Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

6 reviews

bergha1998's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.75

This book is so full of big ideas, one of the most ambitious feats of literature I’ve read. I liked this one being a dual timeline with the daughter Nassun. Though part of it being in second person, although that person was obviously Essun or Hoa, felt a bit off to me. I’m sure plot wise perhaps in the third book it will make more sense as a choice. I just am not a fan overall of second person. 

Found Family, Duo POV, Second Person

“Like those weird cults that crop up from time to time. I heard of one that asks an old man in the sky to keep them alive every time they go to sleep. People need to believe there’s more to the world than there is.”

“The dreamer, the rebel, always reconsidering the way things have always been because maybe they should never have been that way in the first place.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, and Gaslighting

some_random_person_hi's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Second book syndrome (or maybe the other books in the trilogy were just too good).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Medical content, Physical abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Body horror, Child death, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Stalking, and Gore

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Genocide, and War

troisha's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Cannibalism, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Slavery, and Terminal illness

Minor: Abortion, Ableism, Confinement, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, and Vomit

fraxisle's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, and Murder

Minor: Grief, Medical content, and Drug use

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 The Broken Earth trilogy is by far the most unique series of its kind I’ve ever read, and I’m comfortable saying that after only having finished the second book of three.  The science that drives the dystopia is fascinating, the storytelling style is unique… it takes me a little while to settle back into the world, but once I do, I find myself immersed.

First of all, the writing style is wonderful.  It doesn’t have that flowery flow of some of the authors I enjoy – rather, it is precise and strange and beautiful, like a carefully folded origami creature.  The Obelisk Gate is written in multiple perspectives – not just character perspectives, but POV styles.  Essun, our protagonist from The Fifth Season, is told from a second person perspective.  Avid readers know this – second person perspectives are uncommon, and when they do pop up, they are rarely done well.  I had forgotten this aspect from my read of the first book, and it took a little while to get used to the second person language… but it is done well.  Really well.  It gives the novel the cadence of a story being told in some ways, which serves to lure the reader in even deeper.

We also have a new character here, one who I did not expect to see, and I don’t want to spoil for those who haven’t yet read the books.  Suffice it to say that there’s a bit of a twist at the beginning of the book.

The Obelisk Gate is more linear than The Fifth Season was.  With the world building more or less complete after the first book, The Obelisk Gate is able to spend more time building up the plot and the trajectory of the rest of the story.  Characters we knew and cared about from the first book are changed and/or gone, but their mark remains as the story slowly unfolds itself.  For me, there wasn’t as momentous a reveal in this book as there was in the last one, but nor did it suffer from the second book blues. It remained engaging, the issues in the book pressing, and had its own momentum.

For those who enjoy science fiction, I think this is a great read.  It’s has a bit of a high fantasy feel to the way the writing rolls out and the world is built, but it’s undeniably a far future, post-apocalyptic story, and I honestly believe it’s the best of it’s kind.  Well-worth reading, and I’m looking forward to the conclusion in The Stone Sky. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Death, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Cannibalism, Drug use, and Genocide

podanotherjessi's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

So, the plot of this one was a little bit messier than the first book, but I think that's because the perspectives in this one didn't interlock as tightly, so I'm okay with it. It's still absolutely fantastic! If I had to criticize, it'd be that Jemisin is a little heavy handed with her messages sometimes, but given that I agree with those messages, it didn't really bother me. If you don't agree though, it might be hard.

Spoiler free, The Broken Earth trilogy review: https://youtu.be/H83E_4F_09k

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use