The Arameri rule the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms as the world in which this tale takes place is known. But the patriarch is dying and an heir must be chosen. He has two options in his brother's two children but calls forth a third from the north, Yeine, the daughter of his daughter who ran away from the Palace of Sky to marry. Yeine makes the long journey to the city and palace of Sky soon after her mother's death with many questions about why her grandfather commands her appearance, who killed her mother and why.

Yeine knows that everything in the palace is white and it is the Skyfather—who stands for light— whom the Arameri worship and that she has no one she can trust as she tries to find the answers to her questions. Some of the reasons the Arameri rule with such a heavy hand are their four "weapons" in the form of imprisoned gods. Nahadoth, the Lord of Night and Sieh, who has lived long but is the trickster and lives life as a child are my favorite of these intriguing characters and have as much depth if not more than Yeine herself.

Yeine has to navigate palace treachery as she untangles the secrets of her mother's life and death and delves into the history of the time before the War of the Gods. She befriends both Sieh and Nahadoth, but they, too have their own motives that may not coincide with her own.

Jemisin builds a credible and complicated world with flowing prose, vivid descriptions and realistic dialogue. She covers issues of race, sexuality and power as her plot turns and twists back upon itself. Raised as a warrior in a matriarchal race of smaller, darker people, Yeine doesn't give up easily. In fact, she fights almost more for her people than for herself. Unused to malice at every turn, it takes her some time to accustom herself to reading beyond what people say. My one criticism, and it's a minor one, is that the journey proved more enthralling than the conclusion although the snippet of the second novel shows great promise for the second installment. Overall, Jemisin has written a fantasy that will give readers much to think about as well as taking them for a thrilling ride.