Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Obelisk Gate

Here we meet Nassun! I was so excited tbh, since this is the child Essun was so desperate to get back to and save from her former husband, Jija. If any reader thinks that, maybe, Jija wouldn't harm his other child, the book very quickly squashes that hope (much like many of the hopes of the characters in these books).

And Essun takes her ragtag traveling group and finds a new community and despite everything, she starts to build a life.

Jija insists that he does love her, still, and that he wants to fix her; cure her of her orogeny. Through their travel to a place called Found Moon, Nassun had to learn the appropirate way to act in order to not to not incur his wrath and hatred. All while struggling with the feeling of love she has for him, despite the fact that he murdered her brother. It a lot for a then eight year old to deal with.

I think, when a person reads Nassun's chapters, they may find her reasoning unbelivable given how young she is, but I think we need to remember that this story, much like Essun's is being told to us by our narrator and not Nassun herself. So all of her complex reasoning is being filter through decidely not eight year old eyes. I think it's an interesting choice and one that works really well, because enough of Nassun's self, imo, comes through that to me she still feels like an eight year old and then about ten as the stroy goes on.

There were a few times where that did make me �� while reading her sections, but then I remembered about the narrator and it all went back to making sense to me.

The bits with Jija were very interesting and a pretty good display of this deep seeded hatred that one can't overcome. Even if Jija had a traumatic experience in the past the story makes no effort to try and excuse his treatment of his daughter or the things he says and believes about Orogene. All of the scenes between Jija and Nassun are full of a lot of tension, keeping the reader (me) on edge, always worried that he may abuse her again or kill her like he had killed Uche. It so stressful and I spent so long wishing for someone, anyone, to help Nassun.

And unfortunatelly the person who comes to save Nassun is that bastard Schaffa!

He didn't die after the events of the last book. But he was changed by the events however. The change within him were interesting to read. I would say that the Schaffa from the previous book hadn't disppeared completely, but the way he interacts with Nassun is very different, and for her in the situation she's in, he does protect her, keep her safe, and doesn't treat her Orogeny like some horrible curse. It makes sense why Nassun attaches to him so fiecerly.

Essun along with Tonkee and Hoa make it to a place called Castrima Under, called there by Ykka through some kind special Orogene vibration. Essun, with all her Fulcrum training, has no clue how she does that and ultimately never learns. But it signals to the reader that there's more to Orogeny than whatever the Fulcrum believed and taught. I think that was hinted at in the last book, with everything with Alabaster, but it's really driven home here.

I think its an interesting...contrast (I think thats the word I want) not only with Essun but also Nassun.

Ykka had outed herself as a Orogene (she only ever calls herself a Rogga, which is a slur in the world of the Stillness) when she was young, saving her comm from a fire, and instead of being killed by the comm (which is very common in other places across the world) and she fully believes that Orogens and Stills (so...this would is also considered a slur for people who can't use Orogeny if I understand correctly) can live together peacefully, out in the open and work together, coorporating. Whenever Essun thinks about Ykka and her skills she often finds that Ykka falls short, but that's because she's using Fulcrum metrics. When she thinks about Ykka outside of that, when she separates herself from that metric (tho that never happens completely) she realizes that Ykka is plenty skilled in her own right, things that she can do intuitively that it takes a while for Essun to ever wrap her head around.

But I think this does a good job of contextualizing Nassun. Nassun had a kind of Fulcrum training from her mom when she was younger, culminating in Essun breaking Nassun's hand much like Schaffa broke her. It was abusive. Essun felt it necessary in order to make sure her daughter lived and wouldn't out her powers because that would lead to her being porentially being killed. Nassun does not like her mother very much. But while she's in Found Moon she gets to play around and explore her Orogeny, its one of the reasons why she ended up so powerful. Not every Orogene will become super powerful, or anything like that, but given the chance to play and explore and didn't live in fear who knows what any one of them could achieve and learn.

I honestly don't have much to say about Essun and her life in Castrima Under. There's a lot of inner workings about comm life, and building things to run during a season. It was interesting, but doesn't give me a lot to talk about really.

The bit with Essun that stuck with me the most is her continued relationship with Alabaster. When we meet Alabaster again and he is dying. Whatever happen after he caused the Season is slowly turning him to stone and any other time he uses orogeny more and more of him is turning to stone. He's also got a Stone Eater, these...other beings that inhabit the world, with him called Antimony and she seems to be eating any of the parts of him that turn to stone! One may suggest that he simply not use Orogeny anymore, but Alabaster is a man on a mission and that mission is, potentially, creating a better world for Orogens everywhere.

A noble goal to be sure, but he needs Essun to do it and to do that he's got to teach her how to connect with the obelisk, how to use her orogeny in ways she's never done it before while also teaching her about this new element of their powers called Magic, these silvery threads.

Their time together isn't all cozy (their relationship has never fully been cozy) but they fall back a bit into something familiar. Its so obvious that they still care about each other but everything that had happened-- the years between them, all the pain and hurt-- but the end of their story line is so...devastating it really hit me hard.

I think the narrator of the audio book was just as good as the previous time. I think some of the voices changed, but nothing was distracting or took me out of the story.

To be honest...there's probably a lot more I could say/ramble about. This book is so dense and rich imo. I could talk more and more (and I hope this sorta...makes sense) but yeah...that's it!

Content Warnings

witcheep's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

onlyonebookshelf's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

rx_hydro's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

Content Warnings

hdunscombe's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

Content Warnings

rorikae's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional 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? Yes

5.0

N.K. Jemisin crafts the middle book in a trilogy that retains its excitement, character work, and worldbuilding. Without spoiling book one, this story follows along from where the first book leaves off and delves further into Essun's life. In addition, we also get so see what Nassun's life has been like, which is a fascinating contrast to her mother. We get to learn more about why the world is the way it is as well as some really important understandings about orogeny. The more time I spend in this world, the clearer it is how much time and effort Jimisin has put in to craft an exceptional world with flawed, deeply human characters. Her writing is precise and evocative as she slowly pulls back the edges of our understanding of the world and her characters. I cannot wait to start book three though I am not looking forward to finishing this exceptional series. I wish there were even more books in this world.

Content Warnings

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

4.75

Also so wonderful. The more we learn about the world, the more devastating it is. Maybe my experience with world-ending fiction is with YA, but Jemisin's ability to balance the universe/wider experience with the POV/main characters is indescribably good. Once again relieved that I already reserved the next book from the library.

Content Warnings

jess_always_reading's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

Absolutely loved this story, I could hardly wait to get it from my local library after I finished book one and now I'm diving right into the third book (Stone Sky). Jemisin is such a gifted storyteller and her world-building is next level. There were also some wonderful twists and turns that I definitely didn't see coming.

Highly recommend 10/10!

TW for some serious trauma (throughout the whole series it feels like) though not gratuitous. Mind the content warnings if it's important to you.

Content Warnings

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