Review: The Stone Sky

The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you haven't cracked open this series open, do so ASAP but you need to start with The Fifth Season. Jemisin's final book in The Broken Earth trilogy delivers upon much that she promised in the first two but not making everything so neat and tidy. Readers get enough to understand what has happened in the past and where the future may lead, but the story of the protagonists, Essun and Nassum is completed. In this final book, we find the mother and daughter protagonists preparing and racing to the other side of the Earth in order to possibly start a program that will realign Earth's moon with the Earth to end the cycles of 5th-seasons (seasons where instability and harsh conditions rule). However, Essun (mother) and Nassum (daughter) have different goals in mind and are approaching the endgame with different supports, so when they finally meet, it's not clear just what the outcome will be. What's fascinating about this book is that Jemisin spends as much time in the deep past (long before Nassum and Essun are born) providing a glimpse at how the present moment had been created by past events. It also becomes clear and apparent why certain narrative approaches have been taken throughout the book. I thoroughly enjoyed this final arc--so much so that I do not need another book. At times, I long for "the next story" and while there are clearly survivors at the end of this book, Jemisin has given us a story that feels complete. Yes, other stories could be written but it doesn't need to be. That's the mark of a great storyteller.

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