Seems like it would be good for my 12 yo daughter, who is already well into YA fiction. Not sure how adult this is though.
Thanks for your help.
There is not much sex but the world is very bleak with a lot of death and violence, including against young children. I don’t think I would recommend it for most kids that young. Some kids could probably handle it but it really isn’t a kid friendly book. I found myself occasionally getting worn out by the intensity of the harsh struggles the characters endure.
I’ve read and enjoyed all three books in the series, but your daughter would have to be quite advanced in a couple of dimensions to read them. There is the sex, and the violence, and what could be confusing point of view changes for a tween.
Might be best to wait a couple of years. When I was that age I read some more adult books (this was before there was a lot of sex in books I could get at) and I think I lost a lot just from lack of experience and maturity.
However you should read them and decide for yourself.
Depending on the YA, there isn’t necessarily more sex in Broken Earth. And books like The Hunger Games have kids slaughtering each other, so I wouldn’t really say it’s more violent. But it has more mature themes and writing style, so I’m not sure if she’d get as much from it as she will in a couple of years. Of course, she could always read it a second time - I read many books a little too early and got more from them later, but the first reading didn’t ruin anything for me.
In the end, you know your daughter better than us. I’m reminded of Neil Gaiman’s reply when asked if Coraline was too scary for someone’s kid.
Read the first half dozen chapters and see if you think it’s up her alley.
Probably not, but its a great series for adults too so give it a read and decide for yourself, you won’t regret it!
Thanks all. She’s pretty mature but I know there are things in the books she reads that go over her head. I’ll check it out myself.
I love this series to death, but wouldn’t recommend it for anyone younger than 15, and maybe not even then. The love of a parent for a child is a major theme in the book, and Jemisin wields it like a surgeon wields a scalpel, but there’s no anesthetic in sight. I’m not sure a child would appreciate that aspect of the book.
However, I think I can recommend Jemisin’s earlier Inheritance series, starting with The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, without reservation. It’s great fun, really well written, and while there are some hard parts, it’s nowhere near the devastating emotional gut-punch of Broken Earth.
As for Afrocentric modern fantasy, do you know about Akata Witch? It’s a YA series by Nnedi Okorafor. She’s not, IMO, even in the same league as Jemisin, but she’s still a helluva lot of fun, and my 8yo read this series and loved it, as did I.
One thing that isn’t obvious.
This is a sad, bleak, book* about people having their lives destroyed. It is a book where nobody ever has fun, including the kids. The X-men, I mean the protagonists are oppressed by everyone, even their parents and teachers. Revenge is taken. Over and over.
It’s also too damn long, but most books are these days.
*It is not a trilogy. It’s one long book broken into three parts, like Lord of the Rings.
There are some very dark bits indeed, way beyond what most 12 year olds could deal with in my opinion.
I’m thinking about the murder of Uche by his father at the start of book 2 in particular.
As others have hinted at, the hatred of a parent for a child is also a major theme, and could be a hard one for a kid.
Wait, some think this isn’t that violent a book? I might be mixing up a couple of different novels, but isn’t it here where the heroine comes across a dead orogene(?) child, and she discovers…
… that the child had spent most of his/her life bound to a table/bench of some kind and kept in a coma-like state to utilize the child’s resources, and hey, since local men realized the kids’ orifices were going to waste, why not drop by and rape him/her?
There is a LOT of torture and abuse in the book, though this was probably the nadir. I highly doubt rest of the series got more lighthearted in tone. (Didn’t continue after The Fifth Season. Extremely well written and I know I’m missing the best thing in fantasy ever, but it’s just not for me.)
No.
I’m a middle-school teacher and would not recommend it to any kids of that age. It’s hardly X-rated, but it can be a hard-R in many parts. It also, as others have said, really is written with adults in mind.
Maybe not for a 12-year-old? While there isn’t direct showing of the sex between Nahaloth and Scimina (not to mention Sieh and Scimina) it is mentioned by other characters, and might be a difficult part for a 12-year-old to read about and understand. Maybe for a 14 or 15 year old instead?
Maybe the Dreamblood Duology? Neither the bleak violence of The Broken Earth nor the troubling imprisonment and sexual exploitation of characters in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - although all three series are excellent reads for a more mid-teen and up…
Thanks for the further comments. I try to read at least a sampling of what she’s into. YA books have more sex now than I recall from my youth, but it’s not a dealbreaker–she knows what it is but from our discussions, I think it mostly goes past her as it’s not what interests her (yet).
The YA books she reads can be pretty dark; she bought one (not fantasy) called “Monday’s Not Coming” which shocked me when I asked what it was about. But it doesn’t seem to have spooked her.
All that said I’ll check out at least one book from this series myself before passing it on to my daughter. I happened to come a mention and it seemed like something she’d like, but possibly too mature; I couldn’t find any good references elsewhere, so I appreciate all the input here.
And Left Hand, thanks for the other recommendations.
It’s been awhile since I read these, and when I mentioned the recommendation to my wife, she told me there were passages about severe child sexual abuse, which I’d somehow forgotten. So I’m taking back that recommendation.
I wouldn’t give it to *my *14 y.o. And she’s into some dark shit.
I read it at her age but to be fair I was a weird teen who liked a lot of dark stuff