Review: The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

Published: Orbit, 2017

Series: Book 3 in the Broken Earth Trilogy

Awards Won: Hugo, Nebula, and Locus SF Awards

The Book:

“The Moon will soon return. Whether this heralds the destruction of humankind or something worse will depend on two women.

Essun has inherited the power of Alabaster Tenring. With it, she hopes to find her daughter Nassun and forge a world in which every orogene child can grow up safe.

For Nassun, her mother's mastery of the Obelisk Gate comes too late. She has seen the evil of the world, and accepted what her mother will not admit: that sometimes what is corrupt cannot be cleansed, only destroyed.” ~Goodreads.com

It has taken a lot of time to figure out what to say about this book, because it was really amazing. I’m still not doing it justice, but here goes...  

Short Review: 5/5

The Broken Earth Trilogy as a whole tells a brutal, emotionally powerful story. The life of Essun, under her variety of names, is at the heart of it, but she shares this final novel with her daughter Nassun and the Stone Eater Hoa.  The Fifth Season sees Essun as she grows up in a society that dehumanizes her and repeatedly destroys her life, and The Obelisk Gate follows her and her daughter as they go through different journeys and grow in different directions.  The Stone Sky is the culmination of both of their arcs, when the two most powerful orogenes must decide what is to be done with the returning moon--change the world, or destroy it?  At the same time, we finally get a glimpse back to the original shattering of the world, through Hoa’s history. It was very interesting to see back into this ancient civilization, to see the fault lines of greed and oppression that led to the destruction of their world.

I feel like another reason this series is so popular lately (aside from it being awesome), is that it addresses the fears and anxieties of my generation.  We, too, live in an energy-greedy society that is facing the reality of environmental decline, and we, too, live in a world where oppression is and has been the norm on many axes.  While The Stone Sky does not shy away from the violence and emotional damage inflicted by these problems, it also does not show us a world without hope.  Despite all of the suffering, there is still hope that the world can change, and that we can find a better way to live.

Review: The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

Published: Orbit, 2016

Series: Book 2 of The Broken Earth

Beware some spoilers of book 1, The Fifth Season, below!

The Book:

“A world-wrecking Season is underway, and Essun’s search for her daughter has reached a dead end. She remains in the underground city of Castrima, a community that claims to accept orogenes as equals.  Castrima may also be the final home of her former mentor and lover, Alabaster, who is now dying. Even if there is no forgiveness between them, he needs her to perform a dangerous task that he no longer has the power to undertake.  

In the meantime, Essun’s orogene daughter Nassun travels with a father that struggles to reconcile his love for his daughter with his conviction that all orogenes should be killed on sight.  He is intent on finding a way to ‘cure’ his daughter, but their bond is already poisoned by the hatred he carries. She will find a new kind of guardian at her destination, as well as a new focus for her life and considerable talents.” ~Allie

I loved The Fifth Season, and I am excited to continue Essun’s story.  I would definitely recommend reading this series in order.  Also, to note, I don’t normally give all the books I review 4.5-5 stars.  I’m just in the middle of a stretch of reading really good books.

My Thoughts:

While much of the story of The Fifth Season takes place during a relatively stable period in the history of the Stillness, The Obelisk Gate starts and continues firmly in apocalyptic territory. The environment is changing, and there’s no guarantee that humanity will be able to endure until the world becomes stable again.  In this world, the Seasons are uncommon but not unexpected, so people fall back on harsh lore that they hope will help them survive.  The conditions stress the characters to their breaking points, and force them to center day-to-day survival as their goal.  The story mostly follows two viewpoint characters, Essun and her daughter Nassun, as they find shelter in two very different communes.  There are a number of parallels in their stories, and it is interesting to see the differences in how they each come to see the world.

The Obelisk Gate sometimes lacks the momentum of the first book in the series, but this allows for an interesting exploration of the richly complex characters.  This is the kind of story where no one is completely admirable, but their reasoning and actions feel emotionally authentic.  This can sometimes be uncomfortable, as their relationships generally lack the definite moments of closure or reconciliation that I guess I have come to expect in fiction. Of the main characters, I feel closest to Essun. While she makes some horrific decisions, I can understand and sympathize with the impulses behind them.  Underneath everything, right now I feel like she is a good person who is constantly forced to make impossible choices.  The situation with Nassun and her father Jija is simply heartbreaking.  No child should ever have to manipulate their own parent into caring for them, or to live in fear of violence from the one that should protect them.  That being said, I am worried about the path that Nassun is currently following, and the harm it is likely to cause to so many people.  There are many memorable moments between the characters, and I hope that the final book in the trilogy leaves them in a better state than they are right now.

The Obelisk Gate also expands considerably on the nature of the world and orogene.  Some questions from the first novel are beginning to be answered, and I feel like I have a better sense of what the endgame is going to involve.  I enjoyed learning more about the origins of the stone eaters and guardians, and to see both Essun and Nassun developing and refining their skills in orogeny.  I was surprised that orogeny is explicitly labeled as magic, probably because so much in the world feels very physical and explainable.  As one would hope after the second book in a trilogy (the darkest of the three acts), I can’t see right now how the story can ultimately have any kind of happy ending.  I’m anxious to see how things will turn out for Essun and the others, and thus impatient for the final novel, The Stone Sky, to come out this August!  

My Rating: 4.5 /5

The Obelisk Gate is a sequel that lives up to the impressive, award-winning first novel of the series, The Fifth Season. Now fully an apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic story, the novel follows the roughly parallel stories of Essun and her missing daughter, Nassun. There was less action in this middle part of the trilogy, since the main characters stick with the communes that have accepted them as conditions worsened.  However, there was considerable development in terms of the characters and their understanding of the world they inhabit.  The main characters are a major draw of the story, as they are both deeply flawed and deeply human.  I am loving this series so far, and will certainly pick up The Stone Sky when it is available this August.

Review: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Published: Orbit (2015)

Series: Book 1 of the Broken Earth

Awards Won: Hugo Award

Awards Nominated: Nebula, Locus Fantasy, World Fantasy and Red Tentacle Awards

The Book:

“This is the story of the Stillness, a land that is threatened constantly by seismic activity.  Orogenes have the power to control the quaking of the earth, and their lives and abilities are strictly controlled by the organization known as the Fulcrum.  Even with their abilities in use, everyone knows it is only a matter of time until the next cataclysm, or ‘fifth season’, rips through the fabric of their civilization.

Within the Stillness, this is the story of three women and of one.  Damaya is a frightened orogene child, whose parents have turned her over to the Fulcrum for training. Syenite is a young woman of the Fulcrum, full of rage at being treated as less than human but determined that nothing will break her.  Finally, Essun is a hidden orogene and mother, who comes home one day to find her husband has murdered their child.  Essun’s life is shattered, but soon hers is not the only one.  The day she discovers the body of her son, a massive seismic event kicks off the next fifth season--which may be the last.” ~Allie

Over the past few years, I have become a big fan of Jemisin’s work.  At this point, the only novel of hers that I have not read is The Obelisk Gate, which I plan to start tonight.  It seems like just about every book I read of hers becomes my new favorite out of her work.

Spoiler warning: I am going to talk about the structure of the book and the identity of the main characters below.

My Thoughts:

The Fifth Season alternates between three storylines that each follow a single heroine. Damaya is a young girl just discovering her orogenic powers and the place society has made for her kind. Syenite is a powerful young woman enslaved by the Fulcrum, unaware of how much is being hidden from her. Essun is a woman who lost everything on the day her husband realized that she and their children were orogenes. I didn’t immediately pick up on how these three storylines and heroines fit together, or even when each story was taking place. I first thought the intention was to show different slices of what life is like as an orogene in this world.  While the three stories do serve this purpose, it eventually becomes clear that each of these stories describes a separate period in the life of the same woman. Taking these three starting points emphasizes how different a person can be from one phase of their life to another, as well as how much our experiences affect who we become.  In the beginning, the three women seemed to have very distinct personalities from one another, but as events unfolded, I began to see the seeds of their future selves.  This three-pronged approach was an engaging way to explore the character of a fascinating heroine.

The stories of Damaya, Syenite and Essun all involve the legal and social treatment of orogenes in the current empire.  Orogenes (derogatively called “roggas”) are widely considered subhuman and dangerous, but also an important resource that must be controlled.  For this reason, they are collected while young into an organization called the Fulcrum, which trains them and indoctrinates them to servitude in all areas of their life.  An order of Guardians oversees the orogenes, keeping them in line by any means necessary. The system reminds me of the treatment of mages in the game Dragon Age, though I feel that The Fifth Season is more willing to follow the premise through to its darker implications. It’s undoubtedly true that orogenic abilities can be dangerous, but I think the story demonstrates that the oppression of orogenes can’t possibly be the best answer to the situation.  Through the heroine’s life, we see the explicit hatred and prejudice she faces, the more subtle jabs, and the quiet rage of living in a society that rejects her personhood.

In addition to a very interesting heroine and story of oppression, The Fifth Season takes place in a highly creative world that is terrifying and full of uncertainty about the future. This is a world that is so used to cataclysms that they have an entire class of lore dedicated to surviving them.  The hints that this lore has been altered over the years for political reasons only makes the world feel more natural.  I feel like there is a rich history to uncover here, and there are plenty of mysteries that I hope we will learn more about in the next two books of the trilogy.  I believe that the three storylines have linked up by the end of this novel, so it will be interesting to see what structure Jemisin will use in The Obelisk Gate. I’ve just acquired the second book, and I’m excited to see what might happen next.

My Rating: 5/5

The Fifth Season is my new favorite of N.K. Jemisin’s novels.  I loved reading about the world, and am looking forward to seeing some of the mysteries of its past revealed.  The heroine was compelling, and I enjoyed seeing the history that lay behind the decisions she made in difficult situations.  I liked the immediacy of reading about three segments of her life in parallel.  The depiction of the oppression of the orogenes was central to the story, and I hope that there is more hope for Essun and those like her in the future of this world.  I can’t wait to read the rest of the trilogy!

Review: The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin

The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin

Published: Orbit, 2011

Series: Book 3 of the Inheritance Trilogy

Awards Nominated: Nebula Award

Spoiler warning! This is the 3^rd book of a series, and past this point there are some major spoilers of the first book (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms)!

The Book:

“After Yeine’s rise to godhood and the freeing of the enslaved gods, the Arameri family’s power  is on the decline. Years later, the godling of childhood Sieh may now be free, but he is still confined by his fundamental nature and haunted by the betrayal and torture he has endured.  As the oldest of the godlings, he is also very alone—not powerful enough to be one of the Three, but still separate from his younger siblings.

In his loneliness, he meets and cautiously befriends twin Arameri children, Dekarta and Shahar.  However, when they attempt to swear an innocent pact of friendship, something much stranger and more dangerous occurs. While Sieh and others attempt to make sense of what has happened to them, secrets from the past are beginning to come to light—secrets which threaten not only Sieh’s life, but the existence of the entire universe.” ~Allie

With this book, I believe that I’ve read all of N.K. Jemisin’s published novels!  It looks like she’s going to have another book for a new series in 2015, The Fifth Season, so I’m looking forward to that coming out. I read this novel with a group read-along, and you can find our spoiler-filled discussions here: 1,2,3,4,5. This novel fits into my “I Just HAVE to Read More of That Author” Challenge, the “Fantasia” Challenge, and “The Second Best” Challenge (as a Nebula nominee).

My Thoughts:

The Kingdom of Gods takes place years after the events of the first two novels, and the main character is the godling of childhood, Sieh.  I thought he was a really interesting protagonist, but he’s not extremely sympathetic. He’s the oldest of the godlings, but he obeys his nature by deliberately behaving in childish, bratty ways.  By his words, he always “does what feels good” in the moment, which is not always great for the people around him.  He also indulges in quite a bit of adolescent melodrama, and he often lingers over his desperate loneliness and desire to be loved.  I really appreciated that his flaws were not glossed over by the story, or easily forgiven by the characters within it. I also really enjoy these kinds of capricious, faux-childlike characters, and I felt like his loneliness and whining were understandable, given what he’d suffered during his long life.

It’s Sieh’s loneliness that prompts him to initially begin his friendship with the other two major characters, Shahar and Dekarta Arameri.  Together, the three of them learn about friendship, love, and how to deal with hurting or being hurt by the ones you love.  However, I sometimes felt like they didn’t spend enough time together to really support the intensity of their connection.  Their relationship was not exactly instant-love (it was a bit more complicated), but it was somewhere in that area.  Aside from Sieh and his friends, a number of old characters also make reappearances in the novel, and I enjoyed seeing what had happened to them in the intervening years.

While I did enjoy the story, I think that it was a little less focused at times than the previous two novels.  For instance, I felt like the personal story of Sieh didn’t always gel especially well with the larger political and cosmic plots that were happening around him.  I can’t say the larger developments were not foreshadowed, but many of the main players were new and only very lightly developed.  The story was still really entertaining, though, and I especially liked how various characters arcs echoed different ideas.  There was a lot of examination of parent-child relationships, and of how being harmed does not excuse one from taking actions that harm another. Especially in Sieh’s case, the story also examined the conflict between the need to grow, change, and heal, and the need to remain true to oneself.  I thought all of this came together beautifully in the climax and resolution of the story.

My Rating: 4/5

The Kingdom of Gods was a fitting conclusion to an enjoyable trilogy. The story features the godling Sieh, who does his best to behave like a child. I adored his narration and his carefully impetuous nature, but I can see how he could be a difficult character to like.  The novel combined the personal story of Sieh’s loneliness with some more momentous schemes, and I didn’t always feel like the two fit together especially well. Even so, I really enjoyed how everything came together in the end, and I also enjoyed seeing a bit of how life had turned out for some of the characters from previous novels. I’m looking forward to N.K. Jemisin’s next book!

Review: The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

Published : Orbit, 2010

Series : Book 2 of the Inheritance Trilogy

This is the second book of a trilogy, so the book description and review contains some spoilers of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.

The Book :

“After the events of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, much has changed in the world.  The city of Sky is now called Shadow, since it lies in the shade of the World Tree, and godlings—children of the Three Gods—live among the humans.  Many people are attracted to the magic of Shadow, and Oree Shoth is no exception.

Oree is a blind painter that is able to see only magic, so living near the godlings in Shadow gives her the opportunity to sometimes see.  She spends her days selling trinkets to pilgrims, navigating her relationship with the godling Madding, and handling the silent, homeless man that she has taken in out of kindness.  She names the man “Shiny”, due to the way he glows in her magic sight at dawn.

When someone begins killing the godlings of Shadow, Oree’s life will never be the same.  She and her quiet guest are drawn into a dangerous conspiracy that involves the Arameri, the gods, and  those for whom the murder of godlings is only the beginning.” ~Allie

The Broken Kingdoms is yet another book that I’ve read in a read-along, and the spoiler-filled here, here, here, and here.  I read Jemisin’s first novel (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms) years ago, when it first came out, and I have delayed far too long in reading the rest of the trilogy!

discussions can be found

This is also my first novel of the year for the Roll Your Own Challenges, since it fits the criteria for spoltz’s “I Just HAVE to Read More of that Author” Reading Challenge!

My Thoughts:

The Broken Kingdoms is a sequel to The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, but it has a complete, mostly independent story with a mostly new set of main characters.  I think it’s perfectly possible to enjoy The Broken Kingdoms as a standalone novel, but I would still recommend reading the series in order.  I personally feel that having the background from the first novel on the recent history of Shadow and the recurring characters allows a richer reading experience.  However, I imagine it would be a very enjoyable book to read either way!

I was a little skeptical about Oree at first, but she was a wonderful heroine.  Given that she is a blind painter who can see magic, I was initially afraid she would fall into a stereotype, but that happily never seemed to happen, at least in my opinion.  Her blindness gave her an interesting perspective on the world, and I liked that it seemed to be just a part of her, not linked to her magical abilities.  She commented once that anyone could see magic, it just stood out to her because she couldn’t see anything else.  She also had a very strong personality, and seemed confident in her identity and her choices.  I appreciated the practicality with which she approached life, and how she generally refused to be relegated to a passive role.

On top of that, Oree was a commoner, which was another change of perspective from the previous novel.  The first novel’s heroine, Yeine, was from the ruling family, which gave her a very different experience of the world.  Oree, on the other hand, had no privileged information about the activities of the gods or the ruling class, and was mostly just enjoying her ordinary life before the events of the novel. When some main characters from the previous book made appearances, it was kind of a jolt to see how different they seemed while interacting with someone they considered ‘beneath’ them.  I think it definitely showed a harsher side of some characters that might have seemed more sympathetic in the first novel.

Romance plays a role in the novel, but it does not feel as central as it did in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. The story is mostly about the slow process of rehabilitating a certain character from the previous book and foiling the dangerous scheme that involved the murder of godlings.  The style of romance was also very different—it seemed more grounded, about naturally growing affection rather than a whirlwind of romantic attraction.  I also appreciated that romantic love was not used as a shortcut to reform the ‘bad’ character. I really enjoyed the redemption plot, which addressed both the difficulty of changing and the uneasy balance between punishment and rehabilitation.  Through the mystery part, we get to see more of the interaction between religion and the gods. I thought the ending wrapped up the story extremely well, and I am looking forward to revisiting this world in the final novel of the trilogy.

My Rating: 4.5/5

With every novel of Jemisin’s that I read, I become more determined to read everything she writes in the future!  The Broken Kingdoms is an excellent sequel to The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, featuring a new story and a mostly new main cast.  The protagonist Oree was a wonderful heroine, who gave a completely different perspective than Yeine’s of the world of the Inheritance Trilogy.  There’s plenty to enjoy in the story, including mystery, action, romance, and redemption.  I enjoyed this one even more than the first, and I have very high expectations for the final novel of the trilogy!

Review: The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin

The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin

Published : Orbit, 2012

Series : Book 2 of the Dreamblood series

Since this is the second book of a series, some spoilers of the first book will be included from this point on.

The Book :

“After the events of The Killing Moon, Gujaareh has been taken over by the Kisuati Protectorate.  The Hetawa, the powerful priesthood of the dream goddess Hananja, supports this occupation—for now. Hananja’s city follows Hananja’s law, and its priests follow the swiftest path to peace and the elimination of corruption, whatever the cost. 

Under the Kisuati, Gujaareh is now anything but peaceful.  Within the city, the people face the corruption of the Kisuati occupying forces, as well as a mysterious plague of nightmares that drags sufferers down into death.  Out in the desert, the surviving son of the former ruler bides his time, eager to take back his father’s throne.  In these troubled days, the young Sharer-apprentice Hanani, the first woman to ever bear that title, is given a dangerous task: to free Gujaareh.” ~Allie

This is the second half of the Dreamblood series. While some characters from the previous novel appear, it focuses on the stories of a new set of characters.  I think it would be possible to read this novel as a standalone, but it is probably best appreciated with the context provided by The Killing Moon. The Shadowed Sun is my third review for Once Upon a Time VII.  It looks like I will not make five novels before the 21^st, sadly, but I think three is not bad given the circumstances. I had imagined I would bounce back with loads of book reviews after finishing my thesis.  In the end, I actually just kind of collapsed. I think I'm back on track now, though!

My Thoughts :

I enjoyed the world of The Killing Moon, so it’s no surprise that this is also the case for The Shadowed Sun. The first novel carried the brunt of introducing the world, its history, and its mythology, which allowed for more details to be worked smoothly into the story in the second novel. I was very interested in the dream magic of the first novel, and was delighted to see it further explained and expanded in The Shadowed Sun. There was more of a focus on the Sharer path, which involved gathering dream humors and healing, and of the training of the dreaming gift.  There was also a bit more information about Gujaareh, and the culture of the Banbarra desert tribe is introduced.  A lot of the story involved cultural differences between Kisua, Gujaareh, and the Banbarra, and there was a significant focus on issues of gender and class within different societies.

Sexism may not have played a large role in The Killing Moon, but it is a major factor in the story of The Shadowed Sun. One aspect of the portrayal of sexism that I found particularly interesting was that those who perpetuated it typically believed that they loved and respected women. In Gujaareh, for instance, the idea was that women were goddesses, and should therefore not be treated like human beings. Among many other things, this was used as a justification to refuse to train women in the use of dream magic, causing some women to be driven insane by their dreaming gifts. In the Banbarra tribe, the gender relations seemed more complicated, involving more issues of class, wealth, and cultural values that differed from those of Gujaareh. It was frustrating, though believable, that the members of these cultures refused to discard their gender stereotypes, even when faced with proof of their actual origins.

Following from this, I should warn that this novel contained a pretty large amount of sexual violence, rape, and child abuse. While this appeared throughout the novel, it was most concentrated in the story of the character Tiaanet, an incomparably beautiful women who was continually abused by her father.  I felt that the depictions of abuse and the victims were for the most part thoughtfully done, and the long-term suffering caused by the abusers was not diminished.   However, there were still a few things in the treatment of these topics that bothered me. The first was the portrayal of Tiaanet as breathtakingly beautiful, and the implication that this was a reason that her father molested her.  I was also not entirely happy with the conclusion of the story, due to the fates of the characters that had suffered the most.

The other main characters of the story are the Sharer-apprentice Hanani and the prince-in-exile Wanahomen. Hanani was the first female to serve Hananja as a Sharer, a highly competent young woman who struggled with being assertive. I pretty much adored her immediately in the beginning of the book, but I was not completely thrilled with the direction her story took. Wanahomen was a pretty standard character type—the exiled prince seeking to regain his rightful throne. Despite his standard-fantasy motivations, he was a pretty complex and believable character who grew and changed throughout the novel.  Their personal stories involved the plan to retake the throne, and a fairly predictable romance.  I’m not really a fan of romance at the best of times, and this one didn’t really convince me. However, there was so much else going on, and the characters were so individually interesting, that the story was highly engaging from start to finish.

My Rating : 4/5

The Shadowed Sun will not replace The Killing Moon as my favorite of N.K. Jemisin’s novels, but it was a satisfying sequel.  Though Nijiri and Sunandi show up briefly, the story primarily follows female Sharer-Apprentice Hanani, the exiled Prince Wanahomen, and the beautiful Tiaanet. I thought it was interesting to see the comparison of different cultures and their ideas concerning gender, and to see more explanation on the Hetawa’s dream magic.  However, the inclusion of a pretty large amount of rape and sexual violence made the story sometimes uncomfortable to read.  I am also not much of a romance fan, and I was not really won over by the romantic turns of the plot.  Overall, The Shadowed Sun was an engaging story featuring complex characters, and I thought that it was a fitting sequel to The Killing Moon.

Review: The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin

Published: Orbit, 2012

Series: Book 1 Dreamblood Duology

The Book:

“In Gujaareh, the dream goddess Hananja is highly revered.  Her priests gather the four humors from the dreams of tithebearers to heal their people’s hearts and minds.  The most feared and respected of these priests are the Gatherers.  They kill to collect dreamblood, but they also make certain that the souls of their targets rest happily in a sweet afterlife of dreams.

Gatherers bring peace to the terminally sick and elderly, but they also seek out and destroy corruption.  When Gatherer Ehiru and his apprentice Nijiri learn that there is a corrupt Gatherer, called a Reaper, murdering innocent people in their city, they are forced into action.  The corruption that allowed such an abomination to come into existence is more far-reaching and insidious than they could have imagined, and they must follow a difficult path to cleanse it from Gujaareh.” ~Allie

The Killing Moon is the second novel I’ve read by N.K. Jemisin, and I chose it due to Calico Reaction’s Theme Park Challenge.  The first novel I read by Jemisin was her debut, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which kicked off her Inheritance Trilogy.  I read it just before starting this blog, so I sadly don’t have a review to look back to.  I did enjoy the novel, but I didn’t feel strongly enough about it to continue the trilogy.  After The Killing Moon, though, I’m quite eager to grab a copy of the second Dreamblood book, The Shadowed Sun, which is already out.  

The Book:

The Killing Moon is set in a fictional world intelligently inspired by ancient Egypt.  Some of the influences from Egyptian culture were clear, but Jemisin did much more than simply copy history.  The history, politics, class systems, gender relations, religion and dream magic of Gujaareh and its sister nation of Kisua fit together to make a fictional world that felt organic and believable.  One major fantastical feature of the world is dream magic, and I appreciated how well this was incorporated into the fabric of the two societies and their religious mythology.  Gujaareh houses a priesthood of dream magic practitioners, who use their skill to heal the weak and kill the corrupt.  Kisua, on the other hand, completely rejects dream magic as an abomination, while still revering the dream goddess Hananja.  Throughout the story, the idea of dream magic is examined from many sides, and it is clearly shown how potentially beneficial yet extremely dangerous the practice can be.  I loved the complexity and internal consistency of the world, and I look forward to returning to seeing more of it in the future.  

Though I enjoyed the world-building, I am not sure if I entirely loved the way some information was grafted into the novel. Each chapter started with a short excerpt from “Law” or “Wisdom”, explaining a point of law or culture that was typically related to dream magic. While I loved learning more about the world, I sometimes wished the information dispersal could have been more incorporated into the flow of the story.  There was also a series of interludes, where an unknown narrator explained some of the history and mythology of the two main nations.  The interludes were interesting, but they didn’t seem necessary to the main plot.  If the identity of the narrator had been revealed earlier, I think it might have given more of an emotional impact to a later plot twist.  As it was, I didn’t really get why they were included, and I’m hoping that it will become clear in the second novel.

In addition to the world-building, the novel boasted three compelling main characters and an exciting, well-paced plot.  The three characters—Gatherer Ehiru, his apprentice Nijiri, and the Kisuati spy/diplomat Sunandi—represented very different views on dream magic.  They were also delightfully flawed characters with very different, well-developed personalities.  I was particularly interested by the unusual relationship between Nijiri and Ehiru, which affects much of the story. Nijiri is completely in love with Ehiru, so strongly it clouds his judgment.  Ehiru does not return the same kind of love, but he relies on Nijiri to support him through psychologically difficult times.  The book does not shy away from the selfish nature of their love for one another, but neither does it discredit their bond.     

The plot was largely driven by the desires of the characters, and it kept me engrossed from start to finish. I appreciated that the story contained a lot of moral ambiguity, especially relating to the act of Gathering, and that even the characters that were clearly villains had understandable motives.  Some of the plot twists were easy to see coming, but the reveals still managed to be effective.  Small parts of the central mystery became clear throughout the story, but I don’t think I grasped the entirety of it until the very end.  The story seemed to move very rapidly, and it was full of intrigue and violence in addition to the characters’ internal conflicts.  If this book is a good representation of Jemisin’s recent work, then I want to read more of it!

My Rating: 4/5

The Killing Moon is an exciting story set in a fantastical world inspired by ancient Egypt.  In the main nation of Gujaareh, Jemisin has crafted a fascinating, complex society that makes sense internally, and that incorporates the interesting idea of dream magic in a seemingly natural way.  I found the three main characters—spy/diplomat Sunandi, Gatherer Ehiru, and his apprentice Nijiri—to be both sympathetic and interestingly flawed, and I liked that even the villains had justifications for their actions.  I thought that the insertion of info-dumps through Law/Wisdom excerpts and Interlude chapters seemed slightly awkward, but I was still eager to learn the information about the world that they imparted.  I’m not sure where the story will go after the conclusion of The Killing Moon, but I can’t wait to find out!