 Popsugar Reading Challenge category: A book where nature is the antagonist.
The Stone Sky, by N. K. Jemisin. This book is third in the Broken Earth trilogy, which began with The Fifth Season. The story takes "nature as the antagonist" to a whole new level: the earth is sentient, and it's very, very angry at what humans have done to it. The point of view alternates between Essun, the main character of the previous books, her daughter Nassun, and Hoa, Essun's stone eater companion. Nassun was taken from her mother and endured a whole lot of trauma discovering her powers. Like Essun, Nassun is an orogene, with power to control earth and stone. Orogene children sometimes accidentally cause earthquakes, or turn people to stone. The earth is enraged that the moon has been knocked out of its orbit, drastically changing the climate. (Hoa explains the how and why of this, but I found it somewhat confusing.) Essun plans to sacrifice herself to bring the moon back; Nassun plans to use the moon to destroy the earth. Naturally, they wind up facing off. This series is original and ambitious, but really grim. There are multiple instances where some have to suffer or die for the Greater Good - but as Hoa points out, these supposed necessities are choices, and there were always other options with a different price to pay. As with the Inheritance Trilogy, Jemisin is ultimately optimistic, but trigger warnings for pretty much every form of cruelty, including toward children.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |