Enjoy fast, FREE delivery, exclusive deals and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery

List Price: $18.99 Details

Save: $5.80 (31%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Wednesday, May 17 on orders shipped by Amazon over $25. Order within 13 hrs 17 mins

Select delivery location

In Stock

[{"displayPrice":"$13.19","priceAmount":13.19,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"13","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"19","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"Z%2FOC1DejH7SQZXtGjWE%2FrdKcNrdr%2FAUOqYAmPoJYa48pryULjSTwowGzniX0Qxdb0tP7hnuY34jH1nLiTkGZQomeMsMN3aVM8Z1PluAVn5T1DS4pARrte1d0wnjBYsdFi5eQMGeqUPzW%2BklShp6XOw%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$9.00","priceAmount":9.00,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"9","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"00","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"Z%2FOC1DejH7SQZXtGjWE%2FrdKcNrdr%2FAUOhzlnIatH7t0rsO8cbQmSjybAw%2FEhdkciQmrJXEnCZWzfY0n4xUaMg4RjORICKUZNPHPU%2BxF6GDP9SNwCX%2FryybKXfSoEJx80xdSqniq2CjZ9jfKKIyqZ5PZqwb%2Fc1RbRJ%2BErN7ltWGdhgmRYLs6bgvm9HlKRdSzj","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$13.19 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Payment

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Details

Payment

Secure transaction

We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.

Read full return policy

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery June 2 - 7 on orders shipped by Amazon over $25

Or fastest delivery May 31 - June 2

Select delivery location

Used: Acceptable | Details

Sold by Pop’n Tots

Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$7.93
+ $4.92 shipping

Sold by: rowinskibooks

Added

Not added

$8.21
+ $4.64 shipping

Sold by: that dude sales Books

Added

Not added

$13.18
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.

Sold by: bobby's best books

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 5 images

Follow the Author

N. K. Jemisin

The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, 2) Paperback – August 16, 2016

by N. K. Jemisin (Author)

4.6 23,104 ratings

Book 2 of 3: The Broken Earth

Editors' pick Best Science Fiction & Fantasy

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$11.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Library Binding

"Please retry"

$32.65

$24.43

$29.19

Paperback

"Please retry"

$13.19

$7.93

$1.98

Kindle
$11.99 Read with Our Free App
Audiobook
$0.00 Free with your Audible trial
Library Binding
$32.65

18 Used from $29.19 10 New from $24.43
Paperback
$13.19

61 Used from $1.98 36 New from $7.93 2 Collectible from $12.75

Purchase options and add-ons

Essun's missing daughter grows more powerful every day, and her choices may destroy the world in this "magnificent" Hugo Award winner and NYT Notable Book. (NPR)

The season of endings grows darker, as civilization fades into the long cold night.

Essun -- once Damaya, once Syenite, now avenger -- has found shelter, but not her daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world, with a request. But if Essun does what he asks, it would seal the fate of the Stillness forever.

Far away, her daughter Nassun is growing in power -- and her choices will break the world.

N. K. Jemisin's award winning trilogy continues in the sequel to The Fifth Season.

Book 2 of 3

The Broken Earth
Print length

448 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Orbit
Publication date

August 16, 2016
Dimensions

5.45 x 1.55 x 8.15 inches
ISBN-10

0316229261
ISBN-13

978-0316229265
See all details

Frequently bought together

$13.19

Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 17

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

+

$10.39

Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 17

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

+

$14.28

Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 17

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Try again!

Details

Added to Cart

Choose items to buy together.

N. K. Jemisin
15,539
Paperback
Editors' pickBest Science Fiction & Fantasy
108 offers from $2.34
N. K. Jemisin
34,238
Paperback
154 offers from $3.50
N. K. Jemisin
1,370
Hardcover
Editors' pickBest Science Fiction & Fantasy
75 offers from $10.85
Arkady Martine
10,365
Hardcover
Editors' pickBest Science Fiction & Fantasy
66 offers from $9.43
Fonda Lee
6,025
Paperback
Editors' pickBest Science Fiction & Fantasy
70 offers from $7.92
Arkady Martine
6,315
Paperback
Editors' pickBest Science Fiction & Fantasy
13 offers from $11.31

Popular Highlights in this book

What are popular highlights?

The way of the world isn’t the strong devouring the weak, but the weak deceiving and poisoning and whispering in the ears of the strong until they become weak, too.
Highlighted by 1,993 Kindle readers
But it is one thing to resolve to die, quite another to actually carry out that resolve in the midst of dying.
Highlighted by 1,029 Kindle readers
Now you know that miracles are a matter of just effort, just perception, and maybe just magic.
Highlighted by 852 Kindle readers

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Jemisin is now a pillar of speculative fiction, breathtakingly imaginative and narratively bold."―Entertainment Weekly

"Beyond the meticulous pacing, the thorough character work, and the staggering ambition and revelations of the narration, Jemisin is telling a story of our present, our failures, our actions in the face of repeated trauma, our responses to the heat and pressure of our times. Her accomplishment in this series is tremendous. It pole-vaults over the expectations I had for what epic fantasy should be and stands in magnificent testimony to what it could be."―NPR on The Obelisk Gate

"Jemisin builds off of the strong foundation laid in The Fifth Season ... an interesting new series."
―Booklist on The Obelisk Gate

"Exceptional."―Library Journal (starred review) on The Obelisk Gate

"Stunning, again."―Kirkus (starred review) on The Obelisk Gate

"[How] can something as large and complex as this story exist in her head, and how does she manage to tell it to me so beautifully? I can't stand how much I love The Broken Earth trilogy so far.... Absolutely dazzling."―B&N Reviews on The Obelisk Gate

"Stunning.... Jemisin's most accomplished series yet."―RT Book Reviews on The Obelisk Gate

"Jemisin is a tremendously talented writer on every level and she's at the top of her game here. I love books that beat me up and take my lunch money, and this one left me bruised, breathless, and desperate for the final volume."―Rose Fox, senior reviews editor Publishers Weekly, (PW Staff Picks: The Best Books We Read in 2016) on The Obelisk Gate

"Brilliant characters, vivid world, and pacing . . . .The Obelisk Gate is an incredibly ambitious and important novel."―The Verge on The Obelisk Gate

"Intricate and extraordinary."―New York Times on The Fifth Season

"[The Fifth Season is] an ambitious book, with a shifting point of view, and a protagonist whose full complexity doesn't become apparent till toward the end ... Jemisin's work itself is part of a slow but definite change in sci-fi and fantasy."―Guardian on The Fifth Season

"Astounding... Jemisin maintains a gripping voice and an emotional core that not only carries the story through its complicated setting, but sets things up for even more staggering revelations to come."―NPR Books on The Fifth Season

"Jemisin's graceful prose and gritty setting provide the perfect backdrop for this fascinating tale of determined characters fighting to save a doomed world."―Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) on The Fifth Season

"A must-buy...breaks uncharted ground."―Library Journal (starred review) on The Fifth Season

"Jemisin might just be the best world builder out there right now.... [She] is a master at what she does." ―RT Book Reviews (Top Pick!) on The Fifth Season

"[A] powerful, epic novel of discovery, pain, and heartbreak." ―SFF World on The Fifth Season

"This is an intense, exciting novel, where survival is always on the line, set in a fascinating, original and dangerous world with an intriguing mystery at the heart of it. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book!"―Martha Wells on The Fifth Season

"Stunning and well constructed ... a book that imbues itself with deeper meaning the more it unfolds and reveals itself, and by the end, I saw everything in a new light. I knew Jemisin was talented, being a huge fan of her Inheritance and Dreamblood books, but here she employs heretofore unseen skills."―Lightspeed on The Fifth Season

"One of the most celebrated new voices in epic fantasy."―Salon.com

"With every new work, Jemisin's ability to build worlds and break hearts only grows."―Kirkus (starred review)

"Heartbreaking, wholly unexpected, and technically virtuosic, The Fifth Season is a tour-de-force. I felt every shock--and the book is packed with them--in my marrow. It's no exaggeration to say that Jemisin expands the range of what great fantasy can be."―Brian Staveley, author of The Emperor's Blades

About the Author

N. K. Jemisin is a Brooklyn author who won the Hugo Award for Best Novel for The Fifth Season, which was also a New York Times Notable Book of 2015. She previously won the Locus Award for her first novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and her short fiction and novels have been nominated multiple times for Hugo, World Fantasy, Nebula, and RT Reviewers' Choice awards, and shortlisted for the Crawford and the James Tiptree, Jr. awards. She is a science fiction and fantasy reviewer for the New York Times, and you can find her online at nkjemisin.com.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orbit; Reprint edition (August 16, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316229261
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316229265
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.45 x 1.55 x 8.15 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #11,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #555 in Fantasy Action & Adventure
- #1,115 in Epic Fantasy (Books)
- #1,274 in Paranormal & Urban Fantasy (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 23,104 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

N. K. Jemisin

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

N. K. Jemisin is a Brooklyn author who won the Hugo Award for Best Novel for The Fifth Season, which was also a New York Times Notable Book of 2015. She previously won the Locus Award for her first novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and her short fiction and novels have been nominated multiple times for Hugo, World Fantasy, and Nebula awards, and shortlisted for the Crawford and the James Tiptree, Jr. awards. She is a science fiction and fantasy reviewer for the New York Times, and you can find her online at nkjemisin.com.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

23,104 global ratings

5 star		65%
4 star		29%
3 star		5%
2 star		1%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all customer images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Amazon Customer

Excellent

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 22, 2023

Verified Purchase

I read a LOT. And fast. It’s not often I go from Kindle Unlimited books to purchasing books. I love books that force me to pay attention, that aren’t filled with fluff to skim over, and that create worlds to get lost in. The depth of the characters and the storyline shine here. I’m very impressed and pleased, can’t wait to finish this series and follow the author.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

melanie (meltotheany / jtotheimin)

5/5

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 13, 2017

Verified Purchase

I finished this book just after it won its Hugo award for the best novel of 2017. This and The Fifth Season are so deserving of the awards and praise they receive. These books leave me wordless, because there is no explaining how much of a meaningful impact these books have on the world, let alone the SFF community. All I can truly say is thank you to N.K. Jemisin for this world, these characters, and these important messages that continue to render me speechless.

I also finished this book the same night that white supremacists rallied at Charlottesville and spread their hate in my country. The country that says we are past racism. The country that is constantly telling us that we are the greatest and most forward-thinking country of all time. The country that’s passing this hatred and violence off as “free speech”.

“But if you stay, no part of this comm gets to decide that any part of this comm is expendable. No voting on who gets to be people.”

Literature does represent our real life. The Broken Earth trilogy makes us feel the things it does because it mimics our world today. It shows us the oppression unapologetically, and this oppression doesn’t just live in this SFF book, it’s in our world right now, even if you’re choosing to keep your eyes closed to it. This series is a masterpiece and I hope you read it, but I also hope you learn from it.

The Obelisk Gate picks up where The Fifth Season left off, where earth’s civilization is beginning to prepare for a new Season. What doesn’t kill them quickly, will starve them to death slowly. This book mostly follows Essun, one of the most powerful Orogene in existence, where she is trying to live in a new community in a rather strange location. She meets up with old friends who are now also a part of this community, but her thoughts never stray from her daughter that has been missing since the start of The Fifth Season. Essun is also met with new problems and dilemmas that are so much bigger than the community she is residing in.

This is one of the most immersive books I’ve ever read. The narrative of this book just forcefully will pull the reader into this broken world, regardless of if they want to or not. You can’t help all the connections you will feel and form subconsciously. You end up with this experience that just feels so real and so emotionally overwhelming. Plus, I read this with so many tears in my eyes constantly, because even though this earth is trying to kill everyone that inhabits it, it is still the humans that are the terrifying villains.

Also, this is the most beautifully crafted diverse cast I’ve ever read in any piece of literature. The representation is just on an entirely differently level. And I believe with my whole heart that every other author out there should aspire to seamlessly create their cast of characters like N.K. Jemisin.

On top of the amazing diversity and representation, as a woman, I really sympathize with the underlying theme of motherhood throughout this series. I do not currently have any children, but I’d one day like to, and this book just emphasizes that there is no word to describe the love a mother feels for her child/children. Like, this book is heartbreakingly beautiful, and this constant reminder of how it feels to lose a child is something I can’t put into words. I think that is every parents’ greatest fear and this book doesn’t shy away from that topic ever. The heart of this novel is oppression, but the soul of this novel is that there is nothing a parent wouldn’t do to protect their child.

“You serve a higher purpose, little one. Not any single man’s desire—not even mine. You were not made for such petty things.”

But this all being said, this book does feel like the second book in a series, and it feels like it’s leading up to what I’m sure will be a perfect ending in The Stone Sky. There wasn’t any filler so to speak, but the events very slowly unraveling to put the pieces in place so that everything makes sense. But please, don’t let that stop you from giving this once in a lifetime series a try. It truly is a masterpiece that deserves all the praise and hype that is bestowed upon it.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Unique and Genuinely Different

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 11, 2017

Verified Purchase

This series is a little different from many that I’ve read recently. I said in my prior review that it seemed like a Dystopian Fantasy and I believe it is classified as Sci-Fi. I’m still not sure what it is officially but with some of the revelations in this it appears that this might be a version of Earth in the distant, distant future.

I really like the writing in this. The way the PoVs is presented really works for me. There are a few first person PoVs and then there is this other narrative by someone that sounds completely different in the way it is presented. I thought that maybe it is the Stoneeater companion Essun is keeping but then there are moments in this that I think perhaps some of them are Father Earth talking.

***We cannot be permitted to win. So this is a confession, my Essun. I’ve betrayed you already and I will do it again. You haven’t even chosen a side yet, and already I fend off those who would recruit you to their cause. Already I plot your death. It’s necessary. But I can at least try my damnedest to give your life a meaning that will last till the world ends.***

The Obelisk Gate covers both Nassun and Essun’s stories. We start off with what happened to Nassun the day that her father killed her baby brother and took her away from her mother. Her story is a little heartbreaking as you learn what Essun did to teach her how to use her magic and the struggles Essun now has to face to stay alive while traveling with her father. It gave the reader great insight into why she would want a parental figure so much that she latched onto the first one that came around at that point in her life.

Essun’s story is just as engaging as Nassun’s and possibly more so since I connected to her in the first book. In the commune she is trying to learn from Alabaster before his imminent demise. You learn that there was a method to his madness and maybe he didn’t just want to destroy the world. Perhaps he was trying to move towards saving it and destroying it is just the first step.

***“Using that to channel the power of the Rift should be enough.”
“To do what?”
For the first time, you hear a note of emotion in her voice: annoyance. “To impose equilibrium on the Earth-Moon system.”
What. “Alabaster said the Moon was flung away.”
“Into a degrading long-ellipsis orbit.” When you stare blankly, she speaks your language again. “It’s coming back.”
Oh, Earth. Oh, rust. Oh, no. “You want me to catch the Moon?”***

There are other dangers of course to be faced. There are Stone Eaters and they have their own agendas including the one that has been following Essun around. There is the growing tension in the Comm between the Orogenes and Stills and even more outside of the Comm as food becomes scarce and other Comms have decided to try and invade for food and supplies. Then there is also the interesting wildlife changes that include some animals hibernating while others have different deadly instinctual habits during a season.

One of the most interesting things for me in this book was getting a little more insight into the Guardians and what makes them what they are. Shaffa’s part in this book with some explanations of ‘gifts’ Guardians are given was especially inventive and creepy. But his relationship with Nassun is equal parts beautiful and terrible. I’m so worried for what is going to happen in that dynamic in The Stone Sky.

***He loses so much else, though. Understand: The Schaffa that we have known thus far, the Schaffa whom Damaya learned to fear and Syenite learned to defy, is now dead. What remains is a man with a habit of smiling, a warped paternal instinct, and a rage that is not wholly his own driving everything he does from this point on.***

This was a really good follow up the The Fifth Season and has one of the more interesting concepts I’ve read recently. I’m really excited to the conclusion to this trilogy in The Stone Sky.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Paul T.

A continuing story and a deepening mystery.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 31, 2023

Verified Purchase

The Obelisk Gate picks up several years after the events of the first book in the trilogy (The Fifth Season), and it begins with a cataclysmic event that could wipe out all life on Earth. Trying desperately to cope with results of this disaster and simultaneous personal tragedy, is the main character from book one, though now she goes by a different name. Other old characters reappear, and new ones are introduced, against a background of an increasingly desperate struggle for survival.

But to add to this are new revelations about the mysterious power that is concentrated in the great, floating Obelisks - but also in the fearsome Guardians and the mysterious Stone Eaters. And a very few people who can perceive and control this power.

It's interesting that this is named 'magic', which might give the impression that this is a fantasy. But this is a very different sort of magic, which has more to do with an ancient technology than any sort of hocus pocus.

Another very absorbing and finely crafted novel from Jemisin. I'm straight on to read the next - the world and the plot and the characters are too intricate to leave for long, in case I forget some important detail!

One person found this helpful

Spencer1124

An excellent sequel in a unique and page turning fantasy trilogy!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 6, 2022

Verified Purchase

Wow, the second book in this trilogy has reminded me just why I loved the first book so much.

The Obelisk Gate returns to Essun’s life, she has found a safe place to wait out the season. But, there are people from her past wanting things from her, and her daughter is still missing.

Jemisin’s world building and characterisation is flawless. I find myself completely swept up in the world, lost to reality around me. The world building and plot is quite complex. I do have to focus a lot when I am reading and had to look up a recap of the first book before picking this one up. If anyone has the time, and wants to read this trilogy, I recommend reading them together so that you can follow the complex plot in an easier way. That being said, once I remembered who everyone was, and what was going on, I fell completely back in love with this series.

One part of this book made me feel quite emotional. I ended up pausing to read the passage over and over again, it was so beautiful. I am left with a. million questions, and don’t fully know what went on towards the end of this book. However, I do feel a deep sense of calm within me. These books truly give the reader the ability to join another world, away from this one. Jemisin is a wonderful writer who has created an incredibly rich world that I cannot wait to return to.

I recommend this series to fans of fantasy, it is quite complex at times, but still suitable for newbies to the genre (like myself!).

A. Whitehead

A strong sequel to The Fifth Season

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 29, 2018

Verified Purchase

A new Fifth Season has fallen on the world, the worst one in history. It may last a thousand years and forever end what vestiges of civilisation remain in the Stillness. One orogene, battered and dying, has a plan to end the Season and indeed all of the Seasons: to recapture the Moon, which was moved out of its traditional orbit more than a thousand generations ago, unbalancing the world. Recapturing the Moon requires that Essun find and harness the powers of the Obelisk Gate. But this may be harder than she thought, as enemies are moving against her new-found home and, in the distant south, her daughter discovers that she herself has an unforeseen destiny.

The Obelisk Gate is the sequel to the excellent The Fifth Season and the middle volume of the Broken Earth trilogy, N.K. Jemisin's critically-acclaimed take on the venerable Dying Earth subgenre. The Fifth Season was a highly accomplished novel, describing a brand new world with skill and intelligence and blending together elements of fantasy, post-apocalyptic fiction and a dash of the weird to create something compelling and interesting.

The Fifth Season was also helped by its structure, in which we follow the same character at three different points in her life. The story rotated through each version of the character in term, gradually giving the readers all the pieces to assemble the full narrative. It was a great literary conceit, well-conceived and executed, which allowed the reader to really get to grips with the character.

The Obelisk Gate can't use the same structure, so instead adapts it by moving between Essun's story and that of her daughter Nassun. Whilst the first book was an extended road trip, the second book alternates between Essun's static story and Nassun's long journey across thousands of miles into the far south. This changes things up nicely and means that Essun, now a guest of the community of Castrima, has to actually stay put, learn what's going on from Alabaster and help defend the community.

It does mean a slightly more uneven book than The Fifth Season. Not actually a huge amount happens in this novel, especially for Essun's storyline, and some implausibility creeps in when you realise she is spending months and months hanging around in Castrima (to allow Nassun to travel many, many thousands of miles from almost the equator into the Antarctic region) but doesn't seem to really learn a lot of new information despite Alabaster being right there. That said, there is quite a decent amount of character building and atmosphere here and Castrima, a subterranean city suspended in a giant geode, is a terrific piece of worldbuilding.

Nassun's storyline is more dynamic and disturbing, as her father tries to take her to safety but instead brings her into an even more dangerous and unstable situation, with her own burgeoning powers to contend with. There's a dark mirror here to Essun's childhood upbringing as related in the previous novel, with the feeling that Nassun is what Essun could have become if she was indulged more instead of tortured.

The result is a sequel which expands on the world and the story but, in a common failing of middle volumes of trilogies, can't quite match the relentless pace and sense of discovery from the first book. There's a lot of introspection in this novel which is beautifully written, but risks redundancy later on. However, the book ends with an explosive confrontation between Castrima and a rival community which once again shakes things up and leaves them in an interesting place for the final book in the series to pick up on.

The Obelisk Gate (****½) is a readable and strong sequel to The Broken Sky, if a slightly less original and relentless one. It is available now in the UK and USA. The story concludes in The Stone Sky.

3 people found this helpful

Georgiana89

different but worthwhile sequel

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

I absolutely loved the first book in this trilogy. I went straight on to Book 2, but was nervous about how it would compare - partly because it would be hard to top or match such a strong opening, partly because sequels often tend to fall flat, and above all, because the structure of book one made it feel very self-contained and I was unsure how that could be replicated. Specifically, I loved the way that all three, seemingly different narrators turned out to be the same girl/woman at different points in her life and her journey. But with that surprise out, and the past sections having caught up to the present section, I wondered how this instalment could possibly achieve the same sort of effect. I turned out still to have three narrative strands, but while one was still "you" (aka Essun), there was also Nassun (her daughter, more of a plot device than a character in book one), and Schaffa, Essun's former teacher/mentor/father figure and villain of the first book.

I didn't find the structure quite as compelling as in the previous one, but it made up for it by giving a wider spread of points of view, to help readers better understand the characters and the world.The previous book felt rather like a character study, and while those elements were still maintained, this broadened out the focus. There was a lot more about the history of the world, the mysterious obelisks and stoneeaters, and the causes, nature and limits of oregeny, and I really liked this deeper world building.

In some respects - perhaps because of the greater variety of narrators, perhaps because of the more fantastical focus - it felt like quite a different book to its predecessor, but ultimately, it maintained most of what made that special and added some great new elements, so is definitely a worthwhile sequel.

5 people found this helpful

Rossen V

More of the same

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 21, 2021

Verified Purchase

Basically the same book.
It goes on and on about the main idea of the books (Society hates the magicians, which is bad. It - society - has created different ways in repressing the magicians. Father willing to kill his two children because they’re magicians? C’mon). I guess that’s the main idea of the books.
The setting is great. They are slowly revealing the veil covering the dead civ mysteries.
The characters I am not sure about. Surprising, illogical. The relationships feel real.
I want to see characters dealing and using their powers solving every day problems. Helping with the dishes or laundry…

See all reviews

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers	6pm Score deals on fashion brands	AbeBooks Books, art & collectibles	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy	Sell on Amazon Start a Selling Account

Amazon Business Everything For Your Business	Amazon Fresh Groceries & More Right To Your Door	AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally	Home Services Experienced Pros Happiness Guarantee	Amazon Ignite Sell your original Digital Educational Resources	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Audible Listen to Books & Original Audio Performances	Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	Box Office Mojo Find Movie Box Office Data	ComiXology Thousands of Digital Comics	DPReview Digital Photography	Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting

Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	IMDbPro Get Info Entertainment Professionals Need	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy	Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime	Prime Video Direct Video Distribution Made Easy

Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Amazon Warehouse Great Deals on Quality Used Products	Whole Foods Market America’s Healthiest Grocery Store	Woot! Deals and Shenanigans	Zappos Shoes & Clothing	Ring Smart Home Security Systems

eero WiFi Stream 4K Video in Every Room	Blink Smart Security for Every Home	Neighbors App Real-Time Crime & Safety Alerts	Amazon Subscription Boxes Top subscription boxes – right to your door	PillPack Pharmacy Simplified	Amazon Renewed Like-new products you can trust

Amazon Prime includes:

Buy new: $13.19$13.19 FREE delivery: Wednesday, May 17 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com

Buy used: $9.00

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Author

The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, 2) Paperback – August 16, 2016

Purchase options and add-ons

Frequently bought together

More items to explore

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

N. K. Jemisin

Customer reviews

Reviews with images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new:

$13.19

FREE delivery: Wednesday, May 17 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.

Ships from: Amazon.com

Sold by: Amazon.com

Buy used:

$9.00