books: n.k. jemisin the works of

It's that time again--that would be time for more books. And I found my author to hit their works like the fist of a very literature-deprived god.

...but she has like a lot of books (two delicious series, even), so okay.

N.K. Jemisin - is The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms author-entry level or should I start with the other one first to get a better feel for her? It got amazing reviews (and is a trilogy), but I'm worried about another Neil Gaiman American Gods where I only found out after reading it that I should have started with Anansi Boys first to get a better feel of his style (as I loved Anansi Boys like beyond words).

So yes, no, maybe, do it alphabetically?

Comments

[jeanete]

I like to read authors in publication order, myself--in the words of Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, "I prefer to let George Lucas disappoint me in the order he intended." Only not disappointing, if you see what I mean.

I do hear very good things about Jemsin.

[merrily]

All I've read of NK Jemisin's work is the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms books, and I loved those. Since I've read nothing else yet I can't say if it's the best approach to start with them, but they were so so satisfying that I can't imagine it's a bad tactic.

I look forward to picking up the rest over Christmas!

[boxofdelights]

The Killing Moon is better than The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, but The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is easier to fall into.

The Killing Moon has two viewpoint characters from different cultures, and each of them, right from the start, is dealing with people not from their own culture. Which is a really effective way to give you information you need about these cultures without info-dumping, but it takes a lot of work from the reader to keep track of which bits of information belong to which culture. The reader might not care to do that work unless they have already decided that the author is worth it.

Are you familiar with the concept of the id vortex? I think the sex scene in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms has an id-vortex problem. I am a reader of fanfiction, and I did not mind it, but it seems to be the thing that bothered other reviewers.

They're both good!

[kass]

I started with the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms trilogy and then read the Killing Moon duology, and basically loved every minute of all of them. Jemisin is awesome.

[brownbetty]

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms hit me right in the id so hard I still haven't recovered, and then the sequel was like "this is a good book. That I have no real feelings about." So I can't be objective.