Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

12 reviews

biobeetle's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Violence, War, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Abandonment, and Terminal illness

Minor: Chronic illness and Stalking

gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

“But if you stay, no part of this comm gets to decide that any part of this comm is expendable. No voting on who gets to be people.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and Violence

Moderate: Child death and Abandonment

brynalexa's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? No

4.5

I don’t have much to say about this as it has run together with the first which I think is a strength of the series. The completely intertwined storylines are smart and intricate and hold the story together perfectly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Racism, Genocide, Death of parent, Child death, Murder, Hate crime, Deadnaming, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Medical content

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

vitaminkait's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: War and 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

mgewald's review

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Violence, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, 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

anwade88's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

Just wow. This book sucked me in and I couldn’t put it down. Jemisin is a master at diverse characters, complex world building, and somehow still layering it into a fascinating plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Racism, Child death, Terminal illness, and Racial slurs

Moderate: War, Child abuse, Grief, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Body shaming and Cannibalism

ok7a's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Child death, Xenophobia, War, and Trafficking

Minor: Abandonment, Cannibalism, and Death of parent