eBook, 448 pages
English language
Published Aug. 15, 2016 by Orbit.
The season of endings grows darker as civilization fades into the long cold night. Alabaster Tenring – madman, world-crusher, savior – has returned with a mission: to train his successor, Essun, and thus seal the fate of the Stillness forever.
It continues with a lost daughter, found by the enemy.
It continues with the obelisks, and an ancient mystery converging on answers at last.
The Stillness is the wall which stands against the flow of tradition, the spark of hope long buried under the thickening ashfall. And it will not be broken.
To quote a friend “the amount of escalation in this series is breathtaking”. I couldn’t agree more. The layers of metaphor mix with action and intrigue and the world building immense. Loved it.
It's always hard for a sequel to live up to the first book, this book delivers on that and more. Absolutely love Jemisin's writing style and content. Stellar book and stellar series, really looking forward to the third one!
There was an actual moment the author surprised me in this book. This does not happen often. On to book 3!
I really like the direction this series is headed, and am delighted by the depth of the worldbuilding.
Book two keeps up the wonderful storytelling experienced in the first book. At this point in the book, you would think everything is laid out for you and the path forward is clear. That is not the case.
Jemisin creates a narrative where you are in the shoes of her characters, struggling to understand the world and the morally correct path forward. The questions are laid out before you about some of the most fundamental of human experiences. What is loyalty? What is family? What is love? What are desire and willpower? What will we do when all of those things are heading for a slow-motion collision course and the desires of one are overtaken by the willpower of the other?
