This series is a series that you will appreciate even more after you finished it. At least I did. The read was good and enjoyable, but once I started to think about what Jemisin has done with this story and the world she created, I'm actually speechless. Many people have said it already about this series, but it is highly original, I have never read anything like it. I'm now just sitting here behind my desk, trying to figure out what I want to write about this series, but I cannot seem to find words. No other than it was so good!
My first read of 2021, and I start this year with bawling my eyes out... What an ending to an amazing series. I have massive respect for Jemisin in creating such a world and such a story. Unbelievable. - Julia, Goodreads
If you follow me on Goodreads, you might have seen this review of mine after I finished the book. I still think that this is exactly how I felt after I finished the series. Massive awe and admiration for Jemisin. She created a modern, adult fantasy like no other I have read before and probably will after. By just these three books, Jemisin has become one of the writers that influence me and that I look up too. I hope to achieve such a thing with my future books too.
I will talk about everything in this series from all the books, so if you haven't read all (or any), then first, please go read them, and second do not read any further if you do not want to be spoiled!
Where to start, I'm actually not sure. There's so much that I will probably forget to talk about, just because there's so much to talk about.
In the first book, we saw the story of three women: Essun, Syenite and Damaya. At the end of The Fifth Season, it became clear that Essun was the present and Syenite and Damaya her pasts. In The Obelisk Gate, we continued with Essun's story and Jemisin added the storyline of Nassun, Essun's daughter that was taken away with her father. Throughout the second book, they stay apart from each other, but we see how they grow and 'go on' with their lives. In the last book, we again read from the perspective of Nassun and Essun but Jemisin added another one: Hoa. Hoa (the Stone Eater that stays with Essun since book 1) actually explains the past of the Stillness. How we got to where we are now, what happened to create these Seasons. But we also see how Oregenes and Stone Eaters are created. Finally, things are explained!
Because we follow Essun's past in the first book, we know what she went through and how she got to the point where she is now. We are aware of her trauma and we know her character through and through. We see her struggle as a child and young woman, but also as an adult, as a mother. She lost two children to death, one to her husband and she is pregnant of a fourth but dies before he is born. That killed me. I love that personality of Essun, she is strong and speaks up, but we know her internal struggles. When she and Nassun are reunited, she realises that she lost her mother role to Nassun because Nassun went through a lot too. Yet, all she does is safe her daughter (and the world not too forget) in the end. It was all for her daughter. How she turns to stone was the first moment I actually started crying, but how she is then turned into a Stone Eater so that she and Hoa will be together forever, I lost it. I'm not sure if I'm so 'happy' that she turned into a Stone Eater, maybe I cried because she turned in a Stone Eater. But all the emotions and the entire journey to this ending, it was a lot!
The world was so well built and thought of, complicated yet so beautiful. To be honest, it took me three books to understand what was going on and I'm sure that I missed some things. The concept of the Obelisk Gate is still a bit vague to me, but I think that that is part of the beauty of it. How the Earth is actually alive, I found such a beautiful idea and let me think of how we as humans are also destroying the world, although not in the way that the people in these books did. This world had such a complicated past, that we as readers but not even the characters in the world are aware of. That is why we needed Hoa (as he is 40000 years old) to explain it all. The past of the earth is erased and rewritten, that is why characters believe certain things, just because it is told that this what happened. Another hint that some mindsets op people are 'outdated' or made up and not true. At the end of The Stone Sky, we read a conversation between Nassun and Hoa, where Nassun tells him that she is afraid of what will happen next. She is just a child of 11 years old (9 at the start of the series), that is already wondering about big questions, things even adults do not know the answers of. You also see that she has her heart in the right place and wants the best for the world. But she is little and young, there's so much she needs to learn, and I wish we could see her journey, she is such an interesting and powerful character.
Something else, but the death of Lerna (and how this is kind of disregarded?!) that broke me too. It went so fast, but you also see Essun realise that she has no time to mourn. And then she dies. Lerna was so good for her and just as a character, he will not be forgotten. On the other hand, it is maybe better that he died before Essun did because he would have had to mourn not only Essun, both also their unborn child. That idea makes my heart ache.
Hopefully, you have read the entire series and know what I'm talking about. I am sure that I forgot to mention some important things in this post, but I hope you forgive me. If you read this review but not the books, I'm not sorry for the spoils because I warned you! However, I hope that you realise that these books are worth the read. Definitely go read them, you will not regret it! Thank you for reading this post, see you in the next one!
With love,
Julia
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