The Obelisk Gate is the second book in N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy. I can't imagine what goes into writing a trilogy with the scope and depth that Jemisin produces. The characters and the world continued to entertain me, and I was pleased to continue the development of Hoa and Nessun. Essun remains the touchstone, but other curious stories are emerging around other characters. Did I like it as much as the first book? No, and I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe the world-building and character introduction were so unexpected in the first book that the second book couldn't compete with that novel experience. Some sections felt slow as well, and the deliberate hiding of certain information was less titillating and more frustrating than in the first novel.
Which is only to say that I didn't love it with the same intensity as The Fifth Season (reviewed here), but I'm still fascinated with some of the characters and eagerly await a conclusion to the trilogy.
Library copy.
Dystopian/Scifi/Fantasy. August, 2016. Print length: 448 pages.
Serena Flanagan is not at first suspicious of the suicide of the severely disabled Peter Garrick. His injuries from an accident are terrible; his wife seems devastated. Yet some ambiguous, indefinite aspect of the death bothers Serena, and she finds herself unable to immediately sign off on the death as suicide. The Reverend Peter McKay, a close family friend, comforts Roberta Garrick in her grief over her husband's death.
Tragedy has followed the Garrick family, and even before Peter Garrick's accident, the couple had lost their young daughter, but even while feeling the sadness of two tragedies in the little family, Serena's instincts tell her to keep digging.
A well-plotted mystery with interesting characters. A series I will happily pursue.
Library copy.
Crime/Police Procedural. September 2016. Print length: 336 pages.
I'm putting Stuart Neville on my list to try...you know, in all those extra minutes I never seem to have enough of. ;)
ReplyDelete:) Don't want to waste those extra minutes--they are too few and far between!
DeleteI've eyed Jemisin for a couple of years, and still haven't decided if her books are for me. Good review though, and of book one that you linked.
ReplyDeleteThe Neville book I know I'll like because I love Irish/British procedurals and read many of them and his first novel, The Ghosts of Belfast, was highly praised and recommended by someone I knew on Goodreads last year. I know this is a different series, but both sound good and I definitely will look for his work, now that you reminded me. Thanks!
The Ghosts of Belfast is on my list. :) When I pulled So Say the Fallen from the new book shelf, I didn't make the connection, but now my interest is revived.
DeleteStuart Neville has been on my watch list to try out one of these days. The mystery sounds good and confirms I need to discover this author!
ReplyDeleteI'm certainly going to look for more by Stuart Neville--the first in the DCI Serena Flanagan series and The Ghosts of Belfast!
DeleteI really have to read Jemisin! I feel like I must be one of the last few who hasn't read at least one of her books.
ReplyDeleteI'm still not sure if N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy is a fit for me. However, So Say the Fallen sounds like something I'd read so I'll check that out first. ;)
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