It was such an emotional end to such a brutal trilogy. And it will be so strange no longer being immersed in the strange world of the Stillness. I loved the ending and how everything consequential played out. It felt natural and tied into the first books phenomenal opening paragraph so well. The reveal of what Hoa had been doing all along or why the story had been told the way it had been(the shifts between 1st,2nd and third person)was ingenious. Rarely do you ever get to encounter a trilogy that’s solid the whole way through and has such a unique premise. Unabashedly queer and political her work feel very reminiscent of Octavia E Butler(a noted influence of N.K)but feels more modern in it’s voice.
Essun character arc hit me the hardest because of how much she reminded me of not only my mom but also my relationship with her and my gran. The way her and Nassun feel about each other felt too close to comfort.
Now that I’m at the end I’d love to hear what others who have read the series think of the not only the final book but of the series overall. Which characters did they like or hate ? What did you think of the perspective changes or Jemisin’s prose? How does it rank for you compared to other sci-fi or fantasy novels you’ve encountered?
I haven’t found another series that hits like this one. I keep trying…….
For years after finally completing Wheel of Time and finally giving up on George Martin I stayed away from any multi volume fantasy. I just couldn’t find anything that seemed worth the investment in time.
After Fifth Season won the Hugo, I got the free sample on Kindle … and the opening blew me away. This was DIFFERENT.
So I did the only thing my ADHD completionist brain could think of - I put the book down and went back to the first book Jamisin wrote - The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. And it turned out that was awesome too!
I’ve since read every scrap she has published. The only books she’s written that I can’t recommend without reservation are her new New York City duology - and the recommendation there is still absolute if you happen to love NYC or closely follow the BLM movement.
As far as Broken Earth goes, I loved the narrative devices and the overall theme of how much sin can a society commit before it is beyond redemption was striking. I loved the buildup of Essun and her daughter’s characters and their differing paths to the final showdown.
This is S tier science fiction and the triple Hugo’s were well deserved. This is an excellent example of great writing that holds a mirror up to society and I’ll be sure to continue buying everything Jamisin publishes.
I think the trilogy is a very good trilogy, and maybe the best fantasy trilogy I have read in a long time.
I have some qualms. I think the second book and moreso the third have a lot of plotting that feels convenient, that feels like it’s for the sake of bringing Essun and Nassun together. I noticed this in Jemisin’s first trilogy too: she sets up beautiful, wondrous worlds and interesting characters, but I also experience a disjunct, the characters starting to make decisions I wouldn’t expect, seemingly in pursuit of a neater resolution. It feels like a nebulous qualm, but it basically amounts to me feeling like I saw the skeleton of the story and where it was going and, consequently, seeing events as in service of the structure rather than an organic consequence of the world.
All that said, it’s still a fun ride. I think Jemisin is one of the great writers of this generation.
Like Octavia E Butler? I’m sold!
I really really loved the first book in the trilogy, but by the devil’s right buttcheek was the second book a snoooze fest. Didn’t finish it. I’ve never seen a larger drop in quality between two books in a trilogy. But these comments are making me think I’m the one missing something.
I think she was writing the second book as her mom was sick/passing. I remember halfway through the book it felt like it picked up a ton and felt like it was written so differently, so I had to look up why. Learning that made the first half of the book make way more sense to me.
Just an FYI if you ever decide to try it again!
I absolutely loved the series! Jemisin’s world building is truly masterful; I felt immersed almost immediately. Hoa’s perspective was my favorite - the way he peppered in opinions or moments of self-reflection ‘humanized’ his narrative and elevated it beyond the perceptions of him we saw from the other characters’ points of view.
It wasn’t what I expected from reading the blurb, but that’s actually a plus for me. I feel like it’s rare nowadays to be so (pleasantly) surprised by fiction, and even though it was easy to guess one of the big twists, it was so well done that I didn’t mind it.
Hoa had such an astonishing arc. From being this strange child to this powerful godlike being, it’s so rewarding getting to see the world through his eyes. Getting to understand not just him but those he loves through different retrospect point of views. I didn’t even read the blurb I just dived in based on people saying it’s great which made the unique world building so shocking.
I just finished “The Stone Sky” by N.K. Jemisin and wow, I share your speechlessness! The Broken Earth Trilogy was an emotional rollercoaster, and I’m still processing the profound ending. Being out of the Stillness feels strangely disorienting now. The way Jemisin tied everything together, especially with Hoa’s revelation, was truly ingenious. The shifts in perspective added a layer of complexity that I found refreshing. The series, unabashedly queer and political, resonated with me in a way that felt both reminiscent of Octavia E Butler and uniquely modern. Esun’s character arc hit me hard, echoing my own relationships
Disorienting is the perfect word for how being done with the stillness feels. Who was your favorite character and which arc suprised you the most?
As someone who finished and was left speechless by the first book and is trying to build up motivation to go back and finish the series, what’s the best motivation you can give?
- You’ll get the answers the first book only poses 2. Essun and her daughters relationship takes an intresting left turn 3. Orgeney is explored and developed in depths you couldn’t have predicted 4. It’s discussion of Grief and oppression are so sharp and profound their likely to stick. 5. The Writing is still just as good in terms of prose even if none of the subsequent stories plots are as well executed as the first
Have you heard Lafawndah’s album inspired by the series? Named after the first book. It’s such beautiful music, I strongly recommend it!
I haven’t actually read Broken Earth yet myself but I’ve recently read the first two books of her Inheritence series and am planning to keep going, it’s also very good.
I thought the first two books were wonderful and deserved all the accolades. I think she really, really botched the landing, but what was botched and how it was done is subtle, and it would be easy to read the third book and not see the problem, so I’m not going to haze you, OP, for liking a book with such a huge flaw. Lots of people did and do.
Here’s what I mean. SF usually works by what we call “estrangement”, which is really just allegory. Jemisin’s Stillness is both a world unto itself, and an allegory for our own world, just like so many other SF novels. In the case of this trilogy, the allegory is about slavery/racism: this is pretty easy to see, for the most part. The powers that be chain up another group of people, all for the powers’ benefit. Just look at all the language in the first two books that dehumanizes orogenes and turns them into threats and outcastes.
Now, the tragedy of slavery is that black Africans are just like everyone else: ordinary people. But a whole intellectual superstructure gets invented to dehumanize them: think conservative political cartoonists drawing Michelle Obama as having gorilla arms.
In Jemisin’s first two books, it seems clear that anyone can be unfortunate enough to be born an orogene. It might run in families, but it’s not a racially-linked characteristic: Jemisin meticulously describes the racial characteristics of pretty much everyone in the first two books, and they’re all over the map.
But in the third book, she starts to make the point that the orogenes are a particular subrace of humans: this race IS special/different. It ruins the allegory, which only works if anyone could be an orogene, and turns the final novel into a polemic.
I mean, the world is cool-ass as hell and she’s a really good prose writer, but I got halfway through the third one and was like OMG really? and had to put it down for a long time before I could go back and finish it, and the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth.