Broken Earth Trilogy
The Fifth Season
The Obelisk Gate
The Stone Sky
By Nk Jemisin.
It is rare for me to re-read something. It is even rarer for me to post a review after the re-read. I had made a promise to myself that I would re-read this again. I have read many sci-fi fantasy series but none have come closer to the aha of Broken Earth books. Re-reading them after 5 years - there is nostalgia but there is now a deeper appreciation of the craft. For one, I think I liked the third book as good as the first
In this review, I want to document what happens in the book. This is a wiki entry for me, not a review. It has all spoilers. It is also told in chronological order. This is not a review. it is just for me.
T1 = When The Shattering happens (T3 minus 40,000 years)
T2 = When The Rifting happens (T3 minus 4 years)
T3 = Now
Before Shattering
At the beginning there were many tribes, one of then was Niess. Niess-folks were born with the ability to do 'magic' - a kind of energy source that is there inside the Earth, the nature and everything around us. It is the life-force. Niess-were able to see it, use and and then they built obelisks to revere it. Obelisks are kind of battery stores for 'magic'. Can not be used as weapons on their own. Niess folks were able to connect to Obelisks, but ordinary folks can not do so. Orogenes are able to connect to Obelisk.
Orogeny is ability to sense and control physical things including planetary tectonic movements. Niess folks had the ability called 'Tuning', a way of using 'magic' and 'orogeny' in the right way. Niess-folks, even though they had the innate ability to channel and use 'magic', they lived with it harmoniously.
Enter SylAnagists, a human tribe which has advanced capabilities and has captured most of the tribes on Earth. The key repeating motiff in Broken Earth is that one tribe of humans call themselves superior and they like to subjugate others. The human civilization exists with one group establishing their dominance over others. The others, the oppressed, are often considered 'below human'.
Syl Anagists through some means are able to conquer the Niess-folks and then realize that Niess-folks can use magic. To demonstrate their superiority, they call that Niess-folks are below human, their ability to generate magic, while a gift, is actually a sub-par feature and they have not evolved as humans yet. This is bogus but is used as a pretext for mass-killing, oppression etc.
Syl Anagists discover that Niess-folks can use magic and they use them to create a Plutonic engine - a grid of 256 obelisk gates which will be used to mine 'magic' from Earth's core . This magic will power everything - from industries to personal space. To do so, they do two things (i) Even when Niess folks are slaughtered, their body still has magic, maybe they do not die completely but return to earth, grow as vines and can conduct magic. They do this to create the Plutonic engine. That is Niess folks are harvested for their magic(ii) To start the engine, they need a spark, an extra-ordinary surge of magic to jumpstart the engine. So, they artificially create 'Tuners' - bio-engineered humans from Niess folks who have the capacity to connect to Obelisks (because they are Niess underneath) and use the power in Obelisks to start the engine.
T1 minus one week
This is where we meet our Tuners - Houzha, Gaewha, Remzha, and a few others who are being trained. But they are not able to control Obelisks for a long time. Enter Keleni - Keleni is the daughter of a Niess and Syl Anagist. This is hinted but not explicitly told. So, she can control Obelisks. But since she is Niess, she is considered non-human or below-human. She is tasked to train the Tuners to control obelisks. She takes them into a field trip where the Tuners realize the history of Niess-folks and that they are not completely dead and the Plutonic Engine is a device to rape Earth for magic. Tuners decide that they will foil this plan.
Houzha liked Keleni - platonic love. She called him a 'thinker'. Houzha was intrinsically a loving human.
T1 minus one day
Tuners go to moon 'Zero Site', along with Syl Anagists to start the engine. But their plan is to overload the engine and destroy it to kill everything, including themselves. But they did not factor one thing - 'Father Earth'. Father Earth is an alive being and magic is part of him. (it is interesting that Jemisin uses Father Earth and not mother earth). Father Earth considers Moon to be its son.
T1 - Shattering
Father Earth sees their engine and right when the Tuners put the spark, wakes up and destroys the engine. The Tuners, specifically Houzha, has to channel the 'magic' somewhere, since on Earth, it would destroy everything. So, he redirects the energy to the moon and it pushes the moon outside its orbit. Moon is no longer circling Earth and this makes the Father Earth more angry.
Father Earth does few things - (i) Converts Tuners into Stone Eaters - Stone Eaters are like statues but they have heart of Tuners who are bio-engineered humans. So, in a way Stone Eaters are human hearted stones who can not die. They can use magic though. StoneEaters can not die (ii) The Syl Anagists who were trying to create the magic, Father Earth adds a corestone to their sessapaine (where the back-neck meets the spine). This allows the FatherEarth to control them and he calls them Guardians. The idea is that Guardians will be the means by which Father Earth can control humans. Guardians can access magic via their corestone. (iii) Father Earth took control of the Obelisks and programmed them to drop 'magic' bombs on Earth and kill humans. However, Houzha interjected and add a 100-year delay in that, just so that humans have sometime to plan for this. (iv) Everyone at Corepoint are killed
T1+100 years
When the lag gets cover, the obelisks drop massive amounts of kinetric energy bombs and that is how the Fifth Seasons started. This is the crux of the story - this is how the Earth was broken, giving the name of the book - Broken Earth trilogy.
In this 100 years, Keleni survived and her descendants were able to use orogeny. This is how Orogenes come from - they are all descendants of Keleni.
In this 100 years, is where the stonelore was written. Stonelore is the history of the shattering and its aftermath. But later, the new rulers (Sanze-mat) would rewrite the history.
The above is largely what is covered in book three. It is amazing that in book 1 and book 2, we read about how Sanze-Mat and Guardians are the new rulers/oppressors. But, Jemisin is saying that history is simply repeating itself, with a different character cast.
T2 minus thirty years
Dayama is recruited from a small village and taken to Yumenes/Fulcrum - a place where Orogenes are trained. Orogenes, also called roggas (in a derogatory manner), is a trait, some people are born with it. Without training, they are called ferals. If orogenes can not control their orogeny, they often kill their near and dear ones. So, there is a school in Yumenes where the training happens. Orogenes go from zero to 10 rings. Ten-ringer are extremely powerful and can even have the ability to spot magic.
As a joke, Jemisin names the land mass, where Yumenes and all the cities reside, Stillness. Stillness is anything but still - there are earthquakes, volcanic eruptions etc. Orogenes go there and control these tectonic movements.
But Orogenes are under control. Guardians have the ability to control orogenes because Guradians have magic. Orognes are unable to perform in the presence of guardians. Guardians are employed by certain ruling class called Sanze-mat. Sanze-mat are oligarchs that control governments and everything that goes in Stillness. They are the ones who often rewrite history. (See the parallels) Orogenes do not have their free-will and are considered below-humans. Across stillness, communities throw orogenes out or kill them. Because of their powers, ordinary people are afraid of them. And where there is fear, there is subjugation.
Dayama is taken to Yumenes and begins her formal training at the school. Many small incidents happen but they are not very important. Dayama is smart and learns quickly. She advanced to a three ringer. At some point they can chose a new name and Dayama choose Syenite.
T2 minus 25 years
At some point, Syenite is asked to serve a 10-ringer Alabaster. Serve here means to copulate and breed and have her kids. Alabaster is a ten-ringer, least interested in sex, but has to play by the rules of the Sanze-mat. Such breedings etc are common practice. Ten-ringers have better freedoms, they can choose their own projects, live independently in lavish villas etc but still under control.
Alabaster is given a mission to clear docks at Allia and she takes Syenite along with him. Along the way, they visit a node-maintainer citadel. Sanze-Mat has established these node-maintainer units across the Stillness. A node maintainer's job is to look at micro or small tectonic movements and quell then. It leads to region's stability. If the region is geo-logically stable, it will be economically prosperous. But who are node maintainers ? These are orogenes, drugged and fed via tubes who do this job 24x7 until they die. Often the children of ten-ringers are taken to do this. Or orogenes who do poor in training are assigned this duty. It is slavery + torture combined. Alabaster is aware of this but Syenite and us see this for the first time, to understand the horror of it and the price that is paid to establish the pretense of civilization development.
At Allia, Alabaster is given a kind of poison and is unable to clear the docks. So he sends Syenite to clear the docks. Alabaseter is given poison because he demands respect that should be given to a ten-ringer but is not given. Sanze-mat also charges tax from these towns to send trained ten-ringers and these taxes are exorbitant. Allia leadership feels that they are extorted and they take it out on Alabaster. Jemisin gives us the glimpse of such politics but it is amazing how much it mirrors the current day affairs (think import/export tax etc)
At the docks, Syenite clears the weeds but realizes that the weeds are there because there is something big underneath water which is blocking the flow of water. She sesses (just like eyes are for sight, sess is what you to do orogeny) and realizes that it is a big objet there. She tries to connect with it and realizes that she is able to connect and lift it. Once it comes over-ground, she realizes that it is a Obelisk and there is someone inside. Being of curious and helpful nature, she asks the person inside 'Are you ok?' This simple thing changes everything. Her humanity to check and do good is the crux of everything. Because, we later see that the inside thing was Houza, now the stone eater.
But now that there is an Obelisk, the Sanze-Mat sends guardians to control this. When guardian comes, they attack Alabaster and try to control Syenite. Syenite in her effort to protect herself reaches out to the Obelisk and using the battery power stored there, she raises Earth and destroys the guardian and the entire town of Allia.
Sensing destruction, Syenite and Alabaster are taken by StoneEater Antimony and taken to an island Meov. Antimony has decided to protect Alabaster, largely because of his ability to channel orogeny at a ten-ringer level. There is a bigger plan that is at play here.
At Meov, Syenite and Alabaster give birth to their son - Corundrum. Meov is a inhabited by a tribe who are pirates by profession. They loot the Sanze-mat commercial ships. The Meov is led by a guy called Innon. Innon is a orogene (or a feral since he is not trained). Interestingly at this tribe, they revere folks with orogenical ability and make them leaders. They are a happy and self-sufficient bunch (except the pirating). Innon is also a bi-sexual and is attracted to both Syenite and Alabaster. The three of them have sex and also raise Corundrum together.
T2 minus some 22 years
After living at Meov for 2-3 years, and after having their son, Syenite is getting bored. Alabaster is at peace, he enjoys the island's natural beauty, have family, have a son, and there is no oppression. But Syenite is restless. She convinces Innon to take her for pirating. They loot a ship, and on the way back, she convinces Innon to take her to see Allia. At Allia, Syenite sees the aftermath of her destruction, there are magma vents spewing lava and she decides to seal them. But she is spotted while doing so.
After sometime, guardians visit the Meov island and try to take Syenite. Her own guardian Schadda is sent. In the process, Innon is killed. She realizes that she will be captured and so will be Corundrum. Corundrum is captured, being a son of a ten-ringer will become a node-maintainer. Sensing this, she kills Coru herself and connects with the Amethyst obelisk to cause a massive tectonic plate eruption which kills all folks of Meov, all guardians, and everyone.
Schafa survives by making a deal with Father Earth - he gets amnesia and forgets everything. Father earth controls him completely by using corestone. He is given the mission to do what Father Earth asks him to do.
Alabaster is saved by Antimony again. Antimony takes Alabaseter to Corepoint - the other side of the Stillness.
Syenite survives and is taken by a fisherman. She takes a new name Essun and settles in a village called Tirimo. She later marries a knapper named Jija and has two children. She becomes a teacher and leads a normal life.
Dayama - Syenite - Essun are the same person but in book one, Jemisin tells the story of each one independently without telling the reader that they are the same person. Essun is broken like an adult. Dayama is afraid but curious. And Syenite has the youth hopeful spirit. One person going through a different life stages and shaped by their experiences. There is an aha moment when these are connected.
T2 - The Shattering
Alabaster, standing next to Antimony, destroys the Yumenes/Fulcrum. Fulcrum is where orogenes are trained, where all guardians live, the most tectonically stable place across Stillness. Alabaster divides the entire plateau into two parts by using orogeny. To generate this much enormous power, he uses the network of all node maintainers, combines them, channels their orogeny into his and creates a giant rift. Everyone in Fulcrum dies. The rift is giant that it has impact across 1000s of miles.
This how the trilogy starts. One of the best openings ever.
Why did Alabaster do this? (i) Antimony has a game to play and she convinces Alabaster to do so. (ii) Alabaster is angry that guardians killed his son. So, he does this to take the revenge. (iii) Alabaster is sick and tired of the oppression that he decides to kill everyone and let the world start a-new.
Reasons could be many but it is done.
Tirimo is not impacted. Because when the tectonic shift comes to the village, Essun sesses it and redirects the wave around the town. But on the same morning before the Shattering is about to hit Tirimo, Essun's husband, Jija, discovers that his son, their son, Uche, is a rogga (or orogene). Driven by madness, he kills Uche, and drives away with his daughter, Nassun. Essun comes back to see Uche dead and is stunned. A broken Essun is broken again. Two of her three kids are now dead. Third one is abducted by her husband.
T2 plus 2 days
Essun is in shock for 2 days but then later realizes that she has to leave Tirimo and go after her daughter. As she is getting out, the village people realize that she could be the orogene who prevented the town catastrophe. Instead of thanking her, they decide to attack her. She attacks them back and in the process destroys the entire town (by breaking the water connection)
After traveling a day, she meets a small boy who has peculiar human like features but has pale white skin and eyes. His name is Hoa. And later, they meet another girl, Tonkee. Together, Essun, Hoa and Tonkee decide to pursue Jija to rescue Nassun.
T2 plus 60 days
The rifting has started the season. Sky is full of ash, acid rains, crops are about to get destroyed. The world is now a dust-box. It is now a time of survival. This season will last decades. perhaps centuries.
Tonkee, Hoa and Essun stumble into a comm (short for community) Castrima. Castrima is also led by a rogga - Ykka, and they are an underground community. Ykka decides to give them shelter and Essun also so tired now takes it. They spend few months here.
We are in book two here.
At Castrima, there is Alabaster and Antomony. Alabaster is turning to stone. We learn that when orognes use too much 'magic', their body starts to turn into stone. Alabaster teaches Essun on how to use this much power - via obelisks, by creating a network of other orogenes and combine their power. He teaches Essun about 'magic' .
In parallel, Jija is taking Nassun to a place where it is believed that she can be cured - de-roggafied. It is somewhere up north and they reach there. The place is called 'New Moon' and is run by Schaffa, the guardian. Schaffa recruits Nassun but it is a lie. Schaffa and other guardians are recruited by Father Earth to recruit orogenes for his purposes.
Nassun is also very skilled even though she is just 10 years old, she picks up things very fast. She is gifted, she is able to spot magic on her own. She calls it silver. Schaffa, along with other guardians, visit the Antartic Fulcrum and kill everyone (every orogene) there.
Schaffa becomes very protective of Nassun and decides to dedicate his life for her protection. This is in contrast with Father Earth's wishes but Schaffa wants to do this one good to offset his other past crimes.
Nassun is befriended by a StoneEater, she calls him Steel. Along with Steel, she learns how to use magic effectively.
After couple of years there, Jija realizes that Nassun is not getting de-roggafied. So, he gets enraged and tried to kill her. Nassun kills her own father by using magic. Other guardians are killed by Schaffa and steel since they try to attack Nassun.
Nassun realizes that there is no one who loves her. Except Schaffa. Schaffa is being controlled by Father Earth who wants to separate Schaffa from her. She does not like this and wants to kill everyone who stands in her way, who stands in she getting loved or kill everyone who wants to kill her or Schaffa.
Meanwhile. at Castrima, the comm is attacked by another comm Rennais. Rennais is also supported by a stone eater, the same one with Nassun - Steel. Rennais gives ultimatum to Castrima - to join them or get killed. Joining comes with a caveat - no orogenes.
Alabaster after teaching Essun turns into stone and is taken by Antimony somewhere. It is said that she will eat him and then reproduce, that is how stone-eaters are produced. Essun gives up the plan to catch up to Nassun because she can not survive alone out there during season and she wanted to learn from Alabaster. Alabaster teaches her about magic.
Hoa is attacked by fellow stone eaters and is saved by Essun. He gets a new form, this time an adult Stone-Eater who has vowed to protect Essun.
Apparently, there is a difference of opinion between Stone Eaters on what should happen next. Moon is going to be soon near the Earth. There is one faction, led by Steel who feel that we should use this opportunity to again channelize the magic and redirect moon's path and let it hit Earth. This will destroy everything, kill Father Earth and life as we know it. This will also kill Stone Eaters who at this point are eternal. The other faction is less negative. They want to put moon back in its old orbit and have a truce with Father Earth, to end all seasons. This faction is led by Hoa.
Both factions are at war with each other. Hoa has recruited Essun, the mother. Steel has recruited Nassun, the daughter. Both are capable to draw enough 'magic' to do this.
Castrima rejects Rennais offer. Rennais attacks Castrima. Essun uses the obelisk to channel enough magic to freeze everyone from Rennais comm. She also kills some stone eaters who were working with Rennais. In this process, since she has used so much magic, her body becomes to turn into stone. She redirects that to her left hand and her left-hand is now made of stone. Later, Hoa eats this stone so that she can move about.
The underground layer is no longer livable. Castrima then decides to travel to Rennais, the place, since that is habitable now.
This is largely book two.
Now minus two days.
Nassun along with Steel and Schaffa travel to Corepoint to do Steel's bidding and the world. So that there is no one to hate her.
Essun, along with Hoa, also plan to visit Corepoint to redirect moon in its orbit.
Later we realize that Hoa is same as Houzha and Steel is Remwha, Antimoney is Gaewha. What happened in book one (Dyama-> Syenite->Essun) is repeated with Houzha/Hoa. Another aha moment when it happens.
Nassun reaches Corepoint earlier by traveling via Vehemat - a train journey through the core of the Earth, powered by magic. Schaffa does not fare well and is unconscious when he reaches there. Father Earth's pull is higher when they are in the core.
Essun reaches Corepoint traveling with Hoa who can travel via stone.
Now
At the Corepoint, moon is visible. Nassun has reached early. When evening comes, Nassun uses the network of all obelisks to draw the power of 'magic' to change moon's trajectory. Essun is late and sees Nassun in action. She reaches out to Nassun but Nassun does not respond back. Essun also tries to tackle the problem by using the most powerful obelisk - Onyx. But she needs more power, she uses the network of all guardians who are resting there. Guardians travel to Corepoint during seasons - that is how they survive seasons. She taps into their magic network and uses it to reach out to Onyx.
Now both magic sources, Essun's and Nassun's are vying to change moon's trajectory. Essun now realizes Nassun's motives and instead to counter her, she lets her have her way and gives control of her network to Nassun. Since this is a massive use of magic, Essun is now completley transformed into a stone. Nassun realizes this to be a gesture of love, and then thinks that there are still some humans who love her and decides to cancel her plan, and instead does what Essun wanted to do - puts moon back in its right orbit.
Thus truce is reached. Father Earth ends the rifting and ensures that there won't be any new seasons.
Essun is later re-born as a Stone Eater. Both she and Hoa decide to make Earth a better place.
