A review by badspringbye
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

"After all, a person is herself, and others. Relationships chisel the final shape of one's being. I am me, and you. Damaya was herself and the family that rejected her and the people of the Fulcrum who chiseled her to a fine point. Syenite was Alabaster and Innon and the people of poor lost Allia and Meov. Now you are Tirimo and the ash-strewn road's walkers and your dead children...and also the living one who remains."

First of all, I would like to take a moment to appreciate this author's introductory paragraph(s). Caught me off guard once again, just like the first book did. The best thing is, nothing gets bad. Father Earth is still deteriorating and everybody's flaw started to show and civilization is (still) about to be totally wiped out, yes. But that's what made this book even better. At first I find it slow but never dragging, because every character was given an exposure for a reason (literally no tapon no extra-lang). Surprisingly relaxing and frustrating and nerve-racking. Did not expect that the gaps will be filled out this way but surely excited for the last piece!!

excerpts:
p. 7 "He can sleep through anything. The songs of the earth have always been his lullaby."
p. 163 "Thirty thousand years? Forty? A long time to be pathetic creatures we are now, huddling behind our walls and putting all our wits, all our learning, toward the singular task of staying alive. ... Once, we were so much more."

(wish I could put more but technically most of my fave lines = spoiler)