Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

80 reviews

rorikae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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? Yes

5.0

N.K. Jemisin crafts the middle book in a trilogy that retains its excitement, character work, and worldbuilding. Without spoiling book one, this story follows along from where the first book leaves off and delves further into Essun's life. In addition, we also get so see what Nassun's life has been like, which is a fascinating contrast to her mother. We get to learn more about why the world is the way it is as well as some really important understandings about orogeny. The more time I spend in this world, the clearer it is how much time and effort Jimisin has put in to craft an exceptional world with flawed, deeply human characters. Her writing is precise and evocative as she slowly pulls back the edges of our understanding of the world and her characters. I cannot wait to start book three though I am not looking forward to finishing this exceptional series. I wish there were even more books in this world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse

amschelly153's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

Beautiful. Devastating. Incredible. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Violence, Racial slurs, Death, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Child death

wormgirl's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Child abuse, and Animal death

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.75

Also so wonderful. The more we learn about the world, the more devastating it is. Maybe my experience with world-ending fiction is with YA, but Jemisin's ability to balance the universe/wider experience with the POV/main characters is indescribably good. Once again relieved that I already reserved the next book from the library. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Ableism, Death, Terminal illness, and Child abuse

Minor: Cannibalism, War, Addiction, Medical content, Child death, Xenophobia, and Violence

jess_always_reading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

Absolutely loved this story, I could hardly wait to get it from my local library after I finished book one and now I'm diving right into the third book (Stone Sky). Jemisin is such a gifted storyteller and her world-building is next level. There were also some wonderful twists and turns that I definitely didn't see coming. 

Highly recommend 10/10!

TW for some serious trauma (throughout the whole series it feels like) though not gratuitous. Mind the content warnings if it's important to you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Body horror, Child death, Blood, Ableism, Grief, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Cannibalism

aidareads's review against another edition

dark inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-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

liked it more than the first one so that's nice. really, really enjoyed how layered and fleshed out the characters are (and not only the main cast, mind you) and the narrative style is still quite interesting and egaging. i'm very intrigued to find out what happens in the third and last book of the trilogy, because i as a reader feel like these two books (especially the first one) are mostly about setting the scene and building up momentum for the grand finale!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Cannibalism

chaoticnostalgia's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Racism, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Gore, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Grief

alfarmer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

If anything I love the characters more—flaws and all. A little bit of middle book syndrome. A lot of stuff happens just you set you up for the last book. 

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Content Warnings

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

barda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

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

Minor: Sexual content

crybabybea's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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

Mind blowing. 

All the amazing things from the first book are present here. Doesn't suffer from middle book syndrome like so many trilogies do. I appreciate the time spent in the first book world-building as it made this book read like a breeze, and the author even introduced a new magic system which was much easier to grasp thanks to what we learned in book one. Just a really great example of how to continue a series. I can't wait to see how it ends!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Cannibalism, Blood, War, Murder, Death of parent, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Medical content, and Physical abuse