The Kingdom of Gods (Inheritance Trilogy #3)[June 15, 2023]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin starting on June 15, 2023.


Happy Reading!

[Choko]

I will be here tomorrow... Running behind...

[Nirkatze]

Hah, we all are!! I was hoping to get to this tomorrow as well... though I might do Red Pyramid first...

[Choko]

So, I started... Two chapters in... We get Sieh's point of view this time around... I liked that he went over the history of the g-ds (view spoiler)[ wow, it all started with Chaos/Maelstrom, then the first of the G-ds was the Lord of Darkness Nahadoth, then the Light and then Balance, who is now Yeine.... And now Light and Balance are hooking up! I didn't expect that...

I liked Seih's first meeting with Shahar and Deka. They were adorable, but I am feeling very uncomfortable with how unstable he is acting though... That second meeting was straight up dangerous for the kids, and I felt really bad for them. The boy, Deka in particular, seems so gentle at heart, and I will hate for the trickster to make them "bad", as Shahar said... And just now, at the end of Ch. 2, he supposedly was doing a blood oath with them in their third meeting, an oath of friendship, and something went wrong... I hope he didn't kill one or both of them... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Yeah... this is my least favorite of the three books--the whole book had me feeling very uncomfortable for almost all of it... lots feels off-kilter...

[Choko]

I just finished Ch. 4 and you are totally right, Nirkatze... There is something very off-kilter ... (view spoiler)[ Seih has become mortal and has been in stasis for eight years... He is dying by starting to grow up... And Deka has been sent to learn to be a magician, while their mother is trying to make Shahar into a real bitch... I am interested to see if she will become everything Seih told her she would and she really didn't want to become... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

I went ahead and started this one first. ^^ I'm through Chapter 4. I think I enjoy it more on reread, since I know what it is all about this time... (view spoiler)[Sieh pretty much puts the finger on it, saying how Childhood doesn't last... if marriage and children (and sex) get mixed up with it... Sieh looking at Itempas & Yiene and having feelings that hurt him--hurt him in the power.... Sieh has been a child for forever... but he can't be a child and also grow up. Like Peter-Pan, but darker. (hide spoiler)]

I like Sieh's bouncy-ball planet. ^^

[Choko]

I absolutely love that hot ball of gas:))))

Glad you decided to join me, Nirkatze:)))

Yes, darker Peter-Pan is a good comparison... It's always sad reading about, or seeing, the growing pains of a child moving into adulthood and the slow deterioration of innocence... Even when we know that being a "grownup" is a good thing... But for a G-d, whose whole essence is "childhood", this must be devastating...

I just finished Part 1, Ch. 8 ... (view spoiler)[ Wow! Sieh can surely throw a tantrum! He was just lamenting how few Amaretti are left, that they have stooped down to adopting into the family, and here he gets mad at the head of the family and kills about 30 of them in one swoop... I am not even sure if she was trying to kill more of his godhood by making her daughter have sex with him, or was just trying to get her pregnant with a Demon, so she could have a weapon against the g-ds... I feel terrible for Shahar, because she really does seem to love him, but is torn between having to do what her mother tells her, and being the heir apparent to the throne, seeing everything around her falling apart... What a bad time to be the potential head of the family...

I am interested in knowing who was the godling who had that much strength to compel Sieh, and has the aspect of revenge. Honestly, I wasn't sure it was a godling. What if it was a Demon or some very strong human mage? For a moment I even thought it could be Deka...

So, Itempas, Lord Light, has a human male child who is 8 years old... I wonder how this is going to play. I don't like how much jealousy Sieh constantly holds, and all the resentment... I guess what I have an issue with is that the author puts so much emphasis on those negative feelings children have, including the dangerous aspects of game playing and the unpredictability of playfulness, while she kind of overlooks the love and brightness of spirit, the sweetness of innocence, and gives Sieh so much of the former and so little of the latter... He is acting much more the brat, when most children are a balance... I don't know. What do you think? (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Up to Ch. 11 ... (view spoiler)[ Ahad, is that how the book spells it? In Hebrew, Echad means Oneness, usually as "Adonai Echad" - "G-d is One"... I wonder if it's a play on that...

So, Ahad is the human body that Nahadoth used to be in while enslaved by the Arimerri? l don't trust him at all! And this mortal woman, who is his business partner, I don't trust her even more... She obviously knows who and why they are using those masks and it sounds like she wants to ally with them... I also don't like how casually Sieh thinks of murder and destroying the Arimerri (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Finished Part 2, Ch. 12... (view spoiler)[ So, Ahad's mortal partner is Glee, and she is Itempas' daughter and a Demon... And they want to "fix all the wrongs Itempas roth"... And they consider the Arimerri part of those wrongs... I don't know how I feel about it...

That mysterious godling who is on the path of destroying everyone, is working with the Dar people... The ones Yeine came from... And they are the ones with the masks and on a war path... Things are looking bleak... (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Up to Ch. 16... (view spoiler)[ Well, well, well... Deka and Shahar are Ahad's children, which makes the Demons too... But their blood didn't kill Sieh... Interesting...

Those masks are a very potent weapon. I don't like them at all! I know the Arimerri have been horrible, but I like these two kids and as bad as it sounds, I am rooting for them here... This doesn't look good for them...

And now the Arimerri are going to worship Yiene. I wonder if that will change anything... (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Not children, grand-grand children, maybe...

[Nirkatze]

Choko wrote: "I absolutely love that hot ball of gas:))))

Glad you decided to join me, Nirkatze:)))

Yes, darker Peter-Pan is a good comparison... It's always sad reading about, or seeing, the growing pains of..."

(view spoiler)[and this is where the weirdness hits another level. I don't like books with children or teenagers and sex. One of the reason so many YA books bother me.

As for Itempas--that son that was mentioned isn't in present tense--it's the child that started the war from long ago... he one the first Arameri killed to take the blood and kill other godlings... and Ynefa. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Choko wrote: "Finished Part 2, Ch. 12..."

I really like Glee--(view spoiler)[probably because her mother is Oree from book 2--remember how she was pregnant at the end of the book? And I like that she and Ahad seem to be a thing... remember how bitter Ahad was in book 2? She's really mellowed him. I wonder what his nature is, when he finds it...

Yeah, it's spelled Ahad--just take off the end letters in Nahado. ^^ (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Choko wrote: "Up to Ch. 16.."

Yeah, I feel like it's a bit ambiguous (view spoiler)[how many generations it's been since everything... since Ahad, since Yiene, since any of it... (hide spoiler)]

I'm into Chapter 20 now... I find it interesting how (view spoiler)[Deka, Shahar, and Sieh make a triad like Itempas, Nahado, and Yiene... and they have similar powers of creation when together too.

Oh, and this was a while ago, but I really liked the little girl who Sieh ran into in the trash heap, who took him to Ahad. (hide spoiler)]

Since this is a reread for me, there are things I remember, but I don't want to spoil-comment on. ^^ So mostly I'm commenting on the things I've forgotten.

[Choko]

I actually finished:) So, despite the discomfort with Sieh and his sexualness in this, as well as his easy attitude with killing folks just because he could, I thought the ending was pretty good! (view spoiler)[ Definitely the triad was a running theme throughout the series and as you said, Deka, Sieh and Shahar were a good one. I liked the battle sequence at the end and how Sieh chose to deal with it. And that epilogue brought some competing emotions. Disappointment with Shahar's three kids for continuing the typical Aramery traditions of everything we don't like about them, and really nice when the minni sun gathered Shahar's soul and together with Sieh's and Deka's went to create another existence...

I loved the crippled girl who gathered trash and made the bracelet of little planets for Sieh. She was on page for such short time, but she totally stole the show!

I figured out who the kid in the memories was as we went:) Since it was the first such memory snippet, I was thinking it was something he was currently observing, but when it appeared again, I got it:))))

Ahad and Glee are perfect for each other! I am sorry they didn't have kids though... (hide spoiler)]

NKJ teases follow up series, but I guess she never got back to it. I wouldn't mind reading more in this world at all!

[Nirkatze]

I finished too! I really think I enjoyed this a lot more on a reread, like I said... the whole (view spoiler)[Childhood & sex thing is still ugh, especially when it involves Sieh & his parents... definitely not a fan of Ynefa--Yiene is much better! But I'm more prepared for it this time.

About Deka & Shahar being Arameri--I wonder how much is them actually being that way, and how much is Sieh jumping to conclusions? Like, I don't think Shahar was seducing Sieh to get him to kill her mother, like he kind of assumed... and while they were both somewhat manipulative, most of their machinations were to try and protect each other. I am glad the three of them will have a chance to try out a whole new universe together! (hide spoiler)]

There is actually a few more stories in the universe--The Awakened Kingdom is a novella that takes place after this... and I think there might be a couple more? Found it! Shades in Shadow is a "triptych" of short stories that take place before, during, after the series. We could do a separate BR for those. ^^

[Choko]

I think we should do it!

I was saying that Shahar's kids are the typical Arameri , not Shahar and Deka... I loved those two. They were wonderful characters! :)))

[Nirkatze]

Ah, gotcha!

Shall I put in a request for next month, or later?

[Choko]

Let's do August:)

[Nirkatze]

Okiedokie.

[Nirkatze]

Finally got around to putting this request in! Set for 8/15.

[Choko]

Thank you so much!

[Tonari no Emily]

I'll be very late for this one lol I kind of forgot about it. But I'll throw it in there during my frantic catching up :D

[Nirkatze]

We'll still be here! ^^

[Tonari no Emily]

Started :) When we started the reread I had vague memories of what happened in them, I thought I remembered something about twins and assumed it was the twins in the first book, but it was definitely these two I was thinking about... Just finished chapter 2 where it looks like (view spoiler)[Sieh did something to the kids while he wasn't himself.. That's... scary.

It must be a very difficult to purposefully choose to be a kid day after day/ keeping that innocence especially when he has had his innocence forced away from him in captivity. Is it even possible to be perpetually a child? (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

Through ch 4 (view spoiler)[ From the last book, demon blood can harm gods... Are the kids demons? Did that cause this? It's also hella fishy Itempas is missing too... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

re: Chapter 2--good question... I don't really feel like I'm an adult yet, though I've long left childhood behind... (view spoiler)[and I feel like there are definitions and definitions of childhood, and not all of them are the childhood that Sieh represents... (hide spoiler)]

re: Chapter 4--(view spoiler)[this takes place after Itempas was captured, yes, a hundred years or more after the first book, and a long while after the second too, and Sky's fall... isn't Itempas wandering the world in his human body at this time?

Something caused it, for sure... (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

Re Chap 4 (view spoiler)[ Yes a hundred years or so after the second book because Glee Shoth is about 100 years old and she was just conceived at the end..
I just remember there was a line from early in this book that Itempas hadn't been seen for a while. I'm almost finished now and seems like that Sieh's problem and Itempas going missing wasn't really related... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

re: Itempas--(view spoiler)[I don't remember exactly why he goes off the radar at that point...

I really like how Sieh's problem gets revealed slowly... (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

Agreed! Almost done now, and I had completely forgot about (view spoiler)[ Sieh's son... I kind of love when I don't remember much about a book, the rereads are almost like reading it for the first time, but with a bit more insight (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

That is soooo the awesome sweet spot of rereads... why I jumped in on Expanse and Codex Alera this year...

[Tonari no Emily]

It really is! It would be a good time for a Codex Alera reread for me, but I don't think I could have managed it right now..

Finished this one (view spoiler)[ By the time we got almost to the end I did end up remembering the three of them became gods of a different universe, I just thought it happened right away and not after Shahar lived a full life..
I am honestly a big fan of creation myth style fantasy.. It's almost always some being of chaos spawning 3 gods who have a bunch of babies.. But that mimics alot of the creation myths we have in a variety of cultures (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Really interesting observation about creation myth-style fantasy... I hadn't actually thought of it that way but it is a great descriptor!