Well this is it, the ending of N.K. Jemison's Broken Earth trilogy. For the first two novels, see posts here and here. Honestly the ending was super satisfying, in a way that I haven't really read in ages. I think the key to a good ending is not to throw in any super huge plot twists, I should be able to look back and think that I knew this was coming, and to wrap up remaining loose ends while leaving the future open.
The story starts as Essun wakes up after the battle that ended The Obelisk Gate. She's weak, and has been in a coma for a while, but she now knows where her daughter is and wants to get there. First though, she has to get this comm to a safe place for them to live, which involves a deadly journey through a desert. Meanwhile her daughter Nassun is on her own journey to Corepoint, a place on the other side of the world to harness the gate and use it to end the world. On the journey though, Schaffa (Essun's old enemy but now Nassun's parental figure) loses his mind to Father Earth. Nassun arrives wanting to save Schaffa by turning everyone into Stone Eaters, essentially humans made of stone. Sprinkled throughout this are then a third viewpoint character: Hoa, Essun's Stone Eater friend. He narrates what his life was before he was changed into a Stone Eater, and what led to that transformation.
Of course the book ends with Nassun and Essun meeting at Corepoint. Nassun wants to turn all of humanity into Stone Eaters to save Schaffa, while Essun wants to bring back the Moon to fix the world. Their interaction doesn't last very long, but it's heartwrenching. All of three books was leading up to this. Essun wants her daughter back, but Nassun doesn't trust her anymore. Their relationship is truly broken beyond repair, but Essun can keep Nassun from using the Gate and turning herself to stone (the price for using it). Essun redirects the energy to instead turn herself to stone, essentially yielding to Nassun's wishes, and Nassun then changes her mind, and brings the Moon back instead of doing what she wanted. In the aftermath, Essun turns into a Stone Eater, and Nassun returns to help remake the world.
What's really touching about the ending though is the "Acknowledgements" section, where Jemison talks about how her mother's death heavily influenced the plot of the book. Clearly a lot of the ending particularly is her trying to work through these feelings of motherhood both for her mom and herself. It's really touching to know the source of all the pain and love in this book.
I've mentioned a couple times how the orogenes are a pretty apt metaphor for racism and prejudice. In this book, we learn through Hoa that the orogenes were originally made to serve as someone to subjugate. Basically there was a race of people, the Niess, who were rumored to be better and more sophisticated than everyone else. Once they were conquered, this was disproved. So, the people made their own Niess, as orogenes, to exploit. It's a pretty cool statement about prejudice, where people will invent things just to have someone that's lower than themselves.
But the ending, my goodness. It was super satisfying to see the war with Father Earth being ended, and most of the characters going to rebuild. I would have liked to know more about Essun's companions, like Tonkee, Hjarka, and Danel, or even those she left behind a little more. But seeing Essun emerge as a Stone Eater to continue her work was nice, if a little flowery how they talked about spending eternity with friends and family. Of course it's a hopeful ending, I don't see how it could be anything else at this point. This series puts you through a lot.
I cannot recommend this series enough, I thought the whole journey was incredible and the ending sure does deliver.
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