{"id":36083,"date":"2019-04-05T23:29:34","date_gmt":"2019-04-06T03:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36083"},"modified":"2019-04-05T23:29:34","modified_gmt":"2019-04-06T03:29:34","slug":"review-of-the-obelisk-gate-by-n-k-jemisin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36083","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Obelisk Gate, by N. K. Jemisin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Obelisk Gate<\/em><\/p>\n

by N. K. Jemisin<\/p>\n

Orbit Books, 2016. 410 pages.
\n2017 Hugo Award Winner
\nReview written April 2, 2019, from a library book<\/p>\n

I wish I could say that I enjoyed this book more than I did. It is the middle book of the first-ever trilogy to have all three books win the Hugo Award. The world-building is intricate, complex, and mind-blowing.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll say the good things first. I indeed understood better what was going on in the second book, and appreciated the richness of the background that her way of writing the first book<\/a> gave us. In this book, Essun has lost track of her daughter Nassun, but the reader gets to follow both. Both find a place of refuge against the Season which is building up \u2013 ash covering the sky and the whole world hunkering down and trying to survive.<\/p>\n

Orogeny \u2013 the ability to sense and manipulate the movement of the earth and stone \u2013 is commonplace in that world, although feared by the \u201cstills.\u201d Both Essun and Nassun are powerful orogenes still growing in their power. In this book, they each also discover an ability to sense magic \u2013 silver threads in the world and people and creatures around them.<\/p>\n

Most of the book is about their survival concerns in two different locations. Essun is in an underground comm that accepts orogenes \u2013 or do they? Nassun is far to the south, still learning from Schaffa \u2013 and we\u2019re not sure if that\u2019s a good thing or very, very dangerous.<\/p>\n

But we do sense that something much, much bigger is at stake. We learn that the moon left the earth\u2019s regular orbit long ago \u2013 and that\u2019s what started the cycle of fifth seasons. But it\u2019s due to come back around before long. Alabaster is dying \u2013 but he\u2019s trying to teach Essun what she will need to be able to do to deal with that. And then there are those obelisks in the sky, obelisks with strange and awesome power. And stone eaters \u2013 those statue-like creatures that move either very slowly or more quickly than sight \u2013 turn out to be both benevolent and malevolent, with agendas of their own.<\/p>\n

This book is also very violent. You should not pick this up if you\u2019re looking for pleasant, light-hearted reading. The earth has been broken, and everyone on it is somewhat futilely fighting for survival. Unfortunately, this is the book I was reading when I tried to read on the metro going into DC and was struck with motion sickness. Alas! In that section, a couple of arms got cut off and many people died in gruesome ways. That was decidedly not good for decreasing my nausea. So I\u2019m afraid that influenced my enjoyment of the book.<\/p>\n

I am indeed fascinated by the world-building, and I do want to know what happens next, so I will be finishing the trilogy before long. But I\u2019m going to read something light and fluffy first!<\/p>\n

nkjemisin.com<\/a>
\norbitbooks.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Fiction\/obelisk_gate.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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