N. K. Jemisin

Essun's missing daughter grows more powerful every day, and her choices may destroy the world in this "magnificent" Hugo Award winner and NYT Notable Book. (NPR)

The season of endings grows darker, as civilization fades into the long cold night.

Essun -- once Damaya, once Syenite, now avenger -- has found shelter, but not her daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world, with a request. But if Essun does what he asks, it would seal the fate of the Stillness forever.

Far away, her daughter Nassun is growing in power -- and her choices will break the world.

N. K. Jemisin's award winning trilogy continues in the sequel to The Fifth Season.

The Broken Earth: Book 2

The Obelisk Gate

Teil 2 der Endzeit-Fantasy-Trilogie, die neue Maßstäbe setzt: Alle drei Bände wurden mit dem renommierten »Best Novel Hugo Award« ausgezeichnet – ein absolutes Novum in der Geschichte der Fantasy.

Das Ende der Welt steht kurz bevor – zum allerletzten Mal.
Noch ist es Essun nicht gelungen, ihr letztes lebendes Kind zu finden – und den Mann, den sie einst geliebt hat, bevor er zum Mörder ihres Sohnes und Entführer ihrer Tochter wurde. Stattdessen wurde Essun gefunden: von ihrem ehemaligen Mentor, Alabaster Tenring, dem Zerstörer der Welt. Und er hat eine Bitte, die nur sie erfüllen kann. Doch wenn Essun tut, wonach der Mächtige verlangt, könnte dies das Schicksal der Menschheit endgültig besiegeln.
Meilen entfernt wächst derweil die Macht in Essuns Tochter unaufhaltsam. Werden ihre Entscheidungen schließlich die Welt vernichten?

»Brennender Fels« ist ein New-York-Times-Bestseller und der zweite Teil der preisgekrönten Endzeit-Fantasy-Trilogie von Bestseller-Autorin N. K. Jemisin über die »Stille«, jene Welt, die sich mit heftigen Erdbeben und Vulkanausbrüchen gegen die Menschheit erhoben hat.

Endzeit-Fantasy-Trilogie #2

Brennender Fels

Angela Zeiler

"This is the way the world ends, for the last time. The season of endings grows darker, as civilization fades into the long cold night. Essun — once Damaya, once Syenite, now avenger — has found shelter, but not her daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world, with a request. But if Essun does what he asks, it would seal the fate of the Stillness forever. Far away, her daughter Nassun is growing in power - and her choices will break the world." --Publisher's description.

Yash

compared to the fifth season, the obelisk gate elaborated more on different povs and dynamics amongst the characters.

Kaitlyn R

A book rich in character development and a slightly predictable ending. Looking forward to reading the third novel in the trilogy!

Anna

Katherine Yang

Still really good! The worldbuilding and setting and characters and issues of the whole series are strong enough to hold this middle book up. That said, it did feel more static and regurgitative compared to the high-inducing experience of the first book. I also found it more confusing, plot-wise, maybe a little uneven. I think the highlight of this book for me was getting to see Nassun's POV and character development, which felt very mirrored to her mother's self-discovery and strengthening/hardening in the first one, with the twist of Nassun's own experiences and situation. 

Excited to see how the threads (wink!) coalesce in the finale!

Side note: being immersed in the POVs and world of magical beings really lifts you up only to thunk you back down in the muggle world. Woe is sci-fi/fantasy.

Jamieson

Ms Jemisin had changed the fantasy game. This series has raised my fantasy standards, I can’t believe they used to be in hells basement. My bar is higher now I am a changed person 

Although bk1 is more twisty and clever book2 is more sustained and takes much needed time to develop the mc and the magic system. I appreciated it A LOT

Review to come

Rachel Kanyid

I honestly thought this was incredibly slow and did not have a lot of story-line. It kind of felt like a book full of filler... Not sure if I'll continue with the series.

Ryan LaFerney

The Obelisk Gate is the sequel to the excellent The Fifth Season and the middle volume of the Broken Earth trilogy, N.K. Jemisin's critically-acclaimed take on the venerable Dying Earth subgenre. The Fifth Season was a highly accomplished novel, describing a brand new world with skill and intelligence and blending together elements of fantasy, post-apocalyptic fiction and a dash of the weird to create something compelling and interesting. 

Transitioning from where The Fifth Season left off, The Obelisk Gate is a stunning sequel. The non-linear plot of two past timelines and a present one converged towards the end of the first book, and The Obelisk Gate takes the story forward almost immediately with the second person present POV of Essun. There are two new third-person POVs. One is a character from the first book, Schaffa, and another which was only mentioned but not seen, Nassun, Essun’s daughter, who ran away with her father after he beat to death her brother.

The Obelisk Gate mainly moves between Essun's story and that of her daughter’s Nassun. The first book was an extended road trip - mainly through the eyes of Essun, the second book alternates between Essun's static story in a local comm and Nassun's long journey across thousands of miles into the far south with her abusive father, who desires to cure her “orgeny”. This changes things up nicely and means that Essun, now a guest of the community of Castrima, has to actually stay put, learn what's going on from Alabaster and help defend the community from outsiders that would steal their supplies, even while she fears prejudice and hatred from members of her own comm.

The worldbuilding deepens in this installment, with fresh revelations about the distant past and the true and alarming nature of the enigmatic stone eaters. But as in the previous volume, it’s the people who take front and center: Nassun and Essun are fascinating characters. And Jemisin’s depictions of mob behavior are frighteningly realistic.

This rightfully deserved the Hugo award. The Obelisk Gate is a powerful middle volume.

Put this series next to Lord of The Rings for best Fantasy.

Izza

4.25 stars | this series is blowing my mind.

eliz

i would give nk jemisin the entire universe

"After all, a person is herself, and others. Relationships chisel the final shape of one's being. I am me, and you. Damaya was herself and the family that rejected her and the people of the Fulcrum who chiseled her to a fine point. Syenite was Alabaster and Innon and the people of poor lost Allia and Meov. Now you are Tirimo and the ash-strewn road's walkers and your dead children...and also the living one who remains."

First of all, I would like to take a moment to appreciate this author's introductory paragraph(s). Caught me off guard once again, just like the first book did. The best thing is, nothing gets bad. Father Earth is still deteriorating and everybody's flaw started to show and civilization is (still) about to be totally wiped out, yes. But that's what made this book even better. At first I find it slow but never dragging, because every character was given an exposure for a reason (literally no tapon no extra-lang). Surprisingly relaxing and frustrating and nerve-racking. Did not expect that the gaps will be filled out this way but surely excited for the last piece!!

excerpts: (wish I could put more but technically most of my fave lines = spoiler)
p. 7 "He can sleep through anything. The songs of the earth have always been his lullaby."
p. 163 "Thirty thousand years? Forty? A long time to be pathetic creatures we are now, huddling behind our walls and putting all our wits, all our learning, toward the singular task of staying alive. ... Once, we were so much more."

(wish I could put more but technically most of my fave lines = spoiler)

Janice Hopper

The second book in this series is simpler in structure than the first. The chronology is mostly linear. Much of the story takes place in one location. But we get more information about Essun and her daughter Nassun, as well as more information about the Stone Eaters. [Y'all, I listened to the audiobook. I may spell the names wrong since I haven't eye-read them. I had to look back at other reviews just to get the names of the main characters spelled right.]

It's a good continuation of the story, though not quite as compelling as the first one. I've got volume 3 queued up on my audio player, so I'll be listening to that pretty soon!


Distracting annoyance: Audible narrator Robin Miles appears to pronounce spinel (I think that's the word she's using) as SPY-nel (like spine, with el hooked on the end.) Seriously???

Didi Chanoch

What do you do, after writing a blindingly impressive fantasy novel as the first in a series? If you're Nora Jemisin, you follow it up with a sequel that may be better. 

As this is the second in a trilogy, and as just about anything I have to say will be a spoiler, I'll just say this: Read this series. The Broken Earth is staggering. The language, the characters, the worldbuilding, the story. No element is weaker than the rest. All are almost ridiculously strong. 

If you played the Mass Effect 3 DLC "Citadel," you may be familiar with with the arena in that game. As Shepard, you can basically break the scoring system of the arena. If I could award this book the number of stars it deserves, it would break Goodreads' scoring system.

Haley Murray

3.5

god damn this is so complex.. like the world building is so hard to follow sometimes it kind of takes me out of the story :/ but for the most part, still enjoyable

Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel
The second book in the record-breaking triple Hugo Award-winning trilogy

The season of endings grows darker, as civilization fades into the long cold night.
Essun has found shelter, but not her missing daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world, with a request only Essun can grant.

Laura Kehoe

I know I've read this before, but for some reason I could not for the life of me remember much of the last half. Soooooo glad I reread this beauty. N.K Jemisin is just so fantastic. This series is terrific!

N.K. Jemisin

O Portal dos Obeliscos

Nelson Zagalo

"O Portal dos Obeliscos" é o segundo livro da trilogia "Terra Fraturada" de N.K. Jemisin. Apesar de receber o segundo prémio Hugo consecutivo, o livro foi atacado por alguns fãs por sofrer do chamado síndrome do "segundo livro", ou "livro do meio", de que discordo. Apesar de poder considerar este livro ligeiramente inferior ao primeiro, continua a apresentar níveis de envolvimento, de construção de mundo e desenvolvimento de personagens de grande qualidade. Mais importante, a narrativa prossegue, de modo brilhante, cruzando fantasia e ficção-científica, com várias explicações de grande relevo a surgirem e a fazerem elevar toda a nossa compreensão do mundo-história iniciado no primeiro livro. Inevitavelmente sente-se que estamos em trânsito, que vimos de algum lado e temos um lugar aonde queremos chegar. Este segundo livro preenche o que faltava no primeiro, abre mais elementos do jogo, mas deixa ainda muito suspenso no ar que nos obriga a partir para a leitura do terceiro para poder chegar à compreensão do universo criado por Jemisin.

Continuamos a ter narração em 2ª pessoa o que continua a surpreender-me pela forma belíssima como funciona, e é já uma marca da série. Continuamos a ter personagens densos, intrincados totalmente humanos apesar da sua suposta não-humanidade. Aliás o gozo de ler uma série como estas está na forma como Jemisin cruza géneros, como ora estamos a ler conflitos, lutas, traições, clichés de um género, para a seguir entrarmos em descrições complexas sobre geologia e física, e na página seguinte estarmos dentro dos personagens em total indagação sobre a razão de continuar a ser. Neste livro senti que o modo como a história vai refinando a ciência e humano se aproxima de algum modo dos mundos trabalhado por Alex Garland, o que inevitavelmente me atrai ainda mais para dentro do mundo-história.

O ponto menos bom do livro, mas era-o já no primeiro, assenta no modo algo denso e caótico como muita exposição vai sendo feita que dificulta a completa compreensão, ou melhor, a compreensão fácil de tudo que está a acontecer. Claro que isso ajuda à produção de mistério, mas por vezes sentimos algum desespero tentando recordar que personagem é, ou em que conflito foi relevante, e ligar as informações para chegar ao que autora está a tentar passar. Como digo, acredito que podia ser melhor cozinhado, mas isso faria com que se perdesse alguma similitude com o próprio mundo, caótico, que está a ser descrito.

A diversidade e inclusão continua à flor da pele, muitas situações conflituais são facilmente identificáveis como analogias da nossa realidade o que torna o universo em si ainda mais atrativo e relevante. E agora resta-nos o terceiro livro, perceber de que são verdadeiramente capazes Essun e Nassun e qual a explicação para o surgimento dos Comedores de Pedra e da Orogenia.

Publicado no VI:
https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...

James Eaton

I love this series. Jemisin is an amazing writer and this series is just so good. 

Excited to finish this series soon.

Zoey Mikalatos

AMAZING! Excellent sequel to the first book.

"The way of the world isn't the strong devouring the weak, but the weak deceiving and poisoning and whispering in the ears of the strong until they become weak, too."

Dweedle 

And on the second day, there was magic. I might have liked this one even better than the first!

Elinor

why arent more people talking about this book
it is so amazing and Jemisin's worldbuilding is one of the best that i have ever read. these characters are so incredibly complex and the magic system is so cool and there is a cast of very diverse characters and it doesnt follow the usual fantasy tropes like you would expect it to. and just wow these books are amazing i cant wait to read the stone sky.

Sarahi

I like how the story is developing. Not as confused as before. Love that the Moon is a recurring subject

Michelle García

HOLY COW this book is so good, the author has an amazing way to just keep things steady just to let shit hit the fan near the end!! And I just want more!!
Amazing, can't wait to read the third one

Fraser Simons

A few more interesting revelations about the setting kept up my interest. It’s always tough to keep up the excitement after a first instalment but the author does a great job of pacing everything interesting out. I’ve also guessed why Hoa is educating the main character about their life, which is pretty cool (if I’m right, but I am, I’m sure). 

Nassun’s story paralleling it was also interesting, as it revealed more about the mysterious guardians. I enjoy the amount of hard-sci-fi attaches to the fiction as well. Just enough to keep it interesting, not enough to make it boring as all hell, as most hard sci-fi tends to be for me.

elif sinem

The sleight of hand framing is excellent. Man... man.... man. Once again the skill and nuance to write this. The addition of Nassun is simply perfect as well. Yeah no I don't think Ms Jemisin can do wrong in this trilogy at this point.

Omar Fernandez

At some point, I was about to stop reading this book. In fact, I put it aside a few times. It was just a bit slow at the beginning and boring. I didn't care much for any of the POV. 

However, I kept reading and about halfway through things started moving more quickly and got much more interesting. The characters became more likeable for me and the story unfolded in a way that was captivating. Now that the book is over, I'm interested in reading the third book to know how the story ends. 

Someone told me to think of all three books as one long book. I think that's a good way to think about it. That lull in the middle is just you getting information and context.  While I feel that it could have been shorter, I'm glad that I pushed through and now I'm looking forward to the last book. 

The Obelisk Gate The Broken Earth: Book 2

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