The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

SPOILER ALERT: This is book 3 in The Broken Earth trilogy.

In the final book of The Broken Earthtrilogy, Essun and Nassun are both trying to open the Obelisk Gate. Essun hopes to bring the Moon back to Father Earth so the Seasons will end at the Stillness might once again be still. Nassun has a darker purpose and a Guardian to help her. Both must travel to the other side of Earth to Corepoint, a city in the middle of the ocean, a city where obelisks were made, the city where it all began and ended. 

Another beautifully written novel, The Stone Skybrings us back in time to a world in which stone eaters were human, although they were never treated as such. In the present, Nassun grieves as she watches Schaffa, the only adult she loves and believes in anymore, slowly waste away while he fights the core stone in his brain stem. Essun is turning to stone as Alabaster did after causing the Rifting, but she doesn't seem to care too much until she wants to use her orogeny. 

This is an amazing story, a perfect ending to a remarkable series!

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood

Book 3 in the MaddAddam trilogy.

In the final novel of the series, Atwood combines the characters of the first two books in their fight to survive not just the end of the world, but the ruthless criminals who are hunting them. Toby becomes something of a prophet to the Crakers while Snowman-the-Jimmy recovers from his festering foot wound. The group of former God's Gardeners, former MaddAddamites, and Crakers makes an even odder alliance in order to defeat the Painballers before they're attacked. Our flashbacks follow Zeb, a God's Gardener who ripped the cult in half years ago. He's desperate to find Adam One, just for the peace of mind of knowing if he's alive or dead.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I think it's the best of the series. While there are plenty of flashbacks into Zeb's childhood and life before the God's Gardeners, I feel like this book stayed in the present more than the first two. I loved the interactions between the humans and pigoons, especially the Craker involvement. I had quite a few laugh out loud moments when Toby relates stories to the Crakers. All in all, a great ending to a great trilogy.

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

In the second book in the Broken Earth trilogy, we follow Essun and now her daughter Nassun as they explore their orogenic powers by connecting to the obelisks floating above the continent. Castrima is threatened by another comm demanding they give up every orogene if they want to live. Nassun learns how to control her power in the Antarctics under Schaffa's watchful eye while Essun learns everything she can from Alabaster in his weakening state. But is it enough to bring the moon back?

Jemisin's magic continues as we see through both Essun's and Nassun's eyes. You are still Essun, but there is a new POV, there is an I. The jumps from first, second, to third person flows seamlessly because each POV is written so well that it's not as noticeable as one would think. While both Essun and Nassun believe they are trying to save the earth, at this point we have no idea whose methods will win, or even if that win is good for not only earth but humanity as well. 

Ringer by Lauren Oliver

SPOILER ALERT:

This is book 2 in the Replica duology. I do not have a review of Replica because I read it before starting this blog. 

Three weeks after Gemma returns home and Lyra is reunited with the father she doesn't remember, the Suits come after the Replicas. When Gemma tries to warn Lyra she is mistaken for a Replica and herded into an abandoned rural airport. Lyra travels to Pennsylvania with Caelum, the Replica who helped her survive the fire at Haven. Lyra and Caelum search for Haven's “God” to save Lyra from the prions eating away at her brain. Gemma, once she's locked up with four Replicas who look exactly like her, can't convince anyone she's not really a Replica. After befriending one of her Replicas, Calliope, she realizes just how different the Replicas are. 

When I read Replica, I read all of Gemma's story and then all of Lyra's story. So this time I decided to mix the stories up. Lauren Oliver gives us the choice as to how we read this story and it's wonderful. When you have multiple narrators, most authors switch back and forth when they want to, meaning they're controlling how you read and interpret the story. But what if you could choose who to follow and when you follow them? Would it change your reading experience? 

I started with Gemma and read the first half of her part one before reading all of Lyra's part one, finishing with Gemma's. Part two was Gemma, Lyra, Gemma, Lyra. Part three was Gemma, Lyra, Gemma. 

This is a crazy book, however you read it. Oliver weaves science (prion disease) with the dystopian (the government using clones and “orphans” for human medical testing). While Lyra, our “Replica” isn't actually a clone and her friend Gemma is one of the first, they have uniquely different experiences. Gemma fights against Calliope, one of her Replicas, while Lyra fights against the disease the Haven “Gods” gave her, just to save Gemma. 

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Book 2 of the MaddAddam series. 

After Oryx and Crake, we expect the series to follow Jimmy/Snowman, but it doesn't. We start with Toby and Ren, two women who used to be a part of the God's Gardeners cult. We watch them survive the Waterless Flood, the plague Crake set upon humanity. We see the events that lead up the Waterless Flood as told by Toby and Ren, including how they know some of the characters we've already met.

In true Atwood fashion, we're jerked from the present to the past and back again. How does the God's Gardeners cult relate to Crake? How do our heroines fit into the part of the story we already know? And how does this cult predict what's coming?

The answers are murky at best, but through the “scripture” and hymns of Adam One and the God's Gardeners we see how they perceive the world around them, a world that is so close to ours. Reading Oryx and Crake, I thought Atwood's future was crazy, but once I see it through someone else's eyes I see it's already happening. It's on it's way. 

So you have two questions to answer: Will you read MaddAddam, the final book in the trilogy? Will you realize that it's coming, that the Waterless Flood will overtake all of us before we can fight it?

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

A different Earth, a supercontinent ravaged by earthquakes and volcanoes. A girl with a potential power, a seasoned Orogene trying to cull the quakes, and a woman desperate to find her daughter bring us into The Stillness. Magic, fear, and a volatile land make for a scary place to live. Damaya, Syenite, and Essun walk us through the events leading up to the most recent Season. A Season is a period of cold, darkness, and/or anything else that can happen after a giant earthquake sets off a giant volcano, as the Stillness rests on many. 

This is the first book in the Broken Earthtrilogy by N.K. Jemisin. Jemisin creates a vivid world, something we can see without having ever been there. She also puts us in one of the characters' bodies, using “you” instead of another pronoun. It made me feel like I was part of the story more than other books. She creates tension, she relieves part of it, and then she throws something else at you. This is an amazing book and I'm excited to read the magic of the next book, The Obelisk Gate.

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Oryx and Crake is the first book in the MaddAddam Trilogy, a story about the apocalypse. In usual Atwood fashion, we're dropped in the middle of the story as she takes us back in time to see how mankind was virtually wiped out, while also following the current timeline. Snowman used to to Jimmy, before the world ended. His best friend was Crake, who had another name as well. Crake is a brilliant, nihilistic scientist and Jimmy is an average guy who's pretty good with words. Oryx is an obsession, an imaginary person made real through the adolescent sexual escapades of Crake and Jimmy. When the world finally comes crashing down around them, Jimmy is the only one left alive, other than the Crakers, a new breed of humans created just before the end. With their help, Snowman must not just survive, but find something to live for.

Margaret Atwood brings her futuristic society to life brilliantly, but I feel she may overdo it a bit. She imagines a world where teenagers watch kiddie porn on a regular basis and barely flinch at snuff films of violent executions in foreign countries. As much as we'd like to deny it, we know girls like Oryx exist, with early childhood sexual trauma, but we don't expect it to be normalized. I really enjoyed Snowman's interactions with the Crakers, especially the mythologies he creates for them. I'm looking forward to reading the next book, but knowing Atwood it will be totally different than this one.

Note: This is my second reading of Oryx and Crake. I couldn't remember enough details to continue the series, so I thought I read the book when it was first published. It turns out I read it in January 2014, when I had a two-month-old frying my brain! (Thanks Goodreads for tracking my reading!)