Reviews

Fantastic book. Really unique, fascinating power system, solid world building, and great characters. The structure of perspectives in the book is unlike anything I’ve read before. The last 50 pages are a wild ride that leaves off on a subtle, but substantial cliffhanger. Can’t wait to see what happens in Book 2!

n_degeorgia's review against another edition

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5.0

beautiful world building, but I mostly loved the seamless integration of race and gender in a way that is clearly written by an intersectional author

rebeccazh's review against another edition

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4.0

That was good! Heavy spoilers near the end of my review.

The bad: this book had some pacing issues. The premise of the book is really strong - Essun just lost her son and is looking for her daughter - but the middle part was really slow, and then it suddenly gets really intense in the last part. The book is sort of light on plot, heavy on worldbuilding. I was also not a huge fan of the writing. It's evocative and descriptive, but sometimes it's too vague and I was confused about the sensory details of a scene. I couldn't picture what was happening.

The good: It's a fascinating world that Jemisin has created. This is a whole society built around the earth and it's reflected in the language. I was thankful there was a glossary, unlike Gideon the Ninth, where I had to fumble my way through and was still confused by the end of the book. Jemisin built a whole history, with lore (!), and different segments of society, in this book. Through the course of the book, we discover the dark secrets of this world - the society is built heavily on the exploitation of an underclass, the orogenes.

Two things that really stood out to me. I've read Jemisin's other series and really loved them, but this was the first series of hers that I felt like there was quite a bit of social commentary. The parallel between the exploitation and oppression of the orogenes, and real world events, felt very real. The lived experience of being born an orogene, hated and feared, less than human, was so sharply written.

The second thing I really liked was the characters, Damaya, Syenite and Essun. They are the same woman, at different points in her life. This is the biggest plot twist. I was totally blown away. The three of them are so different, but there is a thread of similarity. In hindsight, certain things make a lot of sense, and I loved that I could see this continuity - Damaya's adherence to the rules, excelling in the system; Syenite fully internalising the teachings of the Fulcrum, appearing to believe everything that was forced onto her; Essun hiding her identity and living a life built on lies, albeit a happy one, for the past few years. At the heart of it, as Essun reflects, she doesn't really know who she is. She camouflages to fit in, and did so in all three 'stages' of her life. It makes a lot of sense to me. Oftentimes with othering and exploitation, people internalise the harsh external gaze of society and lose their sense of self and don't really know who they are, what they're capable of, and how to accept and like themselves. I particularly loved how both Damaya and Syenite struggled with this - Damaya reminding herself that she is a weapon and she's fine being alone, and Syenite's subtle dislike and prejudice of other orogenes (who are exactly like her). It was so well written. I loved the chapter titles too.

The second person narration worked surprisingly well for Essun. There is really a sense of disorientation, like she's cut adrift.

The audio book was very good. It was thanks to this that I got through the rather slow middle part.

ketutar's review against another edition

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5.0

I hate them so much right now. I hate them so much I'm ready to go and seek out their correspondence in this world and finish them off.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. it's so good I don't want to put it down, but so "mäktig" I have to. Mäktig is a Swedish word used to describe food that is very rich, and filling, but it also means powerful. This is what this book is.

To me it's new and original. I have never read anything like this.

I can't say, of course, I'm a white Finnish woman, but I think it's heavily based on Black American culture, tradition, history and stories. Not African, American.

She isn't preaching, she is telling a story, and this story makes me want to run to the barricades and rip apart the whole, rotten society... this reminds me of my favorite poem;

Elmer Diktonius: The Jaguar

I

From green leaves protrude
red muzzle,
eyes with triangular gaze
speckled;
whiskers undulation claw paw –
you fly! my heart’s jaguar!
so fly and bite and rip and ravage!

Biting is necessity as long as bites give life.
Killing is holy as long as corruption stinks
and life’s ugliness must be savaged
until beauty and wholeness can grow from its remains.
Thus are we, the two of us, my poem and I, one claw.
One will we are, one paw, one fang.
Together we are a machine that strikes.

We want to kill the cry of the indifferent
the compassion of the heartless
the religiosity of the sceptics
the impotence of the strong
the evil weakness of the good;
we want to give birth by killing
we want to make room
we want to see
sunspots dancing.

II

Do you think
strong paws feel no pain?
Do you think the jaguar has no heart?
O he has
father mother mate, young.
The wilderness is great
cold is the wind of autumn
in the jaguar’s belly dwell
loneliness despair.
The jaguar can kiss a flower.
He has tears;
sentimentality.

III

Night.
Waterfalls murmur long.
The jaguar is asleep.
An ant is licking one of his claws.
Who is whispering:
the morning is coming
sunspots are dancing?

IV

Sunspots are dancing! —
All is numbly whirling.
In a single bound
the jaguar hurls himself over
the crests of the spruce trees —
hear the laughter of stars in his roaring! —
a lightning-volt in the air:
like an arrow deep in the earth’s breast.