the obelisk gate – Cannonball Read 17

Hold on to your butts (and your obelisks)

The Obelisk Gate (Broken Earth #2) by N.K. Jemisin

January 18, 2021 by cheerbrarian 4 Comments

Imagine me, standing up, doing a slow clap standing ovation. That is how I feel about this trilogy. It’s been a while since a series has gripped me so thoroughly, and this coming from someone who doesn’t ready a lot in the genre of epic fantasy science fiction. And I guess this book is all of these? But it also transcends definition in a lot of ways because it is SO MANY THINGS. And how does she do all of these things well? I DON’T […]

Glad I Didn’t Have to Wait After the Way Book 1 Ended!

October 1, 2018 by Jen K Leave a Comment

Bingo Square: Award Winner It’s kind of convenient when every novel in a trilogy is an award winner since it means I can keep reading the series and fill multiple squares without taking a break from Bingo! There are going to be a quite a few big spoilers for the first novel in this one since it would be a bit difficult to discuss this one too much without revealing some major plots point, and twists and turns from the earlier novel. So you know, […]

There’s more than one way to be human

November 7, 2017 by ElCicco 3 Comments

A year ago at this time, in the wake of our devastating presidential election, I reviewed Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me and James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, two treatises on racism and oppression in America. As I read N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth Trilogy, it occurred to me that her novels present a perfect fictional account of the same topic. These Hugo-Award-winning stories take place in a world where racial difference leads to oppression, exploitation, and genocide. As a result of this […]

The Obelisks are so much cooler than previously thought!

February 16, 2017 by Beth Ellen 2 Comments

Oh my goodness gang! Ms. Jemisin knocks it out of the park yet again. You know how in a lot of trilogies you assume the second book is just filler, getting everyone in place for the final act so you don’t really read it as closely? Yeah, that doesn’t happen here. This one is just as good, and arguably better than The Fifth Season. Spoilers abound below folks. Go read both first. I’ll wait, and then we can all wait impatiently for the final installment […]

why is nk jemisin so good at words?

October 31, 2016 by narfna Leave a Comment

Okay, need the third book now, so there’s that. This second book was still really good, but it didn’t feel as revelatory as the first one did. I mean, that was inevitable. (Oh, boy, though nothing like a first book in a series that smacks you upside your head.) Still, this is a great second book. Second books are hard. They’re not as fun as first books, because beginnings are wonderful, but they still have to be interesting and matter without giving too much away […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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