This is the sequel to The Fifth Season, a book that I previously wrote and gushed about. The sequel is just as good! It builds on the world and the characters extremely well.
To summarize, this book takes place in a fantasy world where orogenes are humans who can harness the earth’s energy to accomplish amazing feats. They can move mountains, or turn people into stone. As a result, they are feared and abused, seen more as a tool or a weapon to be used and disposed of than as people. Essen is an orogene, and she has two children who are also orogenes as well. She finds out one day that her husband (not an orogene, a still) has brutally murdered her son and ran off with her daughter. She vows to find them. She ends up in a city that’s underground, and welcomes orogenes as members. This is where she reunites with her old mentor, Alabastor, and he tells her that she has to use her orogeny to harness the power of these obelisks across the globe and bring the moon back. The moon’s orbit has brought it far from the earth, but if it can be returned then stability would reign.
Over the course of the novel we learn about Essen being trained by Alabastor and how she grows more powerful. We also hear from Nassun, who has been travelling with her father to a place where they can turn orogenes back into stills. The other point of view character is Schaffa, a Guardian. Guardians are superhuman people who can kill orogenes if they cannot be controlled anymore. Schaffa used to be assigned to Essun, he ends up founding a small training facility for orogenes and Guardians. This is where Nassun ends up. He takes care of Nassun, and the two share a close bond.
Then there’s also the Stone Eaters. These are a race of beings who used to be human, but centuries ago became more rock. They can pass through the ground as easily as swimming when they want, and they have their own factions and desires as well. Alabastor is friends with one named Antimony, and Essen has her own named Hoa. It’s revealed that Hoa has been going around attacking other Stone Eaters who would do harm to Essen, and he begins to reveal more about their world.
Essentially, only an orogene can activate the Obelisk Gate, the network of obelisks, and harness all of that power. But the Stone Eaters have been around for ages and want to influence who and why someone would do that. And it centers on the moon. In this world, periodically there are Fifth Seasons where the world becomes deadly. Returning the moon would fix that, but also get rid of orogeny. It has something to do with Father Earth where the orogenes (as the legends say) took away its child (as in the Moon) and Father Earth now takes his revenge on the humans. The book ends with both Essen and Nassun, who has recently started training with another Stone Eater, resolving to bring the Moon back.
As you can tell from the summary, there’s a lot of things going on in this book. Unlike the previous one, the three point of view characters are separate a lot of the time, other than Schaffa and Nassun meeting, the three lines stay pretty separate. The result is a lot of plot and story to get through.
One of the strengths is definitely Jemison’s world building. In the last book we learned about orogenes and how they are treated in this society. Here we now learn more about the Stone Eaters and the obelisks. Information about the Guardians is hinted at, but I think more of that will come in the finale to this trilogy.
Another aspect that I think is fascinating is how this series plays with myth and legend. So much of the information that the characters have about their past is through legends. It is hard to tell what is literally true, and what is false. For example, the story about orogenes taking away Father Earth’s child is present in the first book, but it isn’t until now that this is revealed to be rather literally true. Then there’s the Father Earth character. Is this a humanoid being? Or is it a force of nature? I hope that this is expanded on in the next book as well!
I wrote about this previously, but the diversity in the book is so great! At one point Nassun is said to have braids in her hair, referencing how people of color tend to wear theirs. Plus Tonkee, a trans women, starts a relationship with another woman. It isn’t a focus, but it’s nice to have casual queerness that doesn’t have to be justified.
I’m looking forward to the finale! What a read that’s going
to be.
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