The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin (June 2018)

[Joe]

The Obelisk Gate N.K. Jemisin is the latest Hugo winning novel and sequel to The Fifth Season which was last months book. Curious where the story will go after the first book.

Use the appropriate spoiler code when talking about plot details and such.

[Joe]

Chapter 1 - Chapter 4 + Interlude

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It’s a pretty calm start so far. All characters are living, or staying, somewhere they’re relatively safe and a few little clues as to what the obelisks might be are vaguely hinted at. The curious section so far is what happened to Schaffa. He had to give in to some kind of dark force within guardians and now he’s not like he was. I don’t know how this relates yet but it’s going to be interesting to find out.
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[Joe]

Chapter 5 - 9

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Finally learnt, or began to, what happened to Nessun after her father killed her brother and then they both disappeared before the start of the first book. I’m not sure where I expect events and characters to end up eventually in this as the first book went in such a different way than I could of expected.

In the next few chapters we’re about to learn something very important from Alabaster as he’ll tell a story to Essun.
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[Joe]

Chapter 10 - 14

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The comm that Essun is part of, for now, is developing in ways I wouldn’t of guessed. Hoa has returned and appeared dead and now the other non-friendly stone eater has reappeared instead which seems strange but maybe Hoa used too many of the crystal things to recover and this other one took over some how.. I don’t understand it yet but suspect things will come clear very soon.

Where they are living is proving rather interesting as well. Technology more advanced than anything we have was once prevalent in this world and now it’s all faded away. Is the references to magic really technology? The oregene ability to manipulate the earth is magic however so this is a world where both exist but neither are really realised by the general population.

Regarding the Interlude chapter; is it the earth itself meant to be aying this? This makes me curious and wonder how it’ll tie into the technology side.
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[Joe]

Chapter 15 until end

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It’s taken 2 books but finally we can finally learn things about exactly what’s happening and why. There’s still a lot of questions but answers have been given. Essun and Nessun know each other is still alive.

Hoa isn’t dead after all, he’s merely changed in physical appearance. He is now the true Hoa that’s not putting on a costume for the sake of Essun; making her feel comfortable and all. He’s now open with what he is and to a degree what he is capable of. His motives are still unclear despite his words

Essun managed to connect to the Obelisk gate network and use it to find Nessun. It seems to be leading to control of super advanced technology that can fix the orbit of the moon and therefore end all the seasons but what the end result really will be is hard to predict. I could see it going the successful way and the world being season free but also it being a failure and everyone dying out as the books haven’t been super positive so far to my mind.
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