Review: The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin is the third and final novel in The Broken Earth trilogy, the first of which is The Fifth Season. This story is tremendously woven together, bringing together so many threads and themes in this conclusion.

I really love Essun's emotional story throughout this novel, especially focusing on her need for community. She has to come to terms with the vulnerability that comes from belonging and connection to others. Watching her struggle with the need to make these connections, especially when Essun knows that her life is potentially on the line to save the world, it is really wrenching and incredibly deftly handled.

I wasn't a huge fan of Nassun's POV scenes in The Obelisk Gate, but obviously, they are very necessary to the plot and add a really interesting contrasting layer that I do not think could have been achieved any other way. This is very much confirmed my idea of myself as someone who does not need to adore every character to really love a book. I also don't think my not adoration of Nassun's character is very fair; she is really such an interesting and well-explained character. I just felt so rooted in Essun and her goals that I would find myself annoyed at the places where Nassun was opposed to Essun. It does provide fantastic tension for the plot and for the character's relationships.

I really enjoyed how much of Hoa we got in this book. I was certainly not expecting the direction Hoa's story was going in. I really liked how much clarity Hoa's narrative lets the reader have on the events of the first two books in this series and how well it prepares the reader for this book's final scenes. Hoa, more than any other facet, really makes me want to reread this whole series.

In addition to community, parental relationships were also a huge theme of this book. Jemisin writes in the acknowledgments that she wrote this book while her mother was dying, and I would imagine that that experience honed the way she wrote about parenthood. She has been so able to write about the nuanced and, at times, destructive elements of parenthood while illustrating the love and commitment that can sometimes exist simultaneously. I loved the way Essun reflected on each of her children in this book; they really illustrated the different ways this world failed her and perpetuated her (and others, of course) continuing that cycle of hardship and violence in their lives. It is really a fascinating reflection.

The other thing I have really liked about this whole series is how prominent children have been in every book. So much adult fantasy I have read does not deal in depth with children or does not have children as point of view characters. Reading this series has really shown me how much can be said and explored through a child's eyes in such an intense and volatile world.

The last theme I would like to touch on is the environmental message of this series. It is even more present in this book than it has been in the past books. I especially loved the way Jemisin shows that problems related to the physical world can exacerbate the injustices that can seem unrelated. I wrote my thesis on climate migration for my master's degree and really enjoyed reading a fantasy that dealt so integrally with both the human causes of climate change, but also the human impacts beyond just the inhospitable earth.

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph. This series, on the whole, has been such an interesting and exciting journey. I am so excited to get to go read the other books N.K. Jemisin has published and to be able to follow her career. I absolutely would recommend this series.