This year, I resolved to fix one of the gaping holes in my life as a fantasy reader and tackle the words of NK Jemisin. The entire works, no exceptions. After finishing the Inheritance Trilogy, I’ve worked on reading all of the short stories and novellas that are associated with that series.
“Not the End” (2011)
“The Awakened Kingdom” (2014)
Shades in Shadow (2015)
Author: NK Jemisin
Pages: 11, 118, and 62 pages respectively
Premise for Shades in Shadow:*
From the shadows of the greater stories, away from the bright light of Sky and wending ’round the sagas of the Arameri, come three quieter tales. A newborn god with an old, old soul struggles to find a reason to live. A powerful demon searches for her father, and answers. And in a prequel to the Inheritance Trilogy, a newly-enslaved Nahadoth forges a dark alliance with a mortal, for survival… and revenge.
*“Not the End” and “The Awakened Kingdom” are both included in different printings of the original trilogy and do not have their own supplied premise. “Not the End” is included in the print version of Kingdom of Gods and “The Awakened Kingdom” is included in the Kindle omnibus edition.
There are no spoilers for the stories discussed, but this discussion does assume you’ve read the Inheritance Trilogy.
“Not the End”
Technically, this story is attached at the end of the print version of Kingdom of Gods, but I read the omnibus Kindle edition and just got my hands on a copy of this from the library. This story is a short coda that wraps up the Itempas/Oree storyline from The Broken Kingdoms, and it’s delightful.
The end of The Broken Kingdoms made me cry forever, because I knew that Itempas hadn’t finished paying his debt to Nahadoth and the godlings yet, but I rooted for their love so very much. It’s short, obviously, at 11 pages, but it adds so much to the story. Storyline wise, it happens after the end of The Kingdom of Gods, when the rules governing Itempas’ punishment have changed because of the new priorities.
And it’s so fascinating, because things around Itempas continue to change, and he still remains this constant. Oree is old now, he’s coming to her in the twilight years of her life, and it reminded me of Molly Grue meeting Amalthia in The Last Unicorn, the “how dare you come to me now” reaction. Thankfully, she moves on from that reaction.
“You come here, to the back end of beyond in the mortal realm, and say you want to keep some old woman company in her last days? You expect me to believe that’s anything but pity?”
He stared at me for a moment, then sighed with an almost human exasperation. “Oree Shoth, you were a devout Itempan, once. Tell me, when has pity ever been my nature?”
I paused then, because this was true. (Page 598)
Definitely a worthy addition to this world Jemisin created.
“The Awakened Kingdom”
This story was published with the omnibus edition that was released in 2014. In it, we meet a new godling, born after the end of the original trilogy. This godling isn’t necessarily meant to fill the gap left behind by the godling that died at the end of that book (trying not to spoil too much here), but at first she isn’t sure.
You were wanted! Mama and Papa and Naha wanted you lots. You know this, and you know there is a space carved into existence which is shaped like a godling, and that godling is supposed to be you! The hole was left when biggest sibling went away. By that I mean, he died. (Loc 15670)
The thing that I’ve found fascinating about Jemisin throughout the reading of this series and the stories that accompany it is how many voices and personas and characters she can step into and portray. And each feels so distinct from the last. Yeine, heroine from the first novel, feels very like a god in the later installments, but less of a world weary god than Nahadoth and Itempas, with millennia less baggage than the two of them. But she doesn’t at all feel like her mortal self from the first book.
And this new character, who is eventually given the name Shill, is so different from any character that came before. She’s brand new, with unimaginable powers that she doesn’t know the strength or character of.
There’s an amazing part when she first meets humans and says hello to them:
I made myself be in the middle of them all, and then I put my hands on my hips and said, “Hello!” Also, do not do this to mortals.
OK well it is a good thing to say hello. But you should maybe say it at the same volume little human-mortals speak, not the volume that big sun-mortals use. And you should maybe use a human language, because the universe doesn’t care about those and doesn’t try to say hi back.
So, um. The city. Broke, a little. And a lot of people. They broke, too.
That was really, really, really, soooooo many reallys, bad. (Loc 15843)
And yeah maybe the death and carnage of an entire city block is bad, but it was also kind of hilarious.
This is a coming-of-age story for a godling, and it was fascinating and lovely. She grows so much over the course of these hundred pages, and it’s all evident in the first person prose from beginning to end.
Shades in Shadow:
This is a collection of three short stories. The first, “The Wild Boy,” is a prequel to the series. It centers on Nahadoth in captivity, bound in his chamber, unwilling to do anything to help the godlings stuck with him. This is the first bit of story told from Nahadoth’s point of view, and it’s very different than anything we’ve seen before. A slave boy comes to see him over the course of years, and their one-sided relationship through this passage of time changes both of them fundamentally, but without a lot of interaction between them. It’s a strange story that I couldn’t quite connect with.
“How do you stand it? Knowing that no one wants you?” The words cause Nahadoth unexpected pain. Also, he’s not sure how to answer because he can’t stand it. (Loc 87)
“The God Without a Name” is an intercalary story between the first and second books about Ahad, the man who used to be Nahadoth in the daytime, after discovering that he’d become a god but before really understanding what kind of god he was. Gods are born and must discover their natures on their own, but it’s a path fraught with danger, since they can also discover their antithesis, which can do them harm. We see how and why he built the brothel empire that he has in the second and third books, and we see a bit of the aftermath of the third book as well.
When he approaches their spokeswoman, she curses him, tells him they would rather die than be owned. “Yes,” he says admiringly, and feels the first surge of something that might be his nature. It is too unfocused for him to grasp. (Loc 449)
I liked getting to know this character better, and the conversation between him and Nahadoth toward the end.
“The Third Why” is about Glee, daughter of Itempas, and how she came to know and work with him. After Yeine freed the gods in the end of the first novel, Itempas was banished to the mortal realm, stripped of his god powers, and told that he had to stay there until, basically, he learned his lesson. That’s the subject of the second book and while it’s hard to pick favorites among these stories, I’m still fascinated by the way Jemisin got me to go all in on Itempas and his happiness after reading about what a dick he was in the first book. I wanted things to work out for him so badly and was so heartbroken when they couldn’t.
I loved this glimpse of his life with Glee, of how careful he is to make sure that she isn’t actually working with him, just at the same time as he is, in the same place. That they aren’t cooking together on the road, but one of them cooks and it’s maybe a little too much for just one person, so it gets shared. All these careful ways to get around the rules that Nahadoth and Yeine put in place (for good reason!).
But he does ask her, one evening, “Why?” It is her mother’s question, though for him it has multiple meanings: Why does she care? Why is she so determined to help him? Why is she bothering to spend the precious life she possesses, a life he has bent his own rules to create, on a task that may ultimately be futile? Now Glee has a better answer: “Because I know mortalkind can be better, and I’m willing to give my life to make it so.” She pauses. Hesitates. “I would appreciate help, however.” (Loc 678)
Glee saves him, Glee makes him better without fundamentally changing who he is. His love for Glee is a thing that makes him better, and it’s a really pretty thing to read about.
In conclusion: I loved all of these and I knew I would. You must all read them immediately.
I need to read these!