The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, #2)

by N.K. Jemisin

But it is one thing to resolve to die, quite another to actually carry out that resolve in the midst of dying.

There is such a thing as too much loss. Too much has been taken from you both—taken and taken and taken, until there’s nothing left but hope, and you’ve given that up because it hurts too much. Until you would rather die, or kill, or avoid attachments altogether, than lose one more thing.

Now you know that miracles are a matter of just effort, just perception, and maybe just magic.

The way of the world isn’t the strong devouring the weak, but the weak deceiving and poisoning and whispering in the ears of the strong until they become weak, too.