I was mixed on The Fifth Season - confused by some of the narrative styles, but felt better after reading a few summaries. I didn't have that problem with The Obelisk Gate.
By focusing on only a couple characters, the story is more streamlined and easier to follow, but it feels like a lot of the worldbuilding and kineticism of the first book is lost. Which is a shame, because that was my favorite part of the first in the series.
It feels like Jemisin's ramping up for the final book in the trilogy, so I'm excited to see what follows.
To quote a friend “the amount of escalation in this series is breathtaking”. I couldn’t agree more. The layers of metaphor mix with action and intrigue and the world building immense. Loved it.
It's always hard for a sequel to live up to the first book, this book delivers on that and more. Absolutely love Jemisin's writing style and content. Stellar book and stellar series, really looking forward to the third one!
I had a hard time with this one. Not much really happened. It felt more like set up for the next book, which is fine, but that leaves me with high expectations. I also wasn't expecting the ~magic~ arc and I'm not sure how I feel about it...
I still really enjoyed the world this takes place in!
I was quite excited to get into The Obelisk Gate after finishing the previous book, because it left off on a very promising note and the richness of Jemisin’s writing was still fresh in my mind. However, I found that the second book rode a bit too much on the efforts of the first, resulting in a book that was not as spectacular nor as captivating as its predecessor. Here, Jemisin scarcely builds on the worldbuilding from the previous books, and when she does, it is done through straight exposition. Too much of “telling” rather than “showing”… and while there is a narrative excuse for that, it could have been executed better.
Following the events of the previous book, the story in the second edition halts to a grinding stop. Essun’s story involves mostly mundane things relating to Castrima and her attempting to ‘learn’ what her new role in …
I was quite excited to get into The Obelisk Gate after finishing the previous book, because it left off on a very promising note and the richness of Jemisin’s writing was still fresh in my mind. However, I found that the second book rode a bit too much on the efforts of the first, resulting in a book that was not as spectacular nor as captivating as its predecessor. Here, Jemisin scarcely builds on the worldbuilding from the previous books, and when she does, it is done through straight exposition. Too much of “telling” rather than “showing”… and while there is a narrative excuse for that, it could have been executed better.
Following the events of the previous book, the story in the second edition halts to a grinding stop. Essun’s story involves mostly mundane things relating to Castrima and her attempting to ‘learn’ what her new role in this book is, but even the latter is relegated to background noise while Castrima deals with their own issues. Because of this, much of the exciting events from Essun’s perspective only happen in the very last chunk of the book, which leaves the reader rather stubbornly waiting for things to finally get going.
On the other hand, Nassun’s narrative is slightly refreshing—at least at the start—because hers is a new voice so far in the story. However, I had some serious reservations about her side of the story and her character in general. A large part of Nassun’s story revolves around her dealing with her father’s actions from the previous book (that of killing Uche, her younger brother) and revealing to the reader her complicated relationship with her mother, Essun.
Slight spoilers: We learn that Nassun does not view her mother favorably, in large part because Essun was training Nassun to control and hide her orogeny, but all Essun knows is what the Fulcrum taught her. And we know that the Fulcrum’s methods were less than… pleasant. Because of this, Nassun has a lot of traumatic baggage as she sets out on a journey with her murderous father who likely hates her as much as he loves her. Jemisin uses Nassun’s voice as a way to explore the way trauma impacts a young child and colors their worldview; given that Jemisin has a professional psychology background, this makes sense, and a lot of what she writes about Nassun’s trauma likely hits home for a lot of readers.
However, Nassun’s voice became more of a regurgitation of the effects of trauma—and how much she despises her mother and views herself as a monster—rather than the voice of a child. Maybe I was just dumb, but as a child I did not have as clear a view of trauma nor my understanding of problematic family and/or myself as Nassun does here, at age ten or eleven or so. Her voice started to feel a lot more like a bitter version of Essun rather than a child dealing with trauma.
I also ended up greatly disliking how overpowered Nassun was—understandable since she is the child of a powerful orogene, but that she so quickly establishes connection with an obelisk and displays an innate affinity for magic, which even a ten-ringer struggled to match, is incredulous. She’s literally too perfect in her abilities with minimal effort, and it sets up a rather tired dynamic for the third book—powerful mother vs. even more powerful child, because of course they will be on opposing sides. The trope of an abused, traumatized child discovering her powerful abilities and embracing her identity as an evil monster is also not a particularly innovative one.
For these reasons, I disliked Nassun’s narrative, and after the initial chapters it too grew wearisome. Essun and Nassun are the main perspectives in this book, though there is a slight third—that of Hoa, who is conspicuously missing for much of the novel.
With a lackluster plot, less than endearing characters, and worldbuilding that offered little novelty, there were few things that kept me excited about the book. For one, I appreciated learning more lore about the stone eaters and Hoa in particular—the fact that the novel is framed from his perspective superimposed on Essun’s is something hinted at in the last book and confirmed here. It brings up interesting questions about his motivations and even whether we can claim to know Essun as well as do. There are also a few more interesting things said about orogeny and its close cousin, but the latter was not as fleshed out or compelling as the development of orogeny from the first book.
While this book wasn’t as much of a page-turner as the first, it still continues the narrative and hopefully establishes enough momentum for the third book to be better. I still have hopes for the final book in the trilogy to end things in a satisfying way, since some trilogies fall victim to the ‘Middle Book’ syndrome—wherein the novelty of the first book has waned but the truly exciting plot resolution cannot happen until the third book. Jemisin is a talented writer and I hope she brings the trilogy to a successful conclusion.
The remarkable thing about this series is just how many prejudices and power struggles she is able to explore. From the obvious race issues, to the trauma that parents and children inflict on each other, to the politics that afflict any community, every scene seems to provide another meaty subject to chew on. And on top of that it's a captivating adventure with first class world. building.
I loved the first book because I thought it had the potential to be more than just a fantasy book. It was beautifully written and explored a world that you could draw deep parallels to.
The second book is a bit of a let-down from that point of view. It's a good book on it's own, but it does not stand up to the promise of the first one.
The pacing suffers a bit from second book syndrome, but the book does a good job of setting things up for the final book. Nassun's character development piques curiosity and is confusing, making her a wildcard in the pack of characters. 3.5 rounded up because the series is just so darn interesting.
A great follow-up to The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate further explains the world in which it is set, while never neglecting good characterization as well. The science behind the obelisks and orogeny may never end up making perfect sense, but it serves as a wonderful framework for the mixture of history, ignorance, induced ignorance, and outright malice to flourish. I'm still not clear on why the factions of the great war have the positions they do, but the complexity and infighting within each group feels very authentic.
