Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

18 reviews

evelasco's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, Hate crime, Murder, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Racism, and Child death

Moderate: Ableism, Gaslighting, Genocide, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cannibalism

aniguy11's review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

Less good than the first one, yet still devestating and interesting

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Slavery, and Sexual content

icewindgale's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Torture

Moderate: War, Slavery, and Child death

cptnstphy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

Such a mastery of crafting the characters and plot to thicken and grow in complexity over time. The reader is trusted with increasingly complex, interesting, unbelievably imaginative worlds of magic and oregeny, and it's such a delicious reading experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child abuse, Violence, Child death, Gore, and War

Moderate: Grief, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Suicide

Minor: Alcohol, Genocide, Blood, Pregnancy, Confinement, Slavery, and Sexual content

yourbookishbff's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

The Obelisk Gate, book two in the Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin, built on everything I loved in book one and brought even more depth, complexity and heart-wrecking authenticity to each character. As I was thinking about how to describe the dominant themes in book two, I thought most of Beloved, by Toni Morrison, for how fearlessly both NKJ and Morrison explore the layered traumas of child loss and enslavement. I also kept thinking back to the second installment in Tracy Deonn's Legendborn Cycle, Bloodmarked, for how both NKJ and Deonn use fantasy to literally and explicitly call out colonization and the inter-generational trauma of enslaved peoples. NKJ has been very straightforward in her thoughts on the use of subtler forms of allegory to discuss racism in fantasy (as in, subtle doesn't work). In that vein, The Obelisk Gate leaves nothing to misinterpretation - this is a story about slavery.

At the start of The Obelisk Gate, our main character Essun has lost too many children, has sacrificed too much of herself, and has been hunted by too many of those she once loved, and her grief is all consuming. The tender moments between her and Alabaster destroyed me. And we finally get NESSUN in book two, and it's just as much of a gut punch as we expected. She gives up so much for survival - her "daughterhood," her childhood, her ideas of familial love. Through Nessun in particular, NKJ is constantly pushing us to examine our sympathies. Characters like Jija and Schaffa are head-spinning as we try to sort out good and evil in a world literally covered in gray ash.

And sweet, terrifying Hoa. I love him. I distrust him. I love him. I don't know.

Highly recommend this series and looking forward to book three!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child abuse, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Child death, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Confinement, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Cannibalism

zoiejanelle's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

this book was SO SLOW but it really expanded on the incredible world established in The Fifth Season. the magic, the science, was all extremely fascinating and i was continually perplexed and in awe of this universe. 

i had to stop reading about 1/3rd through because of a few of the trigger warnings i list below, but i am very glad i kept going. 

NK Jemisin has such a unique way with words and her characters are all so tangible and emotive. Essun and Alabaster ripped my heart out time and time again, and i empathized with Nassun on so many unexpected  levels. i cannot wait to read the (what i have heard will be) thrilling conclusion to the trilogy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Animal death, Child death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Slavery, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Cannibalism, War, and Murder

Minor: Sexual content

fourfootedbeasts's review

adventurous 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Grief, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, and Xenophobia

vasha's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

This installment wasn't quite up to the strengths of the previous volume. It still had lots of great writing but some passages weren't as good (and the device of second-person narration got odd at points). Good interweaving of themes but got baggy toward the end. Another commenter said Nassun often seemed to be "10 going on 30" and I can agree with that. I like the way the series as a whole is shaping up, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Grief, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Body horror, Child death, War, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Pregnancy, Excrement, Sexual harassment, and Alcohol

emzhay's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

The book overall meanders around which can get boring at times (though I personally enjoy that kind of writing) and the first half is rather info-dumpy which got frustrating. The stand out to me is the narrative about childhood. About growing up under abuse, realizing your parent no longer loves you, confronting the oppressive system that made them that way and choosing to break the cycle yourself. It was complex and breathtaking and heart wrenching.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Cannibalism

Insects

albernikolauras's review

adventurous challenging dark tense 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

5.0

This was just an excellent book and I didn't give it enough credit when I read it for the first time a couple years ago. N. K. Jemisin has such a way of words, it wrecks me every time I read one of her books. It picks up where Book 1 left off and there is no room to breathe. Essun is just such a captivating character. Jemisin's way of writing with both humor and stone cold bluntness matches the world she created so world. I meant to interrupt this book halfway through and I just couldn't stop.

Now if only I would pick up the last book....

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Slavery