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A review by grahamclements
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
5.0
A wonderful continuation of The Fifth Season. Set on a very geologically unstable world where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions can cause long dust-cloud winters. The main character Essun is an Orogene who can sense when these seismic events are about to happen and use her orogeny, a kind of telepathic magic, to prevent them, or cause them.
Essun is searching for her daughter, another orogene, who was taken by her father after he killed his son, due to him also being a feared Orogene. As her search starts out there is a massive seismic event after which the sky is full of ash and dust. Essun is enticed into a comm (a village) that is hidden underground. A comm which she will help to protect from other comms seeking to steal its food stores.
Unlike the first book in the series, which was told by three separate versions of Essun in different eras as if they were separate characters, this novel is told from the point of view of just one version of Essun and also her daughter.
As I said about the first novel, the world building is fabulous. This world does not have anything like the medieval feel of most epic fantasy (think LOTR). There are no dwarfs or elves or trolls. The writing is fantastic. When Essun's POV is used, like in the original novel, it is often told in second person, which I think the author uses to suggest Essun is constantly watching herself to try not to appear a threat to the Stills (non-orogene humans) around her.
If you are after superior, original fantasy and not the same old, same old, get this series. The novels will have you staying up late to finish them. I must order the third book in the trilogy.
Essun is searching for her daughter, another orogene, who was taken by her father after he killed his son, due to him also being a feared Orogene. As her search starts out there is a massive seismic event after which the sky is full of ash and dust. Essun is enticed into a comm (a village) that is hidden underground. A comm which she will help to protect from other comms seeking to steal its food stores.
Unlike the first book in the series, which was told by three separate versions of Essun in different eras as if they were separate characters, this novel is told from the point of view of just one version of Essun and also her daughter.
As I said about the first novel, the world building is fabulous. This world does not have anything like the medieval feel of most epic fantasy (think LOTR). There are no dwarfs or elves or trolls. The writing is fantastic. When Essun's POV is used, like in the original novel, it is often told in second person, which I think the author uses to suggest Essun is constantly watching herself to try not to appear a threat to the Stills (non-orogene humans) around her.
If you are after superior, original fantasy and not the same old, same old, get this series. The novels will have you staying up late to finish them. I must order the third book in the trilogy.