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The Killing Moon: Dreamblood: Book 1 by N K Jemisin (view source)
Revision as of 07:11, 25 May 2012
, 07:11, 25 May 2012no edit summary
{{infobox
|title=The Killing Moon: Dreamblood: Book 1|sort=Killing Moon: Dreamblood: Book 1
|author=N K Jemisin
|reviewer=Robert James
Throw in Najiri, an apprentice Gatherer who can't seem to decide whether he wants to be a son to Ehiru or a lover, Sinandi, a female spy from another city-state who thinks the whole idea of Gathering is crazy in the first place, and many supporting characters with decidedly cloudy motives, and you have a strong contender for the year's Book Most Likely To Make Your Head Ache.
In fact, I have to admit, I nearly gave up on this twice within the first 80 pages. I couldn't see where it was going, it was really confusing me, and the setting - based on Ancient Egypt, apparently - was far outside of my comfort zone. Thankfully, my love of Jemisin's earlier work [[The Hundred-Thousand Kingdoms (Inheritance Trilogy) by N K Jemisin|The Hundred-Thousand Kingdoms]] convinced me to carry on with it, and once things do eventually fall into place about a quarter of the way through the book it becomes completely captivating. There's an epic plot which deals with power, corruption, religion, love, family and death, along with three characters who are all genuinely sympathetic despite their differences.
Jemisin's also an incredibly skilful writer and while the decision to set the book in this kind of world rather than one influenced by the more usual European culture does, as I mentioned above, make it slightly harder to get into, it also means it really stands out from most books in this genre.
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