Sunday, December 31, 2017

The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth) by N. K. Jemisin


The third and final part of the series, where practically all secrets are revealed and there is closure for the most of the characters. The book pretty much continues from where the second part ended.

Essun has been unconscious since the cataclysmic events of the former part. When she awakes, she finds that her other arm has turned to stone. Nassum, Essun’s daughter, is also recovering from both the mental and physical stress of turning her abusive father to stone. The third story presented in the book happens thousands of years earlier, before the “seasons” (catastrophic events happening every few decades, which destroy pretty much everything). That story tells why the seasons started. All three plot lines are followed in alternating chapters until they eventually more or less converge.

The book was pretty good, better than the middle part - as could be expected. The writing was excellent and engaging. A lot was happening in the book, but the beginning might still have been a bit tighter. All in all, an excellent trilogy which will most likely do an unprecedented feat: it will win a Hugo-award with all its parts; most likely it won't be the last one on my voting list, either. The mix of fantasy and science fiction was interesting, even though some of the fantasy tropes were slightly far-fetched. Mother Earth ISN’T a metaphor in this book - and she/he isn’t benevolent, but she has very good reason to be angry with humanity. For some reason, those parts were less annoying than they were in the second part of series; I had probably gotten used to them already. A very good and emotionally moving book.

464 pp.

No comments: