Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

El Portal de Los Obeliscos / The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

9 reviews

biobeetle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Violence, War, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Abandonment, and Terminal illness

Minor: Chronic illness and Stalking

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Gore, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Medical content, Body horror, and Blood

Minor: Cannibalism 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: 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

laurenleigh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious slow-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

The second installment in this trilogy has solidified my opinion that Jemisin is one of the greatest writers of her generation. Her style is so unique and unlike anything else I’ve ever read. This series is certainly dense (I don’t recommend audio versions even though Robin Miles is amazing), but I like a more challenging read once in awhile. It forces me to stay more present so I can attempt to fully grasp Jemisin’s genius. I can’t even begin to understand how she came up with this fantasy world! I loved the expansion of that world in this second book. The exploration of Essun and Nassun’s relationship was particularly interesting. If protecting someone you love involves sometimes hurting that same person, is it still protection? I hope we get more of Nassun in the third book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Child abuse

Minor: Pregnancy

boglord's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, War, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Ableism, Blood, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Vomit, Genocide, and Gore

Minor: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, and Slavery

dreareads_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.5

What can I say about this book?

This is an excellent sequel to the Fifth Season. You feel the urgency of everything that is at stake. This book does an amazing job on answering questions about the world and broadening the scope. It was a masterful on its inclusion of new characters, and lore.

Nassun, Nassun my sweet girl. WOW. Talk about a character that will break your heart. Her journey and transformation through this book is one of the most expertly crafted storylines. Her and Schaffa made me question myself constantly.

 Hoa!! I love how through the writing we get a clear view of the relationship between him and Essun. Alabaster!! My sweet, broken Alabaster! We do get a cute little sapphic side relationship with Tonkee and Hjarka, which in a world of pure misery was really needed. YKKA! What a fantastic character, truly just love a badass leader. 

Essun.... People always talk about "badass female characters" and the fact that Essun is never in that list is sacrilegious. Essun is a 43 year old woman, who has gone through some truly horrendoux things, and continues to grow and protect those around her. I love Essun, she is a beautiful example of a strong female character in more ways than just one.

I didn't give this book 5 stars because the plot was fairly slow. Yes there was a very good reason for this but I personally would have liked more. That isn't to say that there aren't moments that will literally make you skin crawl. 

On to book 3!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Medical trauma, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Terminal illness, Blood, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, and Racism

hanarama's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

5.0

The Good: 

• Melodic, poetic prose. 
• Complex world building. 
• Complex themes of destiny, duty, sacrifice, etc. 

The Bad:

• Struggling to understand at times. 
• Very sad. 

You Might Like this if You Like: 

• Epic, contemplative fantasies. 
• Creative world building and magic systems. 
• Post-apocalyptic stories.
• Characters who make hard choices. 

I feel at times as though I didn't actually read this or Fifth Season, but rather entered a trance and absorbed Jemisin's writing. Her prose is so melodic and unlike anything else that it just washes over me. 

Though this book loses the POVs of Syenite and Damaya, we get chapters from Essun's daughter, Nassun. I really loved that this book goes between mother and daughter. It really emphasizes many of the themes of the book, and after the Fifth Season, it is interesting to see Nassun follow a path very similar to her mother's, but diverging in many key ways.  

There is so much world building in this book. So much of what is introduced in the Fifth Season is expanded upon here. Jemisin is such a talented world builder. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, and Blood

troisha's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Cannibalism, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Slavery, and Terminal illness

Minor: Abortion, Ableism, Confinement, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, and Vomit

podanotherjessi's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

So, the plot of this one was a little bit messier than the first book, but I think that's because the perspectives in this one didn't interlock as tightly, so I'm okay with it. It's still absolutely fantastic! If I had to criticize, it'd be that Jemisin is a little heavy handed with her messages sometimes, but given that I agree with those messages, it didn't really bother me. If you don't agree though, it might be hard.

Spoiler free, The Broken Earth trilogy review: https://youtu.be/H83E_4F_09k

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use