The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth #3) by N.K. Jemisin: Review

(Just look at this beautiful line up!)

The Stone Sky is the ending of one of the best series that I have ever read. As a matter of fact, it is the best concluding book that I can remember reading. Jemisin draws her readers in immediately into what happens after the climactic events in The Obelisk Gate. She wastes no time in showing the desperation and urgency that everyone is facing. 

Essun has been forced to a destiny and fate that she did not want to choose. She is now physically paying the cost of her choices, while facing the scrutiny and mistrust of the community that she saved. Essun is still trying to get to her daughter, Nassun, who is now on a quest of her own. Yet, Essun is still having to make the choice between what she wants for herself and what is necessary for the world.

Nassun is dealing with her own despair, grief, and confusion as she struggles with not only emotions that she can't control or work out on her own, but a power that manifests in ways that she doesn't yet understand. Nassun is having to accept hard choices and circumstances beyond her control that many adults would buckle under. Nassun is dependent on a Guardian whom she both loves and fears, and a Stone Eater whose powers and ways are barely understandable. 

One of the themes that I enjoyed the most in The Stone Sky is the dichotomy between Essun and Nassum. Their approach to stopping the complete destruction of the world come from two entirely different reference points. Essun has lived what feels like many different lives, has had experiences and faced challenges that Nassun can't relate to. Essun knows the grim reality of sacrifice and greater losses than Nassun knew about. Nassun, on the other hand, burns bright with anger at the unfairness and cruelty of the world. For me, Nassun represented the hope of someone who is still very young and believes in the ability to fix or change what is broken. While Essun represents the idea that even when you throw everything you have at something, not everything can be fixed or saved.

Jemisin addresses everything in this concluding book. I am just amazed at all that is represented in this series. Love, disappointment, grief, desperation, and the idea that any society that is built on the subjugation and repression of any of it's members is doomed to fall apart. Whether it is destroyed from the inside or outside forces, it just can't stand. There is example after example in Stone Sky of the self destruction that violent reactions to fear of what you don't understand does to yourself and what you value. 

When you read Stone Sky, be sure to read the acknowledgments at the end! If you read it, you will understand where some of the wonderfully passionate writing stems from for Jemisin. When I finished Stone Sky, Jemisin left me wrecked, but needing nothing more from this story. Again, this is just an awesome series with an amazing ending. This series is one that I would recommend to any reader. I know without a doubt that I will be revisiting this series again. I will probably do it as audio books next time around. Yes, I am that fan! I am sure that I will get even more out of it the next time around.

**I gleefully received a review copy in exchange for an honest review.**

**AND Jemisin has won the Hugo Award for best novel for the second year in a row for the Obelisk Gate. She won last year for The Fifth Season. This series, ya'll!**

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THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS... FOR THE LAST TIME.

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.