The Stone Sky

Jemisin caps off the best fantasy trilogy with a conclusion that is deeply & profoundly personal to the protagonist, and also about changing the world. Jemisin is endlessly imaginative, but her books capture a grittiness about our world, about self-sacrifice and cultural conflicts and about what people in power inflict on others. This is one of the darkest books I've read in ages and I was sitting on a friend's floor trying to convince her to read it anyway: “When Jemisin's characters die, it's about something. She cares about her characters. They aren't forgotten. The other characters don't just magically heal their trauma. They find ways to construct meaning to move forward.” This is a story about being in community and how we do that, despite hurting each other, despite being unable to save each other. This is a story about unconventional loves (and more about Alabaster and Essun) including platonic and familial. I loved every page.

I just love this series now. Not only does it have a unique storytelling style (use of first-, second-, and third-person narrative point of views, with a strong voice). It has a unique idea (a post-apocalyptic/dystopian world in a fantasy setting), and it executes it greatly. The characters are memorable (maybe because there are three point of view characters, one for each of the three narrative point of views), and they have a great overarching story arch.

The only problem I have is that there are a few continuity errors between this book and the previous two, and the fact that the softback book I borrowed from the library had a cover that was sharp and actually hurt to hold :(.

Overall, excellent read. Would reread the series.

NK Jemisin's seminal Broken Earth series is brought to a close with this epic book. This series is a literary marvel in my eyes - the dense but engaging prose, amazing world building, layered and interwoven relationships between the protagonists and fascinating overarching themes. Jemisin has tied together such themes as Gaia, mans hubris over nature, geological timescales, genocide, post apocalyptic society and extreme social ostracization. The implicit warnings about climate and the fragility of nature feel very apt for the modern era.

The Stone Sky neatly ties together the series, with a more detailed examination of what originally broke the Earth and the culmination of Essun and Nassun's story. Mysteries surrounding the Stone Eaters are resolved and the beginnings of Orogenes and Guardians are revealed. The story feels ‘completed' by the end of the novel, again an important achievement in a trilogy such as this.

Jemisin is a master story teller - her use of more interesting perspectives and conversational yet literary style makes this a story that really moves beyond the basic dystopian premise. I love her use of the second person, which helps to draw in and engage the reader and is too rarely used by modern authors. Her characters are complex and believable. They have their flaws as well as their virtues. There is a grimness, a darkness pervading most of the trilogy, but this book leaves some light at the end of the tunnel.

One of the most impressive trilogies out there and a must read for any speculative fiction fan.

Sadly, my difficulty to get involved in the story due to its absolute complexity lasted till the end of this book.
I still feel like I missed so many things. I feel at the end this complexity ( especially the vocabulary) didn't add anything to the story.
Still a 3,5 because it is good but oh my it is difficult to read.

“How can we prepare for the future if we won't acknowledge the past?”

An amazing series comes to an end. It has been fantastic, reading this series; I don't think I can really write much about it because I can't do it justice. This book is a perfect conclusion to this series; it answers all the questions that have been going through my mind since I started reading The Fifth Season – how was the world originally like, who sent the Moon away, how did the Shattering occur, what is the origin of orogeny, who are the stone eaters and whose side are they on.

“But for a society built on exploitation, there is no greater threat than having no one left to oppress. Someone must suffer, if the rest are to enjoy luxury.”

This book as well as the series explore so many other themes through the story. A mother will do anything to protect her child, irrespective of how strong or wrong the child is. Oppression can't go on forever, it will turn into a dangerous bloody cycle. We can't exploit nature endlessly with no consequences. Ultimately, all everyone wants is a little bit of love – between family, friends or even strangers. Just show a little bit of love and little less of fear towards the person next to you and the world will have less strife.

“There have always been those who use despair and desperation as weapons.”

I think everyone should read this series. It's extremely well written prose, engaging story, very strongly developed characters, and a world that is very different and similar to ours at the same time. Books that provoke you, make you think and introspect, being enjoyable at the same time, are very hard to come by, especially in Fiction. Don't let go of this one.

“If you love someone, you don't get to choose how they love you back.”

Maybe I read these book too fast after each other, but by this point I really didn't care any more. I didn't like this version of Shaffa, Ykka and Tonke could have been in this more in my opinion and Essun was just starting to get really boring. 

I also felt the ending was really anticlimactic. I don't know what I expected because they talked about catching the Moon in book 2 already, so of course that is where this book ends. But it just felt very useless. There was really no more conflicted by that point. We have known this was the plan since book 2, and then it just happened. They just do it. That not even in the middle, all the way at the end. I was just very done and bored by the end. 

Time grows short, my love. Let's end with the beginning of the world, shall we?

I can't believe that this story is finished. I was ready for it to end, but the finale came abruptly nevertheless. I don't remember when was the last time that I felt so much. The ending couldn't have happened without my tears (or maybe I was just in a mood today).

Many would say that this book is about diversity or feminism or LGTB etc. But that's so untrue. All this does not matter. The love, loss, pain, grief - they are the main characters. The funny thing - there was so much talk about the war throughout the story, but there is no evil side. There wasn't even a villain. No black and white here. Only ash.

Finally, I get an explanation. Everything comes to an end and we get to understand all the stuff that was going on. Actually, it's hard to talk only about the third book, as I can't stop thinking about the three books as a whole. That was a beautiful story. So heartbreaking and hopeless in so many places, but gorgeous anyway.

Usually, that's not my kind of books. In truth, I prefer more optimistic atmosphere. I'm still surprised, that I've finished the trilogy (I wanted to DNF it at the beginning of the first book, remember?). But it was so worthy of my time. And my emotions. I'm feeling a little bit empty and spent at the moment, but it is a really pleasant feeling of finishing the great books.

The sun is up. Let's face the future, at least, and leave the past to itself.

Vor í Vaglaskógi

Kaleo

NK Jemisin is just one of the best writers of my time. Her world-building is stunning, her characters are intricate and real, and her ideas are some of the most original I've ever read. The Stone Sky puts an end to The Broken Earth trilogy, which if you've started, you have to finish, and if you haven't started, you shouldn't read this book yet. Go start the series.

What really strikes me about Jemisin's writing and this trilogy in particular is how she can create this amazing mythos and world so far from our own, and then use it to viciously critique our own world without anything ever seeming heavy-handed or preachy. Jemisin has words to say about how people of color are treated, and those themes are impossible not to see. It is also impossible not to get swept up in geoarcanity and the story of.a mother and daughter, separated by their similarities.

I love this series. I love Jemisin's work. Everybody read it all.

Wow i Finished this book and just wowow. Still wasn't excited the book ended at 90% on my ereader, but that is an incredibly minor nit to pick.

An incredible ending to an incredible series. This book is a little different than the others, but as the ending book of the series I think it had to be. I may or may not have cried near the end of this book.

CAWPILE SCORE
C-9
A-10
W-10
P-9
I-8
L-8
E-9
TOTAL-9/10

CAWPILECharacters.so much was learned in this book. while i understand the point of waiting to have Hoa's voice till the end, when you actaully learn it was him all along. I loved his viewpoints and seeing the past and what happened in the shattering. Finding out that Hoa is telling Stone Essun her life story and that they are going to be together making the world a better place. so amazingEssun i felt like did quite a lot less in this book. but thats part of her progression. she does less while doing more, because she can't use her orogeny, but has to rely on others. I was sad to see Lerna die. :( "winning" the fight by letting go, and loving her daughterNassun, i still have a bit of trouble seeing her as a more powerful orogeny/magic user than her mom, but i'm willing to overlook it for the sake of the story, which is powerful. When Nassun saw that her mother was reaching for her and that she loved her that was so amazing. I really felt like the essence of a 10-11 year old was captured in this book more than in the 2nd book.Schaffa still a dick, even though he's mostly unconscious for this book.Atmospherean incredibly vived and definitly unique atmosphere, it definitly draws you in and you get absorbed into itWritingThe writing is still incredibly, definitely didn't sag or lower itself after writing 3 books. still incredibly beautiful writing and prose.PlotAs the concluding book in the series, the plot was brought to the front more so than in previous books, which sometimes had a couple of inconsistencies with me. mainly involving father earth. but again not enough to turn me awayIntrigueThe Worldbuilding that we learn in this book is just incredibly and really had me coming back for more, every time I opened the book.LogicThe logic of the characters felt consistent and realisticEnjoymentwhile i can't give it a 10/10 on enjoyment, i really did enjoy reading this book, but i doubt many rereads will happen.

I will be talking about it on Libromancy 05/02/2021 https://libromancy.podbean.com/

What an ending! What a series! The moment I finished it, I wanted to read it again. So much happened in this last book, that looking back at the way I felt about the first book, the story was just so much bigger, I think this would be just as fun of a re-read as it was a read.
And some of the quotes and ideas in this final one are just incredibly powerful. I thought that the first book would be the strongest for these social racial analogies and that the others would focus more on the created world and the plot, which was mostly the case with the second one. This one though was just as hard hitting as the first, with analogies about cyclical racial dominance and racial superiority being dependant on creating the idea of a dangerous and inferior race.
I loved the way Hoa's own story finally comes in to play in this book as well. The last two were very intriguing partly because there were so many questions and loose ends, and the Syl Analgist chapters bring it all together in such a fascinating way.
If I had any criticism, it is that I never had a comfortable grasp on how the magic/silver could be used, but because the main characters felt it more than understood it, I think it was written so that the readers could also feel what was possible without necessarily knowing, so I don't think my confusion was a fault of the writing or my reading but kind of intentional. It was a little odd, but I was ok with that ambiguity in the end.
I cannot recommend this series enough. Stop reading reviews and read it now!