Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

38 reviews

sarasreading's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.75

Knocking a little off only because I am somehow still confused about which side is which in this war triangle, who they are, what they want, and how they want to get it. I feel like it was explained several times, but also not really? 

And so much of the theory in the world building is confusing to me. Either it is as complex as I think it is, or it was just hard for me to understand because I was on a lot of medication while reading this. All in all a good portion of this book was difficult for me to follow.

Still, I absolutely could not put this down and flew through it in like 2 days, staying up well into the wee hours of the night. I'll just read more about it on wikipedia or something to try and understand the magic and political systems.

I cannot wait for the last installment!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Terminal illness, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: War and Body horror

leahb88's review

adventurous dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Child death, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Genocide, and Cannibalism

Minor: Alcohol

elizabeth_lepore's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Terminal illness, Grief, Death, and Cannibalism

Minor: War

readingelli's review

adventurous dark tense medium-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Blood, Death, Grief, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death

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

ergogretchen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness and Racism

Moderate: Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Racial slurs, Colonisation, and Body horror

Minor: Cannibalism

veeples's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Body horror, Terminal illness, and Violence

Minor: War

sarahbess's review

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

“Life cannot exist without the Earth. Yet there is a not insubstantial chance that life will win it’s war, and destroy the Earth. We’ve come close a few times.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Death, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Dementia

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

clarabelitz's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Cannibalism