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A review by yourbookishbff
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
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!
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: 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