Review of The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

This novel is a finalist for the 2017 Nebula Award and the 2018 Hugo Award. It’s SF/fantasy and was published by Orbit. It’s third and last in The Broken Earth series.

After the fall of Castrima, Essun and the survivors set out, looking for a safe place. Nassun and Schaffa leave Found Moon in Antarctica, taking the orogene children with them. Out of reach of the village, they abandon the children and continue north. The Stone Eater Hoa takes Essun through the Earth to Antarctica, where she sees Jiju’s remains and finds that Nassun has gone. Nassun and Schaffa arrive at a deadciv city where Nassun powers up a vehicle which takes her and Schaffa to Corepoint on the other side of the world. On the way, Nassun contacts the consciousness of the Evil Earth and Schaffa is mortally wounded. Hoa takes Essun to Corepoint where she struggles with the angry Nassun for control of the Obelisk Gate. Will the Earth be destroyed, or can Essun recapture the Moon into its orbit?

As I said about books I and II of this series, the best things about it are the creative ideas and the complex world building. This continues during this book, as we learn more about the deadly Seasons, the deadciv, the lost Moon, the Stone Eaters and the orogenes’ function in suppressing the Seasons and making the Earth livable. The characters are well drawn here, and I’m finally liking them a little better. Essun and Schaffa have both mellowed so they’re less cruel and angry. You also have to give Jemisin credit for avoiding cliché endings. This was different.

Not so good points: These also continue from books I & II, with the worst problem still being readability. There are a lot of pages here and not much in the way of events, plus shifting first, second and third person narration. We’re also up to a huge cast of characters—I notice there are character guides sprung up on the internet to help you keep track of who’s who, as it’s hard to remember given the gap between release dates on the books. There are also some logical issues that developed in this installment. If Stone Eaters can carry people through the Earth, then why have they made the key players walk around through all the dangers of the Season? Also, if Hoa is the narrator for the second person sections here, why does he refer to himself in third person? And why is everything about magic in this book, when there was no mention of it in the first book? And a loose end: what happened to Essun’s baby?

Three and a half stars.

Update on the Dragon Awards Drama 2017

On August 10, officials at the Dragon Awards reconsidered their policy of not letting authors withdraw their names from the competition, which resulted in Littlewood and Jemisin withdrawing. Scalzi, after consulting with the officials, decided to stay in the competition, but can’t attend because he’s booked somewhere else for Labor Day weekend. Interestingly, Littlewood and Jemisin both released statements that they were withdrawing because they didn’t want to be used as political pawns.

Littlewood’s position is easy to understand, as her novel The Hidden People was on Vox Day’s list of recommendations for the award. (Can you still call it a Rabid Puppy slate when he calls it recommendations?) Appalled at being targeted, Littlewood jumped to make it clear she didn’t want to be tainted by Rabid Puppy support. This pretty much mirrors similar behavior from authors in the last couple of years. But Jemisin’s statement is more interesting. “There’s a nasty tendency on the part of some organizations to try and use tokens,” she says on her blog, “— most often women and people of color — as ornamentation and flak shielding. It’s a way of saying, ‘Hey! Look! We’re diverse. We’re fair. [Person X’s presence] proves it!’ when in fact the fairness may be an unearned veneer and the diversity a reluctant afterthought.”

This suggests even Jemisin is noticing how often her name appears on awards ballots when plenty of other talented and deserving writers-of-color are out there. Evidently she suspected the Dragon Awards committee might have inserted her name, but it turned out to be fans after all (described as “justice warriors” by President of Dragon Con, Pat Henry). Whatever, these withdrawals reduce the gender diversity of the award even further, leaving the ballot at approximately 82% men.

In light of yesterday’s Hugo results where all the fiction awards went to women, there seems to be a growing split between male and female interests during the SFF awards cycle. Is there any chance this might improve in the near future?

Review of The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

I’m done with a couple of the novels before the short story, after all. Went on a brief tour with a singing group over the week end and read on the bus. Jemisin’s novel was published by Orbit. It ended up with 11 recommendations on the Nebula Recommended Reading List.

After Nassun’s father Jija kills her brother Uche, he takes her south ahead of the smoke and ash of the Rift, eventually ending up at the Antarctic comm where the Guardian Schaffa welcomes them. Essun, meanwhile, is still at the Castrima comm, where she and the stone eater Hoa have found a group of people accepting of orogenes. The dying Alabaster, who tore the Rift in the continent, is also at Castrima, and he tells Essun she needs to learn to connect the obelisks in order to correct the moon’s orbit and stop the Seasons that have nearly caused human extinction. Paradoxically, Schaffa tells Nassun the same thing. While Essun is still struggling with controlling her powers, Castrima is threatened by another comm. Can she defeat the invaders and save the world?

I wasn’t looking forward to reading this one, as I actively disliked last year’s The Fifth Season. Maybe I was just ready for the scenario this year, but this one suited me a lot better. Pros: The story is complex but narrated fairly consistently this time (second person for Essun and third for Nassun), which makes it quite a bit more readable. It still moves at a glacial pace, but the action rises continually to a nice climax at the end. With the plan to rescue the moon, we have some hope of making things better, but the risks here are such that I’m not expecting any of these people will survive. Maybe Nassun.

Cons: Introducing magic into the mix sort of muddies the waters. I thought orogeny was a natural, inborn talent to manipulate the earth and that this was science fiction, but now these people look like witches instead and I’m uncertain about the rules of their magic. Also, I’ve lost that little pique of wonder about the obelisks, but it’s balanced a bit by some scary things going on related to free will. I still don’t much like the characters, but this novel looks quite a bit more award worthy than Jemisin’s entry last year.

Four and a half stars.