Erin Faith Hicks’s The Divided Earth (The Nameless City #3)
Description
The Nameless City has been conquered and reconquered again and again, named and renamed again and again. And now armies are poised to fight over it and die in it – again.
Kaidu already knew of the many battles fought for control of the city, after coming from his nation’s homelands to the city to train as a soldier, he learned of the conflict that abounds within the city too. He’s heard the spoken and unspoken tension between people descended from different nations. He’s felt the distrust of newcomers by those who call the city home. He’s seen two cous, one unsuccessful and one not. And he’s watched his father continuously try to bring the ever warring nations together to govern the city.
Now – with the new ruler grasping for control, an army marching on the city, and an ancient weapon resurfaced – Kaidu, his friends, and his family must choose where they stand. Do they watch as war ravages the city again, do they pick a side and join the fray, or do they forge a different path and fight for all that the city could be?
Disclosure
I borrowed this book for free from our library system, it was provided for my personal use. There was no agreement with the author, publisher, or any third party that I would publish a review. The following review is unsolicited, unbiased, and all opinions are my own.
Review – Spoiler Free
The Divided Earth is the last book of Hicks’s The Nameless City trilogy. I had picked up book 1, The Nameless City (read the review here), from the library and both the kids and I loved it. Book 2, The Stone Heart (read the review here), wasn’t quite as good but was still well worth the read. So here we are now at book 3, The Divided Earth, and like book 2, it’s not quite as good as book 1 but it’s a strong trilogy finisher.
In book 1 Hicks built a story that could easily be read as a standalone but had lots of brewing potential for continuing on to a series, book 2 built on that, and here in book 3 it’s all pulled into play and wrapped up beautifully. But while the ending ties all the loose strings together in a very satisfying way, the main body of The Divided Earth is told with less finesse, in much the same way book 2 was. Some conversations feel forced, occurring only to explain or move the story along, and some information is unnecessarily repeated though it could have been an attempt to show the adamance of certain characters with their decisions and opinions.
As with books 1 and 2, I loved the illustrations. Hicks does a really good job of conveying emotions with the characters’ facial expressions, making even pages with no text carry just as much weight in the story. Many of the panels in The Divided Earth have movement and her illustration style lends itself wonderfully to it, clipping along through battle sequences while also not jumping so much that it’s hard to follow.
Despite the heavy action in this series, a lot of the story is driven by characters’ motivations, whether expressed or not, and the complexities of those motivations are not shied away from. The overarching series story addresses things like: the weight and obligation of leadership, or how different people can have widely different interpretations of the same situation. It was refreshing to read a story that has these aspects so well fleshed out while also not making them the sole identity of the story.
And this, I think, is what I really enjoyed about this series. Characters aren’t black and white with no reasoning. Villains aren’t bad guys with no emotion. Leaders aren’t all good or all bad. War has nuance on both sides. In short: it respects and acknowledges that people are complicated.
As with books 1 and 2, I read The Divided Earth with our kids. And again, since Hicks did such a good job of laying the ground work and the weaving the different threads in those previous books, that they were able to follow even the complexities well and I had very little to explain to them.
Overall, I really enjoyed The Divided Earth, and Faith Erin Hicks’s The Nameless City series as a whole. It’s a strong contender for a place on my bookshelf, as I liked the story and loved its messages of unity, understanding, and the complexities of mankind. I would recommend The Divided Earth to those who have read both The Nameless City (read the review here) and The Stone Heart (read the review here), as so much of the story was developed in those previous books. And I would recommend The Nameless City series to anyone looking for a good action graphic novel.
Quote
“We’re a nation of warriors. But what happens when you stop fighting? We had to learn to compromise, to negotiate with other nations. To listen to people we might not have valued before.”
Andren (The Divided Earth, Erin Faith Hicks)
Ratings
- Quality of Writing – 4
- Plot – 4
- World Building – 4
- Characters – 4
- Ease of Reading – 5
- Pictures/ Illustrations – 4
- Overall Enjoyment – 4
- Final Rating – 4 (Actual: 4.14) – Really Liked It
Want to learn more about the numbers I use for rating, and the qualities I’m thinking about when writing a book review? Check out my post How I Rate and Review.