Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

14 reviews

witcheep's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

Kirjasarja jatkuu samalla monitasoisella tavalla kuin aiemminkin. Maailmanloppu on alkanut viidentenä vuodenaikana, ja päähenkilöt sekä lukija oppivat lisää sen taustoista ja mahdollisista yrityksistä vaikuttaa koko Tyynimaan kohtaloon. Jokainen on vaikeiden valintojen edessä jatkuvasti sekä oman että heille läheisten ihmisten turvaamiseksi: ketkä nähdään ihmisinä ja ketkä ovat toisia, vihollisia.

Tämä on vieläkin hän. Sinä et pääse eroon siitä tunteesta. Siksi sinä huokaiset ja päästät irti siitä osasta itseäsi, joka haluaa kohdella häntä jonakin toisena, jonakin pelottavana, jonakin vieraana.

Maailmanlopun taustalla on vuosisatoja tai -tuhansia kestänyt sota, jossa on lukuisia osapuolia. Loppujen lopulta kaikki tiivistyy siihen, ketkä ansaitsevat voimakkaimpien avainhenkilöiden – nyt tai kaiken alkupisteessä olleiden kansojen – rakkauden ja millaisiin hirmutekoihin he ovat valmiita rakkaidensa tähden.

Tähän samaan monimutkaisuuteen kytkeytyvät myös kirjan kerrontaratkaisut monissa eri persoonamuodoissa (minä, sinä ja hän). Vaihdokset persoonamuodoissa osoittavat kertojan ja eri henkilöiden välisten suhteiden syvyyttä. On paljastunut, että päähenkilö Essunista kertovissa luvuissa sinä-kertojan ääntä käyttää

kivensyöjä Hoa, joka sanoo rakastavansa Essunia

. Kertoja paljastaa itsestään lukijalle ja

puhuttelemalleen Essunille

lisää sitä mukaa, kun Essun kokee paljastuksia maailmasta, omista kyvyistään ja muista ihmisryhmistä. Samalla kertoja vaikuttaa kuitenkin pelkäävän, että kaikkien paljastusten myötä hänelle tärkein henkilö ei enää välttäisikään hänestä.

Minä haluan jatkaa tämän kertomista sinulle samaan tapaan kuin olen jo tehnyt: mielessäsi, omalla äänelläsi, kertoen, mitä tiedät ja ajattelet. Tuntuuko se sinusta tunkeilevalta? Minä tunnustan, että onhan se sitä. Itsekästä. Kun puhun vain omissa nimissäni, minun on vaikea tuntea olevani osa sinusta. Se on yksinäisempää. Minä pyydän, anna minun jatkaa vielä vähän aikaa.

Kertoja ei ole ainoa, joka säätelee omien tietojensa eteenpäin kertomista tai opettamista sen mukaan, kuinka paljon arvelee yleisönsä kykenevän käsittämään tai kuinka paljon jaettua tietoa kulloinenkin tilanne ehdottomasti vaatii.

Kerronnan kytkeytyminen kerrottavaan tarinaan näin moniulotteisella tavalla on kiinnostavaa! Kerrontaratkaisut tuntuvat enteilevän sitä, että juonessa on luvassa trilogian päätösosassa vielä lisää yllätyksiä.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Genocide, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Deportation

chaoticnostalgia's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

gandalf_a's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Sexual content, Blood, Cannibalism, Alcohol, and War

brynalexa's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I don’t have much to say about this as it has run together with the first which I think is a strength of the series. The completely intertwined storylines are smart and intricate and hold the story together perfectly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Deadnaming, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, and Alcohol

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Deadnaming

ecmbeanie's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Racism, Cannibalism, and Colonisation

cptnstphy's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

Such a mastery of crafting the characters and plot to thicken and grow in complexity over time. The reader is trusted with increasingly complex, interesting, unbelievably imaginative worlds of magic and oregeny, and it's such a delicious reading experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Grief, and Cannibalism

Minor: Confinement, Genocide, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

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!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Slavery, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Cannibalism

some_random_person_hi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Second book syndrome (or maybe the other books in the trilogy were just too good).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Stalking, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Genocide, and War

vigil's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

not as good as the fifth season, but nowhere near bad. the entire book is a slowburn for the real plot coming in towards the end, but i didn’t mind what i was reading in the meantime.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail