The Stone Sky

In the final installment of Jemisin's excellent Broken Earth trilogy, Essun and Nassun are racing to put an end to the war that's been tearing their planet apart for millenia. They have very different goals, one wanting to save the world and start over and the other wanting to just end it all. They grapple with whether or not all this suffering is worth it. And meanwhile, Hoa takes us back to the beginning, and the part he played in starting this war.

The ending was thrilling and incredible, with as much redemption as could be managed. Nassun and Essun don't really get a chance to repair their broken relationship, but there's a lovely moment of grace that suggests forgiveness is possible.

That said, the ending was also somewhat creepy, as the frame story is finally revealed in full. It's teased from the very beginning - how many stories are written in the second person? Still, the reveal of exactly why Hoa was telling Essun this story was a bit of a shock. Though looking back it makes all the sense in the world.

Overall this trilogy was brilliant, asking hard questions without providing easy answers and ultimately arguing that the only thing you can really do is to keep on trying. Even if it all sucks. There are moments of grace and happiness and peace and love, and those are worth sticking around for.

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