
No comments:
Post a Comment