Book #02 - The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth #3) by N. K. Jemisin
The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth #3) by N. K. Jemisin
The Earth is really angry now.
I remember now why I don't usually read trilogies in a row. There weren't many ways the plot could go, and so it consisted mainly of tying up strands. Not in a bad way, it was well done, it just wasn't as mind-blowing as the previous parts.
* The narrative in different persons was completely clear by now, and lost its charm somewhat. Or maybe it was just that I realized that Hoa is now the main person to identify with, and I just... don't.
* Even though we got to see a bit of Hoa's past/youth, and I liked the way they conversed using Earth Talk (which is just fascinating!), I never really warmed up to him.
* I was surprised that Schaffa was actually a good guy by the end, I hadn't expected that. His cruel death in stages was harrowing, in no small part because of that. And his allegiance was one of the things that stayed interesting to the very end.
* I kept forgetting that Nassun is only ten years old. She was characterized well as a child, though. No fault of the writer that her age kept slipping my mind.
* There was an explicit mention that Nassun did not know what "magic" was, even though she'd used the word before. (It *could* be explained away by the fact that it's Hoa narrating everything, but hmm. I still think it's an editing error.)
* The Earth was really really scary ("Hello, little enemy") - and I liked the vehimal and the trip through the Earth's core. Awesome!
* In fact, all of the deadciv technology was pretty awesome. I did like the implication that they frivolously wasted the Earth's energy, too.
* I would have thought that the humans would realize the significance (and terrible inhumanity) of the briar patch. They might not have thought it important, slaver culture being too deeply ingrained into their society, but I would have expected them to at least consider the effect seeing it must have on other tuners.
* The ending really was kind of predictable in that it just wouldn't have made for a very satisfying book if Nassun had destroyed the Earth and every living humanoid on it. The only thing unclear was then who would survive and who wouldn't.
* It was a bit weird (but also fascinating) that neither Essun nor Nassun actually made the final decision. Essun loaded the 'program' into the obelisks, and Nassun decided to let it run. Such a spur-of-the-moment decision to decide the fate of a whole world. And suddenly trusting her mother about it. The suspense was high enough that I didn't question it. But... it was just a little bit weird.
* The slowly-turning-to-stone thing was even worse for me with Essun (and Nassun! *sniff*) than it was with Alabaster. Having your characters half-die is a novel way to keep your readers on the edge of their seats. :)
* There's still a long way to go, and a long time for the season to end, even after Nassun fixed the Breaking. I like that it's not all hunky-dory immediately.
* I also hadn't realized that killing all the Guardians was a prerequisite for starting over, but the book (Hoa) helpfully mentioned that at the end. Not that Essun did that on purpose. :) So many things happened by accident! (I liked that.)
4 stars - Winding down, but still an amazing trilogy, all told.
1 - 5 stars - The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth #2) by N. K. Jemisin [DW link & LJ link]
2 - 4 stars - The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth #3) by N. K. Jemisin [DW link & LJ link]
x-posted from dw (comments:
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