The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth, 3)

No one has ever won the Hugo Award for Best Novel three times in a row. Even the list of those who have won it twice consecutively is a very short one: Orson Scott Card (1986, 1987 and don't get me started on that man), Lois McMaster Bujold (1991, 1992) and N. K. Jemisin (2016, 2017). I wonder if 2018 will be the year we have a three-time consecutive winner. This book is as perfect a melding of science fiction and fantasy as I have ever read. The world it gives us is so alien and yet its conflicts and its characters are utterly timeless. It is the best book in the trilogy, and I believe the best fiction book I’ve read this year. I have waited a while to summarize my thoughts on the The Stone Sky, the conclusion of N.K. Jemisin's (who I just cannot stop thinking of as Nora because I want to call her by her name) simply stunning Broken Earth trilogy. It published just when I was returning from the Helsinki WorldCon, where she won her second Hugo for The Obelisk Gate. Things were hectic for me then, as my beloved cat was critically ill. So I put off starting the novel, in order to give it my full attention, and then once I did start the audiobook, narrated by the fabulous Robin Miles, I had to evacuate with my family due to Hurricane Irma. I had made it to almost 80% and more than a few friends kept asking (read: pestering me) if I was finished yet. One was ready to pull her hair out when I told her, after returning home after the hurricane, that I was restarting it, yes, listening to the audiobook again, from the beginning, so I would have no distraction. In truth, part of me didn't want to finish the book, because then… it would be finished. I knew that there was no way there was not going to be heartache at the end of this series. But most of all, the series would be at an end, and you know how it is- that special sadness when you finish a series you love. Once I did finish it, it took a while for me to even form words to put on a page. Because I was blown away. My head still spins from it. It has been many years since I have read a book that has impacted me emotionally as this book has. When we began the series, The Fifth Season gave us a narrow focus on Damaya/Syenite/Essun. In subsequent books, Jemisin has given us a progressively wider view of the horribly flawed (dystopian seems like a mild word) world that Essun lives in. Although the books have given us the wider angle, we still have great depth of field, both with characters, and Earth’s history. While much has been written about Jemisin's awe-inspiring world-building skills, what lingers with me is the depth of her characters. Their complexity, and their all too real emotions, seem almost as if she was giving us her therapeutic insights into people who, by the end of the series, whether stone eaters or orogenes or stills or guardians, have become very real to me. I felt like I knew them, I mourned them, I celebrated them. Her insights into motherhood and shattered childhood are particularly poignant. And the evil Earth? Perhaps the most misunderstood character of all. The Stone Sky manages to answer many questions, about the origins of orogenes, of stone eaters, of guardians and of Seasons. It gives us the perspective of the past 40,000 years through the eyes of Hoa, who becomes a POV character, giving us vital backstory about how we got to this horrible broken place. (We also get brief POV thoughts from Alabaster, btw.) We learn how the Earth got to be broken and most of all, why some things that are broken should just be discarded. But there was so much more to this book than all this. First of all, how often do we see a sci-fi/fantasy series where the main character is a middle-aged mother of three? How often do we see the protagonists trying to destroy their world rather than preserving it? How often do you have your two protagonists acting in direct opposition to one another yet remaining... protagonists? Can we possibly choose between Nassun and Essun, given what we know about them and about what they have suffered? Most of all, The Stone Sky gives us the backdrop of Earth’s history- its cycles of oppression, the enslavement of one race or another, the violence visited upon the planet, all proving time and time again that this Earth, these people, are so broken that it is almost impossible to envision fixing things without destroying everything and simply starting over (exactly Nassun’s take). Alabaster’s vision, of recapturing the Moon into the Earth's gravitational field to end the cycles of cataclysmic fifth seasons, seems at times like it could never possibly be enough to right what is wrong. Because what’s wrong is more than just geological and meteorological. The culture of abuse, enslavement are repeated again and again. And yet, removing fifth seasons could change the balance of those left living on the Earth, thereby possibly changing the Earth itself. As she says in her moving Afterward, “Where there is pain in this book, it is real pain; where there is anger, it is real anger; where there is love, it is real love. You’ve been taking this journey with me, and you’re always going to get the best of what I’ve got…” Nora wasn’t kidding.

This series was pretty excellent. I didn't really develop any expectations as to how it would all end, because as I read on, my anxiety actually started to grow. I knew there would be some sort of final showdown, and at that point I didn't know who I was rooting for. I loved every moment of that anxiety. The ending was actually more perfect than I could have envisioned, so I'm glad I just went along rather than spend my time over-thinking things. The only thing that mildly bothered me (mind you, while this earns the loss of a star, I will definitely re-read this series again and again), is that I feel that the story definitely draws parallels, sometimes heavily, with the Mistborn series. You have volcanic ash. You have a form of hemalurgy. You have Ruin. You have Min. You have a form of Allomancers that are all treated as criminals. You have humanity finding places to huddle (one with walls, I might add). You even have glass knives! However, there are enough differences to definitely say that this work hasn't been derivative. If further installments are written covering later developments, I might change my mind. I'll still buy and read them though. If you have read the original Mistborn trilogy, you will find a LOT of familiar themes / parallels. I deduct a star mainly because realizing these themes / parallels kept drawing me from that world (I'd be immersed, and then 'but wait, I've seen something like this before!' and my mind would go off on a tangent while I was still trying to be immersed). I mean, the fact that the series has won Hugo Awards is enough of an endorsement on its own, and once again, this is definitely a series I will be re-reading more than once. It has also gotten me interested in this author's other works, so there's that as well.

Fantasy series are notoriously hard to end. How do you do justice to whatever big, world-changing events you've been setting up, but also provide some sort of closure for your main characters? In other words, how do you balance the macro and the micro - a problem anywhere in fantasy, but one that goes double in the ending? And that was something I was even more worried about when it came to The Stone Sky, the final volume in N.K. Jemisin's incredible Broken Earth trilogy. Could Jemisin stick the landing on one of the best fantasy series I've read in years, if not ever? Did she ever. Part of what's made The Broken Earth such an effective series is the way it's never lost sight of the personal stakes in all of its saga. Yes, this is a story about a civilization wracked by terrible devastation - devastation that comes along regularly and horribly. Yes, it's a story of magic users - orogenes, in the parlance of the series - who can control the tremors of the planet, but can also wield that same magic as the most devastating weapon imaginable. And, yes, as becomes clearer and clearer during The Stone Sky, it's the story of how all of this happened - how humanity may have doomed itself. But for all of that - and make no mistake, Jemisin's overarching story is incredible - it's also always been the story of a mother who is worried about her daughter. It's the story of a social class that has been rejected for centuries, and who are starting to realize that there is no future for them unless they stand up and demand to be treated as human beings. It's the story of a young girl who's realizing the flaws in her parents, and her desire to fix all of the pain and suffering that she and others like her have suffered. It's the story of how we must sacrifice ourselves for the future, and more intimately, how parents must give and give until there's nothing left if they want to leave behind a future for their children. In other words, Jemisin mixes the macro and the micro seamlessly, allowing the two to comment on each other and reflect back and forth, linking the fate of the planet to the fate of this mother and daughter, each of whom is on their own path to wisdom and cataclysmic choices. But it's also a story about the communities they have built along the way, and the way our friendships can shape us and define us and change us - often for the better - and how trying to survive the world alone is so often a fool's errand. All of this sounds vague, I know. But the fact is, for all of the rich lore and the world-building and the twists and the science-fiction that sneaks in and the fantastical elements, what made me love The Stone Sky was that it had all of those elements, and still chose to focus on its characters first and foremost. And by the time The Stone Sky ends, every one of the million small choices Jemisin has made along the way become clearer and clearer, working towards the messages and themes of the books. Even the often-questioned decision to write in second-person, whose purpose started to become clear in the second novel, becomes crystal clear by the end of book three, leading to an unexpected emotional wallop. That the series can do all of that while also telling a story of the fate of the planet, a war against nature itself, generations of conflict, science-fiction plot threads, and the nature of magic - my cup runneth over. I loved this book, loved this series, and am excited that there's more Jemisin waiting for me to jump into.

The Broken Earth series — The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky — is a masterpiece. I read the last sentence of The Stone Sky with tears in my eyes. It was impossible for me to read these books without reflecting on the past and present of our own world. That is the genius of this tale. It creates a magical world completely alien from our own in its geology and peoples. And yet the problems of this alien world are hauntingly familiar. Enslavement of the talented. Hating the different. Longing for family. The impossibly complex feelings of love. Parents sacrificing themselves for their children. Reading it on my phone with the Kindle app was immensely helpful. I looked up the many geological terms and crystal types, highlighted text for later review and annotated text when I was confused or had “ah ha!” moments of understanding. Being able to search for character names, for the names of places and go back and re-read passages as the pieces of this ingenious literary puzzle fell into place — all immensely helpful. Writing in the present and using “you” to refer to a character. I can imagine grammarians and the peevish wanting to rap the author’s knuckles as she breaks some basic rules of narration. But a difference exists between not knowing the rules and breaking them in ignorance, and knowing the rules quite well and twisting them to suit the story’s plot. That what’s going here, a virtuoso bard spinning a yarn for the ages, turning the rote rules of narration to stone for the good of the tale. N. K. Jemisin creates a richly imagined world I’ve never come close to encountering in other books. Fascinating. Fulminating. Earth shaking. Volcanic. Leaving the reader in awe of an imagination without parallel. Speed reading this tale is out of the question. It’s a story for savoring, the detailed descriptions, the intimate emotions, the warring factions, the engrossing characters, the intricate plot, the movements back and forth in time — all of it must be cogitated and contemplated for good digestion. The Stone Sky is a multifaceted gem.

THE STONE SKY, the final book in N.K. Jemisin's masterpiece series The Broken Earth, is something that seems to be becoming increasingly rare in this day and age: the final book in a trilogy that really is the final book in a trilogy. Whether it is science fiction or fantasy, it always seems that the last book of any sequence leaves the door open a crack for a continuation of the story. I truly believe that by the end of this book, it is game, set, and match on The Broken Earth, and if there is any justice in this world THE STONE SKY will be a finalist for the Best Novel Hugo next year in San Jose. If it does indeed win the Hugo, The Broken Earth trilogy will be three for three with regard to Best Novel Hugos and may be remembered as one of the best genre series of all time. There's that hedge again, the one I've been talking about for the last two years when discussing the other two books in the series, THE FIFTH SEASON and THE OBELISK GATE. It looks and feels like fantasy, given some of the trappings and the subject matter, but there is more than a hint of science fiction here, just enough to make the reader think that Jemisin was intentionally blurring the lines between the two genres. That blurring, whether intentional or not, is glorious and wonderful. Both fantasy and science fiction play a huge part in THE STONE SKY and ultimately bringing the trilogy to what can only be called a stunning and outstanding conclusion. The novel follows three different stories. The two main stories - or so we think they're the main stories - are those of Essun and Nassun, mother and daughter orogenes. Essun wakes up from a coma after using the titular Obelisk Gate of the previous book to destroy the enemies of Castrima. A nasty side effect of the usage of the Obelisk Gate is that she is partially transformed into a Stone Eater. Essun has learned that the Moon is quickly approaching the planet from the distant part of its long elliptical orbit. She needs to use Obelisk Gate to capture the Moon and put it back in its orbit, thus ending the destructive cycle of Fifth Seasons. Nassun, who is angry and despondent over having killed her father using the power of an obelisk, wants to cause the Moon to collide with the Earth and destroy both. Nassun is accompanied by the guardian Schaffa, who agrees to help her in her quest. Both Essun and Nassun travel to the city of Corepoint in order to control the Obelisk Gate. It is there that they meet in a final confrontation for the future of the Earth, Moon, and humanity. The third story is one that makes this a most satisfying novel for me. It begins thousands of years in the past and in a place called Syl Anagist. The story told in this portion of the novel, interspersed among the other two, takes place over a long period of time, and through its telling the reader comes to understand just how the world got into the predicament it is. This is the piece of the story that gives the novel its science fictional flavor with a dash of magic, as we learn how the Stone Eaters were created and how the Moon was thrown off its course. Through a bit of hand wavium that we really don't seem to mind, characters are transported to the Moon itself to finish their task. The goal is to start the Plutonic Engine, involves something called Geoarcanity, as well as human conductors in a grand plot that, if the novel didn't have enough, presents the reader with a sense of wonder that, barring things like Cixin Liu's The Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy hasn't been seen around these parts in awhile. But the novel does have other scenes that make the readers shake their heads in awe; Nassun travelling *through* the planet to get the to City of Corepoint to where she can destroy the world. The journey involves a breathtaking "fly by" of the Earth's core. Their transportation to Corepoint originates in a glorious, awe-inspiring city in the arctic where Nassun learns some secrets of the past. This novel is about a lot of things: family, growth, and loss play a big part in the story, as does a sense of the other and the outsider. All of these and more are woven throughout the entire story. Essun and Nassun, mother and daughter, who have lost a husband and a father; Nassun, who has lost the only person, Schaffa, who she believes has ever cared for her; Essun, who has lost more than one loved one, the most recent being Lerna, the father of her unborn child; the growth of Nassun as she learns what is more important; the outsider and admittedly vicious treatment of the orogenes by the stills; the list goes on and on. Jemisin weaves it all and more into one of the most satisfying conclusion to a series in a long time. A story like The Broken Earth comes along, I think, once in a lifetime. I've written more than once that the true test of how good a story might be is how long from now it will still be talked about. Ann Leckie's the Imperial Radch series, the aforementioned Cixin Liu series, and now The Broken Earth, have all entered our collective consciousness within the last decade or so. Whether any of them stand the test of time is yet to be determined. I think we'd be wise to put our money on The Broken Earth. Those of us who will still be around in 20 years need to check back and see if it was money well spent. I have a feeling it will be.

It's a beautiful and terrible story and I chose to finish the series when I was already depressed so I could cope with the ending. These books deserve to be reread and studied for years to come by others, but not by me. I really believe that my aphantasia limited my enjoyment of N. K. Jemison's writing because so much of her universe depends on the images she describes and I can only catch glimpses of them. I will always love Essun but I don't think I will revisit her again.

A change is coming. Whether for better or for worse, Essun cannot tell, but she has a plan to nudge astronomical events toward the side of humanity’s survival. She knows what it will mean for her, but no price is too great to pay. After a lifetime of anger and resentment and resistance, she has finally found a home among the ragged remnants of Castrima with people who care what happens to her. Nassun also sesses the change. She, too, has a plan. But at the tender age of not-quite-eleven, Nassun has already learned that sometimes a broken thing cannot be fixed. Sometimes the best solution is to put an end to the suffering. She knows what it will mean for her, but after a lifetime of being used and mistreated and hated, Nassun believes wholeheartedly in a merciful resolution. When mother and daughter come together on the other side of the world, the Change is imminent and the world hangs in the balance. The strange, white Moon looms overhead. Schaffa lays dying. Nassun has already set her plan in motion. And Essun must make the hardest decision of her life. In this nail-biting conclusion to the Broken Earth Trilogy, Jemisin brings every thread from the complex Stillness narrative together in a seamless and breathtaking tapestry. From the ash-covered Rennanis high road to the deadly desert crossing, from the terrifying trip through the core of Father Earth to the clean, near-empty ruin of Corepoint, we travel alongside Essun, Nassun and Houwha as they hurtle toward convergence, the tipping point where the fate of all will be decided. Scenes from the ancient past in Syl Anagist—where Life is sacred—lead inexorably to the breaking of the world, and the answers to all our questions. Not all at once, you understand; Jemisin metes them out in masterful storytelling style, a bit at a time, each piece full of promises that lead the reader further and further down the path to an exciting and not-quite-predictable end. By the time I reached the climax of the book, I could not put it down. Stone Sky, and the entire Broken Earth trilogy, is a cautionary tale of the consequences of greed and self-absorption, of what happens when the advancement of the world rests solely on the repression of one group by another. The horror of the Seasons in the Stillness, and the shocking obscenities that occurred in Syl Anagist, remind us that building on the backs of others carries an inescapable price. Whether we pay it ourselves, or shunt it down the line to our ancestors, the scales will balance themselves. The only question is whether or not we are ready to accept responsibility, and do what is necessary to make things right. Jemisin’s scenes are vivid, yes. But the thing I find most compelling about this trilogy—and this book in particular—is her visceral conveyance of emotion. When Hoa takes Essun’s offering, we feel her mixed emotions, her shift from revulsion to understanding, her sudden epiphany of where it will lead. When Nassun traverses the core of Father Earth, we share her terror and grief and loss, and the numbness that follows. When Essun faces Nassun at the climax of the book, we know what is in both their hearts, which makes the decision all the more painful for characters and readers alike. Stone Sky is a true vicarious escape into an adventure beyond anything I could ever experience here in my own world, and I am perhaps better for the journey. Stone Sky is not a standalone tale. You must read the series from the beginning for it to make any sense. But believe me, that is not a hardship. The Broken Earth Series is an excellent tale, told in masterful style. I have no doubt that this newest book in the series will win its own Hugo, and probably others as well.

My second read through of N. K. Jemisin’s masterpiece of a trilogy. So much more made sense and resonated with me, and such a vivid detailing of the usage of magic while discussing highly scientific and physical concepts. Will be sure to pick up more of Jemisin’s work.

The first book can be quite confusing, but after I figured out what was going on I carried on reading all 3. They are excellent, and I will read more of this author.

背景や道具など小説世界は良く出来ている。最後まで読めたのでストーリーもご都合主義だが合格点だろう。 ただ、テンポが悪く、素人ぽい文章も鼻につく。 また、読んでいて気になったのは、ポリコレ臭。ハリウッド映画なども汚染されているので、多分これは作者の責任ではなく、アメリカがそれだけ病んでいるということなのだろう。 久しぶりにＳＦを読んだが、三年連続ヒューゴー賞受賞が何かの政治的操作によるものでないとしたら、すでにジャンルとして衰退している、と思った。

I like the trilogy, it has interesting concepts to think about regarding humanity and it's path. Nevertheless, the books had some parts, that in my opinion, were not so easy, maybe confusing or interesting to read. At the end I like it, but it was kind of hard to get to the end.

The Broken Earth trilogy comes to an end. The final layers of mystery are peeled back, and we finally discover this world, with all it's mystery, wonder and horror. Considering how many layers there are, and how many threads have been woven into the story, it would seem like a huge challenge to bring it all to a satisfactory conclusion - but Jemisin does it superbly well. No plots unresolved, no threads left dangling, and not a hint of an anti-climax in the world-shaking climax. The series throughout has been a hugely impressive display of imagination both in the intricate world-building and the brilliant character development throughout. All presented with a perfect word flow, but that almost goes without saying - writing at this level doesn't dump you out of the story with awkward sentences or confusing descriptions. But, more than an amazing bit of story-telling, the series, and this final novel in particular, has some real depth in its portrayal of human character and human interaction. It shows the worst of us - right back to the very causes of the Earth being broken to start with - it shows both the weakness and strength of people struggling to survive in appalling circumstance. Above all though, it shows love, and how powerful love can be at influencing events on the smallest and greatest of scales. Without love in the equation, the story could not have happened as it did. All outcomes would have been different, and ultimately worse. A powerful and satisfying conclusion to a brilliant trilogy.

Si las dos primeras entregas ya tuvieron sus respectivos reconocimientos, esta conclusión no se queda atrás, regalándonos un desenlace estupendo donde por fin todas las piezas encajan perfectamente. Una de las mejores sagas de la ciencia ficción, llena de realidad y con un profundo mensaje.