Reviews

DNF

I'm either not smart enough to get this "masterpiece," or I'm just not the target audience. I barely knew what was happening at any given time. Nothing really made sense. This was extremely boring for an end of the world premise. Also, it's just way too long and I couldn't stand the writing style.

mrsmovingcastle's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

it somehow got better upon rereading, after knowing the final twist. The kind of well written twist that casts new light on everything you're read so far. Jemisin is my favourite writer for a reason.

esspeebee's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

tinae12's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

cmarciano56's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Amazing. Might be might favorite fantasy book of all time. Great narrator. Great story.

lini002's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

At the end of the world, a woman must hide her secret power and find her kidnapped daughter. We follow 3 POV's in this, Damaya a child that is taken to the Fulcrum to train her rogga powers so she won't be a threat to those around her and will be able to calm the Earth, Syenite a four ring rogga sent on a mission with a ten ringer to do a check on a colony and also to conceive a child and then a third POV written in second person where the reader is Essun, a mother looking for her kidnapped daughter.

This book is clever and well-structured. Jemisin writes an entirely new and enchanting fantasy world that is so different from anything I have ever read before. The POV work in this is eye opening as a writer myself and intriguing as a reader. There is a lot of preliminary stuff going on in this one, we really are getting to learn the world in this one and understanding these characters and their experiences. The plot isn't a lot but the character work and worldbuilding makes up for that massively. I kind of now want to take Jemisin's class on writing because I'd love to learn how she crafts like this. Definitely picking up the next one, I will be giving this one 4/5 though because it does feel like a set up book.

dramleatherworks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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