A review by badspringbye
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

"You can reject these dregs of your old self and pretend that nothing and no one else matters...or you can embrace them. Reclaim them for what they're worth, and grow stronger as a whole."

out of the three books, this one's the hardest to take in. what's complex with the first two books is even more bewildering here. (no, not only because it's science fiction.) I am not completely sure if I understand what I just read but... evil earth, it's so good.

"Life is sacred in Syl Anagist — as it should be, for the city burns life as the fuel for its glory." ... "...for a society built on exploitation, there is no greater threat for having no one left to oppress. And now, if nothing else is done, Syl Anagist must find a way to fission its people into subgroupings and create reasons for conflict among them."

summarization: everybody is a human being. substantial gap between different creatures (stills, orogenes, stone eaters, guardians) made them believe otherwise. and so confusion shaped the foundation of their diversified beliefs. what's even more fascinating is how you could never hate on any of them. you will come across the parts of separate stories and witness the contrasting desires and objectives of two main characters, the mother and the daughter, but for some reason, you would want both of them to succeed. but it's impossible.

excerpts:
p. 101 "It has never been clear to us whether we were built wrong, or whether their understanding of us is wrong. Or whether either matters."
p. 216 "How can we prepare for the future if we won't acknowledge the past?"
p. 229 "You know the end of this. Don't you? ... But sometimes it is the how of a thing, not just the endgame, that matters most."
p. 299 "There is life here, among these people. It isn't life as she knows it, or a life she would choose, but life nevertheless."
p. 305 "...sometimes she is surprised to realize Nassun is still her name. How much more different will she be in three years? Ten? Twenty?"
p. 313 "No one really wants to face the fact that the world is the way it is because some arrogant, self-absorbed people tried to put a leash on the rusting planet. And no one was ready to accept that the solution to the whole mess was simply to let orogenes live and thrive and do what they were born to do."