The plot was also great and packed a punch, a bit confusing and disorienting at first, especially with the unconventional structure. Overall, though, I think it worked out well. technical, or perhaps the better word is overly comprehensive, and echoed some of the issues I have with hard science fiction. I also felt this was a genuinely good blend of science fiction and fantasy, and I thought the way she used geology for the magic system was super cool. Nothing but admiration for Jemisin for this bold experiment and clearly well-thought out world. There's truly no fantasy novel's world that I can compare to this, and that in and of itself is quite the feat. The allegory for racism could occasionally get a little heavy handed, but I enjoyed the depiction of sexuality and race overall in this book, and I really, really appreciated how different this is from most fantasy I read. Both in terms of the unique geography and environment of the world created and the rich cultural elements, with their unique castes and system of controlling the magic users. My ambivalence for this book has nothing to do with the plot or the world-building, but is purely based on subjective terms.įirst of all, this novel is an example of high class worldbuilding. That being said, I'm not going to pick up the sequels. Unrelated to the novels, just in the same universe.I'm really glad I read this novel. “Stone Hunger,” a novelette set in the Stillness. She’ll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze - the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization’s bedrock for a thousand years - collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman’s vengeance. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter.

Three terrible things happen in a single day.

The fifth season book 2