The Obelisk Gate: The Broken Earth, Book 2, WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD (Broken Earth Trilogy, #2)

by N. K. Jemisin

Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel
The second book in the record-breaking triple Hugo Award-winning trilogy

The season of endings grows darker, as civilization fades into the long cold night.
Essun has found shelter, but not her missing daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world, with a request only Essun can grant.

Praise for this trilogy:
'Amazing' Ann Leckie
'Breaks uncharted ground' Library Journal
'Beautiful' Nnedi Okorafor
'Astounding' NPR
'Brilliant' Washington Post
'Heartbreaking, wholly unexpected' Brian Staveley
'Awesome' Book Smugglers
'A powerful story of hope and survival' The Root

The Broken Earth trilogy begins with The Fifth Season, continues in The Obelisk Gate and concludes with The Stone Sky - out now.

Also by N. K. Jemisin:
The Inheritance trilogy
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
The Broken Kingdoms
The Kingdom of Gods

The Dreamblood Duology
The Killing Moon
The Shadowed Sun

• ISBN10: 0356508366
• ISBN13: 9780356508368
• Publish Date: 18 August 2016 (first published 16 August 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Orbit
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[Ben Pick]

The continuation of the series did feel to lag at times and get lost in others. The original goals and driving forces of the characters seemed to be forgotten, even as they claim it to be their motivations for acting. This suffered very much from feeling like a middle story, where the world was established in the first one and the plot is holding its breath until the conclusion of the trilogy.

[luddite]

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.

[celinenyx]

I won't recap the premise of The Obelisk Gate as it builds too much on the first book, and would contain substantial spoilers for new readers.

It is safe to say, however, that there is less diversity in the points of view in this book than in The Fifth Season, and it felt like the book was rather static. The main characters tend to stay in the same place, and this inertia almost bled over into their character as well. There was little significant growth in The Obelisk Gate, and all new plot information was spoon-fed into the characters (and by extension, us). Being told how a world works rather than the characters finding out for themselves is one of my least favourite tropes (in my head I call it the "learning from the elves" trope, where a main character disappears for a year to become a well-rounded badass). Honestly, it's just not exciting.

I understand how it was necessary, and I do think that the world Ms Jemisin created is original and interesting. The Obelisk Gate was rather slow though, and even in hindsight it feels like not a whole lot happened compared to the whirlwind of the first novel.