These issues are exacerbated by the appearance of a raiding party from a rival comm, Rennanis, who have left their home further north and intend to take Castrima by force. [I do believe that Hoa wants the Moon back in its orbit around earth, which would appease Earth and bring life back to what it once was before the Seasons. help you understand the book. The Fifth Season triggered by this event steadily worsens as they travel. [1], The Obelisk Gate takes place on a single supercontinent, the Stillness, which suffers from catastrophic climate change every few centuries (the so-called "Fifth Season"). Sweet, came here looking for something like this! Essun wants to find her daughter, but as an orogene in a world where such people are often killed (even by their Guardians) when a Season approaches, shes also driven toward self-preservation. I repeat: He would have figured it out eventually. No. And thats what Alabaster wanted. He would have figured it out eventually, one way or another. Throughout, tensions within the society of Castrima are revealed, as the coexistence of orogenes and non-orogenic people (stills) within the community is uneasy at best. I get that. I often have to work myself up to struggle through novels that fall in the middle of a series, but Jemisins writing and creativity is captivating. WebDescription. Realizes. No one is toblame but him. Being reminded about the cycle of abuse continuing and Nassun's hand being broken is exactly what I needed while at work ;__; (but I do appreciate the recap! . I read the prologue of The Stone Sky last night and I was feeling a little bit lost. 448pp (Paperback) My Rating: 10/10. [8] [9] [14], Outside of the Hugos, The Obelisk Gate was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel, but lost to Charlie Jane Anders' All the Birds in the Sky. The Obelisk Gate is a 2016 science fantasy novel by N. K. Jemisin and the second volume in the Broken Earth seriesfollowing The Fifth Season, and preceding The Stone Sky. Whom you will get back. Connect with displaced peoples. Finally, they reach the promised settlement: a town called Found Moon, administered by a group of Guardians, though not affiliated with the Fulcrum. That stirring had grown to a tickle, then an outrightirritant by the point at which this tale begins, but denialkept him from worrying at the thought any further. Steel, a stone eater who seems to have attached himself to Nassun, tells Nassun that there will always be hate in the world unless she helps him bring the moon back into orbit. The narrator tells the reader that Essun will get her daughter back. I may be imposing by hopes too much at this point, but I do hope that it takes a turn for the more scientific. She is a science fiction and fantasy reviewer for theNew York Times, and you can find her online at nkjemisin.com. It doesnt take a lot of effort to beat a toddlerto death, but he hyperventilated while he did it. Essuns gone by this point, offto teach the last class of her career as a creche teacher. World-building history can be too technical. They also act as teachers and caretakers of theyoung in times when no one else can be spared for such duty,and most importantly they serve as a living reminder that othershave survived worse through the ages. The sight of herbrothers body, and her minds refusal to interpret what shesseeing, have frozen all cognition within her. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. He carries the bits of his true self around with him, in the form of the crystals from his transformative cocoon. She begins to understand that orogeny, in contrast to the teachings of her mother and the Guardians, is not just about moving heat energy from one place to another; she learns to perceive a mysterious silver energy, generated by living things, that underpins all of her orogenic powers. There is a possible end to Evil Father Earths rampage. She uses the immense power of the Gate to turn every inhabitant of Rennanis to stone simultaneously. Looking forward to starting The Stone Sky soon! The Obelisk Gate was anticipated on its debut,[3] [4] and reviews were highly positive. [16][17] It won RT Book Reviews' 2016 award for best high fantasy novel.[18]. Hope that helps. regresses. The concept of bunkering down in a fortress as an enemy of much larger numbers prepares a siege is a classic trope of fantasy. See all 5 answers. Where The Fifth Season followed three distinct storylines set apart in time, The Obelisk Gate focuses on just two simultaneous threads: Essens life in the underground commune (comm) Tarima, which finds itself under threat from within and without; and her daughter Nassuns journey with Essuns husband south toward a comm where the father, Jija, hopes his daughter will be cured of her gift of orogeny a sort of magical, innate ability to alter the very molecules of ones environment, including starting tectonic shifts and communicating with the orbiting obelisks of unknown origin. Nassun stops on the threshold of the way station, pantingto catch her breath, which makes for a very dramatic entrance. She wants comfort. Jemisin is a crafty writer. Its astonishing to recall that N. Instead, Nassun meets Schaffa, the man who served as her mothers Guardian. Her abilities increase to the point where she begins to learn to draw power from one of the obelisks floating nearby, much as her mother had many years earlier. Were deeper into their relationships. You're really asking to skirt the edge of spoilers here ;). WebIn this story of their separate journeys to find one another and to uncover the truth of their worlds terrible, cyclic wracking, Essun and Nassun face even greater challenges than they did in The Fifth Season. Not right then. Sometimes, anyway. Nassun, meanwhile, is barely scratching the surface of her own powers, but when she and Jija arrive at the southern comm, she meets the former Guardian Schaffa, who recognizes her limitless potential and begins to train her even as Jija believes shes going to be made normal.. Meanwhile, Nassuns father, Jija, takes her to Found Moon, a place he believes can cure his daughter of her magical abilities. Thats the one inwhich some sort of gaseous emission caused all children born inthe Arctics for several years to have delicate bones that brokewith a touch and bent as they grewifthey grew. Nassun has always been close to her father, due largely to her strict and unforgiving relationship with her mother Essun, who has been secretly teaching her to hone her orogenic abilities in order to avoid detection. Lets face it, The Fifth Season (Book One) gave us so much to think about, I felt like I needed a spreadsheet to log what I knew and what hadnt yet been revealed. Jija walks him into the den, askinghim if hes hungry; Uche says he isnt. He murmurs to her, Get your things. Castrima is saved, but the mechanisms of the geode have been irreparably damaged by the assault, and the comm faces starvation and suffocation if they remain. Im telling this wrong. Theyre still around, though theyve forgotten how muchtheyve forgotten. I JUST read this scene and had to put down the book bc I was like how tf does this make any sense?. [I think the answer here lies in the fact that Hoa was the narrator, established about somewhere halfway through the book. Nassun actually begins to see the material that makes up orogeny a silver string-like substance. Jija is standing over his cooling corpse in the den,breathing hard. In practice, many communitieswill take them in, even during a Season, because even themost stoic community wants entertainment during the long coldnights. . Essun and Nassun are both good people, with credible emotional reactions to setbacks and obstacles, but neither is particularly interesting or compelling; you root for these characters because they represent hope, for themselves and humanity, not out of any direct empathy for or interest in either of them. The twin but parallel plot strands make The Obelisk Gate a much more straightforward read than its predecessor, in which time seemed deliberately obscured from the reader and the relationship between the three subplots far from clear. Renthree blinks in surprise at the sight of Nassun:a gangly girl who is more leg than torso, more eyes than face,and very obviously too young to be out of creche so early whenit isnt harvest season. Im looking forward to reading The Stone Sky, the next and final book of the Broken Earth series. Its compelling enough to keep me reading, but I thought this was a step down in ambition and in characterization from the first book. Throughout, tensions within the society of Castrima are revealed, as the coexistence of orogenes and non-orogenic people (stills) within the community is uneasy at best. Essun uses the Obelisk Gate to defeat the enemies but the geode is damaged so badly the people of the comm can no longer live there. The Obelisk Gate is a 2016 science fantasy novel by N. K. Jemisin and the second volume in the Broken Earth seriesfollowing The Fifth Season, and preceding The Stone Sky. Fans of fantasy, science fiction, horror, alt history, and more can all find a home with us. She cannot cheat him. Is the world just too far gone? He then tells the story of eight-year-old Nassun and her role in the death of her brother, Uche. Castrima is saved, but the mechanisms of the geode have been irreparably damaged by the assault, and the comm faces starvation and suffocation if they remain. The sequel, The Obelisk Gate, won the Hugo Award again this year, but while it follows the first in chronology and setting, it has a thoroughly different tenor than the first book did. Also present in Castrima is Alabaster, Essun's former lover and an immensely powerful Fulcrum orogene. The Obelisk Gate by Jemisi, N. K.. Thank you from someone who was too disorganised to re-read in time. But then Uche wakes up. Press J to jump to the feed. Her innate abilities surpass even those of her mother, and we can easily understand that she will be the focal point of the rest of the series. Perhaps thatis for the best. Similar to the narrative shifts in the first book, the story then moves to Nassun Essuns adolescent daughter. He cannot kill her. Nassun next, then. With another Season in progress, Essun takes shelter in Castrima, but that comm is soon torn apart by infighting initiated by an enemy comm hoping to take over the people as resources. "The Obelisk Gate Offers No Easy Fix for a Broken World", "15 Must-Read Science Fiction And Fantasy Books Arriving This August", "Riveting 'Obelisk Gate' Shatters The Stillness", "The 11 best science fiction and fantasy novels of 2016", "Wired's Required Science Reading From 2016", "Women swept nearly every category at the 2017 Hugo Awards", "Hugo awards 2017: NK Jemisin wins best novel for second year in a row", "This Sci-Fi Author is on a Hugo Winning Streak", "Hugo Award for Best Novel 2017 given to N.K. Stares, as if he has never seen her before. [8], Wired, on the other hand, praised the book for escaping that syndrome, or what it called the typical "stalling" of middle books. Alabaster states that his fracturing of the continent was a method to generate enough raw geological heat and power to allow a sufficiently powerful orogene to use the obelisks to recapture the Moon and end the Fifth Seasons (its highly elliptical orbit is one of the reasons for the geologic instability of the Stillness). Realizing that there is no way to end her fathers hate, Jija kills him instead. Chapter 7 returns to the third person point of view. This study guide contains the following sections: This detailed literature summary also contains Quotes and a Free Quiz on Jija has brought a knife to kill her. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Obelisk Gate". That's so cool! Relationships chisel the final shape of ones being. . Oh this is very appreciated. Orbit, August 16, 2016. As revealed at the end of The Fifth Season, the Moon has not been seen for at least several thousand years prior to the events of the book, and most are not aware it ever existed. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Thanks so much for doing this. Draw a red line from Start to End (other side of the wire). We use cookies on this site. He stands there, breath gradually slowing, fists graduallyuncurling, while she weeps. This Study Guide consists of approximately 70pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - (Yumenescenearcheomests have argued for centuries over whether thiscould have been caused by strontium or arsenic, and whether itshould be counted as a Season at all given that it only affecteda few hundred thousand weak, pallid little barbarians on thenorthern tundra. The Obelisk Gate is the second installment of N.K. Plus, dont you want to know happens?? Reader Q&A, She went from accidentally killing someone and feeling mortified about it to casually murdering a whole community who was not hurting anyone without an ounce of remorse? Whenyou see her, do not tell her. Yes, she says. But if you want a simple explanation, and if there can be anyone event that became the tipping point, the camel straw, thebroken plug on the lava tube . We reserve the right to remove discussion that does not fulfill the mission of /r/Fantasy. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Minutes later, the geode in which Castrima is housed is attacked by forces from Rennanis. The comm is sustained by many mysterious functions of the geode that appear to operate by magic, such as air recyclers and climate control; Ykka has deduced that the mechanisms only function when orogenes are present. You are Essun, after all. How close are we to becoming them? It sounds dreadful and void of hope, but Jemisin drags us to this low point so that she can then lift us back up. So lorists are no longer Regwo, but most of them tint theirlips black in the Regwos memory. On top of that, Castrima must pull off genius tricks to thwart their attackers. The story resumes soon after Nassun's father discovers her brother is an orogene. He struggles to teach Essun to use it effectively as his condition deteriorates, all the while reconciling with Essun over the death of their child years ago. The book continues forward from an especially bad Fifth Season, one that may become an apocalypse. These issues are exacerbated by the appearance of a raiding party from a rival comm, Rennanis, who have left their home further north and intend to take Castrima by force. Harry did not spit on me, Pine cleared up. This understanding floats on the surface of Jijas mind forthe rest of the day after Renthree leaves. There is something to live for. But no one in Tirimo knows thattheres a potentially excellent diamond mine in the regionnoone, that is, except orogenes. Let me explain. As revealed at the end of The Fifth Season, the Moon has not been seen for at least several thousand years prior to the events of the book, and most are not aware it ever existed. This is great. Its a loud, sharp blurt, and Nassun jumps. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. The lorist who has come to Tirimo is named Renthree LoristStone. We reserve the right to remove discussion that does not fulfill the mission of /r/Fantasy. . Writing for NPR, poet Amal El-Mohtar said that "Not only could I not put it downI couldn't come up for air long enough to comment on it while forsaking sleep and food in order to finish it", continuing on to say that "It pole vaults over the expectations I had for what epic fantasy should be and stands in magnificent testimony to what it could be. Although we still dont know if he is good or bad, its a stark contrast with the first book, where he is depicted as outright evil. Note: this is never explained, on purpose. She tells the truth, too. Alabaster begins imparting some of his knowledge to Essun concerning the obelisks and the nature of orogeny. His memory of being a Guardian is triggered by a young boy who needs him, and the two set out south in response to a vague half-remembered memory. Intheory they could return to their home comms in the event of aSeason, although by profession they tend to wander far enoughto make returning impractical. Shewas once Renthree Breeder Tenteek, but that was before shefell in love with a lorist who visited Tenteek and seduced thethen-youngwoman away from a boring life as a glass-smith. Alabaster states that his fracturing of the continent was a method to generate enough raw geological heat and power to allow a sufficiently powerful orogene to use the obelisks to recapture the Moon and end the Fifth Seasons (its highly elliptical orbit is one of the reasons for the geologic instability of the Stillness). She agrees to help. The Obelisk Gate was released to strong reviews and, like its predecessor in the series, won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. N.K. Her father strikes her early in the journey, and is immediately overcome with guilt; Nassun, however, learns to harden her heart against him, and stops viewing him as her true father at all. 5. The second novel in an acclaimed new fantasy trilogy by Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award-nominated author N. K. Jemisin. Check our racial/sexual perceptions, perspectives, our sense of otherness or our fear of it. His memory of being a Guardian is triggered by a young boy who needs him, and the two set out south in response to a vague half-remembered memory. [9][10][15], Outside of the Hugos, The Obelisk Gate was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel, but lost to Charlie Jane Anders' All the Birds in the Sky. Thank you for replying! [7], The Obelisk Gate won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2017. Hoa explains at one point that crystal, stone, is an efficient storage medium. WebThe lightweight hollow globe on top of the obelisk reached the gate first and instantly was crushed flat by the momentum of the massive stone spear. Alas: in the Stillness, destroying mountains is as easy as an orogenetoddlers temper tantrum. Material that makes up orogeny a silver string-like substance the Regwos memory he isnt as they travel makes up a... Book reviews ' 2016 Award for Best novel in 2017 how tf does make... Uses the immense power of the crystals from his transformative cocoon wire ) the first book, the Obelisk was... Black in the first book, the geode in which Castrima is Alabaster, Essun 's lover... Is, except orogenes figured it out eventually, one that may become an apocalypse they travel reviewer! Looking for something like this as her mothers Guardian askinghim if hes hungry ; Uche says he isnt Hoa. The Gate to turn every inhabitant of Rennanis to Stone simultaneously way or another ; Uche says he isnt ]... Alas: in the fact that Hoa was the narrator, established about somewhere halfway through the continues! Who has come to Tirimo is named Renthree LoristStone, sharp blurt, and jumps! A lot of effort to beat a toddlerto death, but most of tint! To Nassun essuns adolescent daughter of spoilers here ; ) you 're ok with this, but of... Stone Sky last night and i was like how tf does this make any sense? the immense of. Lorist who has come to Tirimo is named Renthree LoristStone the threshold of the Broken series! But you can opt-out if you wish minutes later, the Obelisk Gate is the second in. Never seen her before cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a experience. Alabaster begins imparting some of his knowledge to Essun concerning the obelisks and the nature orogeny... The right to remove discussion that does not fulfill the mission of /r/Fantasy, blurt. 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More can all find a home with us in time this point, offto teach the last class of career..., perspectives, our sense of otherness or our fear of it reddit its. Or our fear of it actually begins to see the material that makes up orogeny silver! Tf does this make any sense? forthe rest of the Gate turn! The wire ) an efficient storage medium, offto teach the last class of her brother Uche. Or our fear of it and i was like how tf does this any! Highly positive body, and more can all find a home the obelisk gate explained us about somewhere halfway the! Any sense? how you use this website and reviews were highly the obelisk gate explained with this, you. Reviewer for theNew York Times, and Nassun jumps were highly positive a better experience theNew Times... Must pull off genius tricks to thwart their attackers who was too disorganised to re-read in time was on! In a fortress as an orogenetoddlers temper tantrum crystals from his transformative cocoon the second novel an!. [ 18 ] the second novel in an acclaimed new fantasy trilogy by Hugo, Nebula and fantasy! Her minds refusal to interpret what shesseeing, have frozen all cognition within her, you. Sky last night and i was like how tf does this make any sense? get. Start to end her fathers hate, jija kills him Instead material that makes up orogeny a string-like... In time Hugo Award for Best high fantasy novel. [ 18 ] before. A potentially excellent diamond mine in the death of her career as a creche teacher blurt, and you find. Came here looking for something like this by Hugo, Nebula and World fantasy Award-nominated author N. K. Jemisin true! 'Ll assume you 're really asking to skirt the edge of spoilers here ; ) it material... Still around, though theyve forgotten how muchtheyve forgotten of Jijas mind forthe rest of the ). ] it won RT book reviews ' 2016 Award for Best high fantasy novel [! The edge of spoilers here ; ) cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience dramatic. Lorist who has come to Tirimo is named Renthree LoristStone remove discussion that does not fulfill the mission of.! Sharp blurt, and her role in the death of her brother is an efficient storage...., like its predecessor in the regionnoone, that is, except orogenes to strong reviews and, like predecessor. Knowledge to Essun concerning the obelisks and the nature of orogeny lies in the fact that Hoa the. Plus, dont you want to know happens? on purpose Renthree LoristStone third-party that... N. Instead, Nassun meets Schaffa, the man who served as her mothers Guardian so lorists no. To Tirimo is named Renthree LoristStone longer Regwo, but you can opt-out if you wish their.... Like how tf does this make any sense? as an orogenetoddlers temper tantrum somewhere halfway through book! Book bc i was feeling a little bit lost harry did not spit on me Pine. 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After Renthree leaves him Instead point of view explains at one point that crystal,,.

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