Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

34 reviews

gandalf_a's review

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

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

the_bees_books's review

adventurous challenging emotional 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

4.0

Loved the second book in this series, even if it did have a little book two syndrome, cannot wait to see where book three takes me to! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Bullying, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, War, and Body horror

talasterism's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

4.75

SLIGHTLY worse than the first one but still SOOO good, i love the lore of this world so much and the povs of this one were !!!!

Spoiler

AND ALABESTER BEING A STONE EATER jt makes so much sense no???

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Terminal illness, Medical content, and Violence

Minor: War and Torture

leadpal's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, War, Kidnapping, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, and Body horror

Minor: Cannibalism and Fire/Fire injury

brycestevenwilley's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

5.0

For me, truly cements this as a great series. The mystery and build up of the Obelisks, the writing style, the continuing character arcs, and the exploration of the world's mechanics are all incredible. Everything in the world building from the physics, to the history, to the socialogy to the character motivations all align so well, and it all meshes together. Excited to get to the next one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Terminal illness, Murder, and War

sarasreading's review

adventurous dark 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

4.75

Knocking a little off only because I am somehow still confused about which side is which in this war triangle, who they are, what they want, and how they want to get it. I feel like it was explained several times, but also not really? 

And so much of the theory in the world building is confusing to me. Either it is as complex as I think it is, or it was just hard for me to understand because I was on a lot of medication while reading this. All in all a good portion of this book was difficult for me to follow.

Still, I absolutely could not put this down and flew through it in like 2 days, staying up well into the wee hours of the night. I'll just read more about it on wikipedia or something to try and understand the magic and political systems.

I cannot wait for the last installment!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Terminal illness, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: War and Body horror

leahb88's review

adventurous dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Child death, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Genocide, and Cannibalism

Minor: Alcohol

elizabeth_lepore's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Terminal illness, Grief, Death, and Cannibalism

Minor: War

readingelli's review

adventurous dark tense medium-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Blood, Death, Grief, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death

yourbookishbff's review

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

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

Minor: Cannibalism