Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

90 reviews

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Grief, and Cannibalism

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

cryosphinx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-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

4.0

Kind of slumpy compared to the first book. The first one follows three characters and this one cuts that down to two (it does have a third, briefly) and it slows down the plot but makes up with it with character growth and world building. A lot of things get answered about the world and how the magic works and all the Guardians, Stone Eaters and orogenes exist. Since the plot doesn't move quite as much as Book 1, there is a lot more dialogue and I found it quite slow in the first half so be prepared for that.

Hoa definitely becomes the most interesting character aside from the main two. I do love the found family, depictions of grief and trauma and Jemisin's prose is still so beautifully written, there were times where I just read a passage over and over to fully observe how lovely it was written. You also get more informed of Essun's time in with her family, though it's told from the perspective of Nassun.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Bullying, Sexual content, and Cannibalism

mahitdzmare's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Cannibalism

thestrugglingmillennial92's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.0

I gave this book four stars because sometimes I am still confused about the workings of everything such as the key and how it is all connected. But I am sure it will be explained in the last book. I enjoyed this book a lot. It doesn’t have as much “action” but I really enjoyed the book, and how it explained a lot more. I can’t wait to read the next one 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Grief

readingelli's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

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

abitbetterbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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

4.75

Excellent second instalment to this series! Didn’t have me quite as captured as The Fifth Season (I think having the 3 intersecting storylines made it feel faster, in comparison to 2 main stories in TOG) but I loved all of the developments and complexities of these characters. Absolutely masterful work. 

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Grief, Murder, and War

Minor: Cannibalism

jessthanthree's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Racial slurs, and Alcohol

mandkips's review against another edition

adventurous 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Cannibalism

kathyreadsalot's review against another edition

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Cannibalism

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

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!

---

Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Cannibalism