The Obelisk Gate

¡Qué maravilla! No es para menos después de recibir dos premios Hugo consecutivos.

Sigue la historia de Damaya-Sienita-Essun en la comu de Castrima tras su encuentro con Alabastro y el comienzo de una nueva Quinta Estación. Ahora se conoce la historia y el paradero de Nessun, su hija, y lo que realmente ocurrió con su hijo Uche. ¿Algo sobre los enigmáticos comepiedras? Claro que sí, acompañado de un poco de historia antigua comepiedresca y una sorprendente revelación sobre Hoa. Y, por supuesto, los benditos obeliscos. Hay mucho, mucho más.

Hay que destacar también el gigantesco trabajo de traducción de David Tejera Expósito [palmas].

Sra. Jemisin, ¿se irá por el tercer Hugo? A esperar la tercera entrega.

There is not much to say here. This book is fantastic and continues in a fantastic way like the first book ended. Nothing to complain here. If you liked the first one, you gonna read this one anyway.

This more than other series I've encountered needs a rapid reading in succession as there is no hand holding to the first book (read over a year ago to refresh your memory. Otherwise it furthers the universe but falls into the pitfals of most “books #2 in a trilogy”... I Have #3 lined up

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and can clearly see why it won a Hugo award. The world-building continues in an unobtrusive way, we learn more about old characters, and meet two-ish crucial new characters. A lot of the writing and plot innovations that made [b:The Fifth Season 19161852 The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) N.K. Jemisin https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386803701s/19161852.jpg 26115977] so refreshing continue in the second book, though they understandably don't feel as innovative the second time around. My only complaints are that it suffered a little from middle-book syndrome (perhaps this is unavoidable in a trilogy), and some parts with Essun really dragged on. I went into the book knowing that I can already read the third one, so this didn't bother me as much.

Well, here we are again. Honestly, The Obelisk Gate is much harder to review due to a lot of things. Firstly, it is a second book in the trilogy, and it is extremely difficult to talk about it without spoiling anything from the first one. But I will try anyway.

Secondly, a lot of things are still so confusing. Sometimes I had almost no idea of what was happening. But I guess, it is just the way this book was supposed to be.

The Obelisk Gate is narrated by three characters as in the first book. But we get to meet a lot of new people as well. The good thing about this book is that it shows that every person in this book has their own motivations. Often they are unclear, but as I said earlier, I suppose it was the whole point.

On one hand, a lot of things from the first book were explained. The obelisks, stone eaters, orogenes, guardians. And there are a lot of unexpected revelations. On the other hand, the more we get to know, the more questions there are to be answered.

The second book has not felt just like a filler book in the trilogy. Yes, there were a lot more conversations, but it helped better to understand the world (or what was left of it). And the action was there as well. I believe that “What the rust?” has become my standard question after almost every chapter.

There is such a thing as too much loss. Too much has been taken from you both -taken and taken and taken, until there's nothing left but hope, and you've given that up because it hurts too much. Until you would rather die, or kill, or avoid attachments altogether, than lose one more thing.

Much more straight-forward than the first book, but still full of thrills and excitement. I love the constant pace of discovery around the magic system and world-building.

Some of the emotional points are feeling worn, though. I'm eager to read the third and final book, but I hope the characters' emotional range expands a bit.

“But if you stay, no part of this comm gets to decide that any other part of this comm is expendable. No voting on who gets to be people. This is a community. You will be unified. You will fight for each other. Or I will rusting kill every last one of you.”

I was very very excited to read this book after the amazing Fifth Season. I can't say that I was disappointed with this but may be my expectations were too high. This is a proper middle book of a trilogy – not a lot of exciting things happen, we get quite a few answers which we were waiting for but also lead to more questions, and the ending is perfect to setup an explosive (hopefully) finale.

This book has two main POVs – Essun and Nassun. Essun has unexpectedly been reunited with Alabaster on his deathbed who reveals that he is the reason for the beginning of the new season. He also tells her that he wants to teach her how to use her orogeny and obelisks' power to restore the Earth's equilibrium and bring an end to the seasons forever. On the other hand, we get to know that Nassun left with her father voluntarily. They make their way to a comm in the Deep South where she meets other rogga children and guardians.

“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.”

Essun grows in power as we expect from her and also tries to become a normal member of the Castrima comm. Her transformation into a leader and protector is shown quite well. The surprise is Nassun who is getting equally powerful by day in the shadow of Schaffa but her intentions are not so pure. It's easy to sympathize with her because she has been surrounded by people who hate her which has hardened her heart. She is a ten year old thrust into a centuries old war she doesn't understand. Even though her choices seem wrong, I don't think we can begrudge her given her circumstances. However, the best part of the book for me was whatever little was written about Hoa. His protective nature and love he shows towards Essun is very childlike and ancient at the same time and particularly endearing. I look forward to reading so much more about him.

On the whole, this is a good book with lots of information and answers provided and new characters explored. But there is something missing relative to the first one. However, it was a good read and makes me quite curious for The Stone Sky.

an incredible scifi world, an amazing protagonist, intense political allegory, beautiful writing, clever asides (the “you get ready to rumble” chapter title, anyone?), and every time you think you need to put it down and stop for a while, another plot bomb that keeps you hooked. possibly the best book I have ever read.

I'm so in love with everything about this series

Don't ever cross her
her mother's daughter, no lie
she will ice you out.

3.5

Classic second in a trilogy, plot moved along, but nothing EARTH SHATTERING. DO YOU GET MY PUN I PUT IT IN ALL CAPS.

NK Jemisin is perhaps the best working genre writer alive right now.

Maybe it's just me. Maybe I just needed to acclimate myself to her writing style. But I liked this book better than the first one. I comprehended a little more of the world after reading both books. I was getting more excited about Essun and Hoa. And, much to my surprise, I was super on board with bringing Nassun and Schaffa together. I think they might have been my favorite part of the book, for some odd reason.

Also, Alabaster. But I needed more. That's my only complaint. I looooove Alabaster.

3.25 out of 5 stars – see this review and others here.

This continues to be unlike any book series I've read. N.K. Jemisin's use of language is wholly immersive and imbued with so much brutality. Her imagery pulls you in and communicates the nature of the world so effectively that it's draining to read in long sittings. Compared to the first book, this one seemed less focused and had a more meandering story to tell. It's the sort of book I appreciate more than I enjoy, as it's unrelentingly harsh and moments of levity are few and far between.

★★★¼ out of 5

Wish I'd waited and read The Fifth Season right before this - it took me a while to get up to speed and remember the details/plot of what happened in the first book. This was an excellent continuation of the series and I can't wait to read the final book!

A tough one to rate, isn't it? Of course when compared to the first book, this sequel is not as earth-shattering (haha see what I did there), but it's still fantastic. 4.5 leaning towards 5. I'm still fiercely attached to Essun, but it was Nassun's story I found the most poignant, with all those daddy issues :/ I need book 3, like, right now. I want more!

I had been waiting so long for this book. So very long. I remember last year finishing The Fifth Season on the day I both finished Ash vs. The Evil Dead” and saw Star Wars, and thinking that it just wasn't my day for satisfying endings. Obelisk Gate is still not a satisfying ending, of course (part 2), but that isn't really a problem when the story is so damn good I'll be upset when there actually is an ending.

The world expands in this novel as we learn more about Guardians, how orogeny works, Stone Eaters, and what the heck is up with the Moon. We also learn exactly who is narrating all these second person chapters, aking all the haters realize there WAS a good reason for using second person after all. Additionally, we start getting Nassun's point of view, and learning all the things that make her a part of and set her apart from her mother. Schaffa too joins our POV list, as NK once again makes me feel a sympathy for characters I never thought possible.

And of course there's a cast of diverse, believable, and unique individuals supporting us. A million points for Tonkee, everyone. One million points.

It's good. Jemisin is really really good and completely deserving of her recent Hugo success. If you read The Fifth Season, you know you can't afford to skip this one. If you haven't read The Fifth Season, what's wrong with you?

However, for all that this novel has excellent world-building, is populated by wonderful characters, and is written in great style, it does have one weak spot: the plot, particularly in relation to the overall narrative of the series. While there is nothing inherently wrong with the novel???s plot ??? not least because a lot of it is devoted to character development ??? there is a certain unevenness to it that reminds me that this is the middle book of a trilogy: the midway point between a spectacular opening and what promises to be a spectacular ending. This is what I call ???middle book syndrome???, and while The Obelisk Gate does not suffer too badly from it, I still strongly feel that sense of it being a waypoint on the journey towards something greater, instead of being something great on its own.

Full review here: http://wp.me/p21txV-ve

slightly less good than the first book. felt very much like the middle book of a trilogy.

But hey, it's hard to beat perfection.

I feel unqualified to review this. Obviously, it's genius. Obviously, I have not read enough fantasy/scifi to be enlightened enough to review it. I just really, really dig these books. The world building is amazing, the characters are so multi-dimensional, and the plot moves at a pace where I am never, ever bored.

I have two gripes, one is valid and the other one is just stupid, and my fault.
First, I am having trouble with Nassun, who is supposed to be 10 but who is sly like a 40 year old. I'm just not buying her character. It doesn't help that I see that whole POV of “team bad guy” anyway.

Can I just say how I wish Castrima actually existed and was a hotel and I could vacation there for a week?

Other problem, the plot. My ridiculous brain that reads two books a week cannot remember every plot point from 7 months ago when I read the first book. How do people keep these series books straight? Especially something like this with all of these characters and locations. It's funny but I remembered Essun and Tonkee, and Alabaster. I forgot everyone else. I forgot who Hoa was! I forgot (and still can't quite remember) Schaffa. So, this time I kept a written record of everything that happend so that I can read that and remind myself before the 3rd (and final?) one comes out.

I'm going to wait a bit and then go and read her other series.

Executive Summary: I absolutely loved [b:The Fifth Season 19161852 The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) N.K. Jemisin https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1386803701s/19161852.jpg 26115977], making this book an almost impossible task. It held up fairly well to the original, but suffered a bit from middle book syndrome I think. I'm greatly looking forward to the final book in the trilogy.Audiobook: Robin Miles does another excellent job, and I will continue to do this one in audio as a result.Full ReviewThis had to be one of my most anticipated reads of the year. That was amped up even more after Ms. Jemisin won a well deserved Hugo. This series is unlike anything else I've read in fantasy, and I thank her for it. Over the years I tend to favor fantasy books with cool magic systems and lots of action. This series is almost the opposite of that. There is an interesting magic system that important to the plot, but the plot largely deals with how people are treated in society when they are different. Discrimination based on race, gender or sexual preference are still far too common today, yet they don't tend to show up in fantasy. Not to mention that the characters are often all entirely white. Science Fiction has a long tradition of evaluating not only the possibilities of science, but as a commentary on present day society. Why not fantasy? Ms. Jeminsin manages to do this while telling a very interesting and engaging story.I still love my high action magic fight books, but a book like this tends to stick with me a lot longer. It's the kind of book you think about even when you're not reading it. That's hard to do, especially at a time when we're being inundated with amazing new stories in the form of books, games, TV and the occasional movie. With so much vying for our attention, it can be hard to be memorable. This series easily does that so far.One of the things I loved best about [b:The Fifth Season 19161852 The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) N.K. Jemisin https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1386803701s/19161852.jpg 26115977] was how the story was told. We had three different POV stories that tied very well together by the end of the book, but what would Ms. Jemisin do here? I found her choices of story telling to work nearly as well. Essun's story continues on in the second person, a form I pretty much haven't encountered since English class. Most of the rest of the story is told from a new POV and I found that story complements Essun's quite well.That said, I didn't enjoy this quite so much as the first one. There were a few slower parts, and at times it felt like things was being set up for the final book. In other words a bit of “middle book syndrome”. I still tore through it in only a few days however, and I'm still thinking about it while I've moved on to other books.If you enjoyed [b:The Fifth Season 19161852 The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) N.K. Jemisin https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1386803701s/19161852.jpg 26115977], I suspect you'll like this one as well. If you haven't read [b:The Fifth Season 19161852 The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) N.K. Jemisin https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1386803701s/19161852.jpg 26115977] yet, and are interested in something more thought provoking than your average fantasy book, give this series a try. I think it's really fantastic and can't wait for the final book to come out.

The Obelisk Gate is a complex book that is phenomenal in every way. The characters are each crafted with care to show individuals capable of a range of complicated views and emotions, and it builds on The Fifth Season wonderfully and thoughtfully. The writing is lovely and often very hard hitting emotionally. I've loved a few of N. K. Jemisin's books, but this is my new favorite by her–and a new favorite of the year and a new favorite book period!

10/10

Full Review: http://www.fantasybookcafe.com/2016/08/review-of-the-obelisk-gate-by-n-k-jemisin/

Old Review Text:
Review to come, but for now I'll just say that this is a wonderful, complex book that's even better than The Fifth Season. The Obelisk Gate is the best 2016 release I've read.