In the sixth chapter of The Obelisk Gate<\/i>, THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122VE EVER READ. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Broken Earth<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of body horror, slavery, transphobia<\/b><\/p>\n
Oh, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just… I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so happy with where this book is going, and in particular, that ending??? Is too much??? And so fucking incredibly perfect???<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that a decision has been made, though, and Essun is going to stay. So it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also really cool after writing what I did for chapter four, I get to see just how vibrant and exciting this choice is. Just because Essun has chosen to remain in one place does not mean the story is static at all. IF ANYTHING IT HAS GOTTEN EVEN MORE EXCITING??? Before we even get to THE THING, Jemisin packed this chapter with a ton of information, and I really need to talk about it. ALL OF IT. I totally get why Essun didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t grill Tonkee on the socket in Main in the last book. She didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how much she could trust her, first of all. Then there was that whole thing about THE WORLD ENDING AROUND THEM. So they were kind of distracted. A little bit preoccupied, if you will! And the context of the conversation matters, too. Essun has been trying to settle down in Castrima, taking jobs with many of the castes to see where she can help, and so things just aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as hectic as they were. Thus, she can question Tonkee about what Alabaster told her to see if there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s any truth to this whole Moon business.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an element of Tonkee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s geomest life that I really enjoy, though, that I found more interesting than the obelisk lore itself. So much of her pursuit of knowledge was a reclamation of herself. We already knew that she wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t well-received by her family, but this part just filled me with joy:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have texts passed down from that time, secrets that each family is charged with keeping, and which we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re supposed to be shown upon earning our use and comm names.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She scowls. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My family didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, because they were already thinking about disowning me. So I broke into the vault and took<\/i> my birthright.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Two things jump out to me here. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not an explicit use of the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153transphobia\u00e2\u20ac\u009d here (and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know if these people use the word trans at all; I suspect not), but we can see how Tonkee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153difference\u00e2\u20ac\u009d turned her family against her. So I love that she raised a figurative middle finger at them and took what she wanted, what she deserved<\/i>. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also interested by how history is passed down like this. No wonder no one knows what the fuck happened all those years ago. How many family secrets are kept in confidence? How many of those secrets tell a different story about orogenes? Geomests? Lorists? Sockets and obelisks and the order of the world? I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but also see this as a way of controlling information. If these Leadership families get to be the tellers of all these stories, generation after generation, would they ever pursue a truth that would undo<\/i> their power? Their status? Their position as the arbiters of truth?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Because the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153evidence\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that obelisks predate the Shattering\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe very first Season\u00e2\u20ac\u201dsuggest that history is not what is taught.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Now, I love this as a history nerd, I love it as a mystery nerd, I LOVE IT AS A WAY TO GUIDE THESE CHARACTERS FORWARD. Because what if<\/i> these theories\u00e2\u20ac\u201dincluding those put forth by Alabaster in the second half of the chapter\u00e2\u20ac\u201dare true? What does that mean for the players of this series? If there was once a time before Seasons, what broke the world the first time?<\/i> I also couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore the references Hoa made in the Interlude before chapter five when I read Tonkee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s logic as to why Seasons couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have been a permanent feature of the Earth. They both align, right? Humans aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> as different and adapted as they should be if Seasons were always a part of the world. Which then makes me think: Were orogenes always around? Where did they come from?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And what were the obelisks originally doing? I thought maybe the sockets were where they were supposed to remain, and someone… took them out? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know? There has to be a reason they float around in the sky. Just like there has to be a reason that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re so drawn to orogenes. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the answer, right? Somewhere in there? And I bet the weird geode city of Castrima is part of the answer, too, since that place was built to be used by orogenes.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Well… there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also this:<\/p>\n Tonkee glances sharply at you. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Orogenes might be a kind of fix, too, you know,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And without the Seasons, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d no longer be needed.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Hmmmm.<\/p>\n HMMMMMM.<\/p>\n Could they be… CONNECTED? dun dun DUN.<\/p>\n I have no reason, then, to disbelieve the things that Alabaster tells Essun. Combined with the interlude and Tonkee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theories, I feel like a much fuller portrait is coming into focus. I think the stone-eaters are like… weird agents of Father Earth? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153agents\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is the right word here, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what fits best for the time being. They most likely see humans of all types (but especially orogenes) as pawns. But that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t explain a thing here: Antimony\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s comforting \u00e2\u20ac\u0153music.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I still can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell if there is<\/i> affection, care, or love here between her and Alabaster, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to see because stone-eaters might express these things differently than humans. Even Essun calls out Antimony for this, claiming that she hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been taking care of him.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But Antimony says nothing. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not even sure that what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening to Alabaster is something to be demonized. What if there is<\/i> a mercy in what Antimony is doing? We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know the reason why she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eating him. (That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fun sentence to type.) He claims here that this was the price he paid for the Rift, but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sit here and tell you why<\/i> his body is slowly turning to stone since then.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But it almost doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter why<\/i>. In the technical sense, I mean. Perhaps because he did something with Antimony that day when he dumped the Fulcrum into the Rift, he is slowly becoming a stone-eater. Or just stone. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need a minute, biological explanation, though. And that sort of goes hand-in-hand with the beauty of the mind-blowing revelation at the end of this chapter. You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily need to understand something to accept it. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much in this series that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> get, and the same goes for Essun. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the dark, too, and often times, we can experience that sort of ignorance through her. What greater mystery is there than what allows<\/i> orogeny? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just asking where orogenes come from. How<\/i> can they do what they do?<\/p>\n That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the question I thought would be answered when Alabaster asked Essun to look into<\/i> his arm. I actually thought she was gonna learn why he was being turned to stone.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Yeah. Nope.<\/p>\n Between the gelidity, moving, too, but in a slower and less organic way, you suddenly sess the same thing you found in the stone of him. Something else, neither flesh nor stone. Something immaterial, and yet it is there for you to perceive. It glimmers in threads strung between the bits of him, crossing itself in lattices, shifting constantly. A tension? An energy, shiny and streaming. Potential. Intention.<\/p>\n You shake your head, pulling back so you can focus on him. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What is that?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n This time he answers. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The stuff of orogeny.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It strikes me now that orogenes aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t taught this. Essun reacts in a way to confirm to me that no one at the Fulcrum ever explained to her the inner workings of orogeny. And why would they? Why would the Fulcrum teach these people they see as both non-human and<\/i> a weapon that they have something powerful, unexplainable, and gorgeous within them? They would never dream of doing that. Because the story has to be that orogenes are dangerous abominations that must be controlled. They can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have them believing that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re beings of energy, of potential, of intention, can they? This is all because stills have been in control of the stories and the definitions of orogenes. They hand it down amongst themselves, as Tonkee said, controlling the truth. And now, Essun isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just re-learning history; she is re-learning herself<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So. The Moon. Somehow it was lost, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m certain now that this was the great loss that Father Earth despaired over. I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how you \u00e2\u20ac\u0153lose\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a Moon, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gone, and I also believe Alabaster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assertion that this is part of what caused the Seasons. I also know that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no question why<\/i> Alabaster did all this. Why open that Rift? Why send the world into a new Season? Why not do anything else?<\/p>\n That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when you no longer need an answer to the question. There is such a thing as too much loss. Too much has been taken from you both\u00e2\u20ac\u201dtaken and taken and taken, until there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing left but hope, nd you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve given<\/i> that up because it hurts too much. Until you would rather die, or kill, or avoid attachments altogether, than lose one more thing.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Jemisin immediately places this within the context of the book and Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to kill Corundum rather than let them live a life of slavery. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also easy to see a direct parallel to the real world: How much is too<\/i> much? At which point is the whole rotten system so rotten that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s better to bring it all crashing down rather than try to repair it from within? So, is that what Alabaster meant? Does he want Essun to help him destroy it all? Does he expect her to agree that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all too much, that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing left to save in the world? Maybe. And maybe she is<\/i> at that point, especially since she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s given up on finding her daughter.<\/p>\n Still, I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t given up hope myself, and the final moment of this chapter was so damn rejuvenating. Earlier, Alabaster had not shared the word that was used by the originators of the obelisks, the one meant to describe orogeny. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL.<\/p>\n He starts to shake his head, winces as this causes him pain somewhere, sighs instead. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They called it magic<\/i>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meaningless. Just a word. But maybe you can give it meaning somehow. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Magic,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d you repeat, memorizing. Then you nod farewell, and leave without looking back.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Magic. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re fucking magic<\/i>. Of course this society in the Stillness doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have this word. How can you subjugate and oppress orogenes if what they do is MAGIC? How can you tell them they are worthless outside of the Fulcrum if their bodies contain magic? How can you tell their stories and assume your own supremacy when orogenes are FUCKING MAGIC?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Magic. MAGIC.<\/p>\n I love this. I love it so deeply, and I want to see Essun find her own magic.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n NOTES<\/b><\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – You can now pre-order my second YA novel, Each of Us a Desert<\/i>, which will be released on September 15, 2020 from Tor Teen!<\/a> In the sixth chapter of The Obelisk Gate, THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122VE EVER READ. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Broken Earth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569,574],"tags":[571,413],"class_list":["post-5252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-broken-earth","category-the-obelisk-gate","tag-mark-reads-the-broken-earth","tag-nk-jemisin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n– Not only that, but my very first pre-order campaign is now live for North American readers! If you submit proof of pre-order, you can get a limited edition print that comes with the book<\/a>.
\n<\/strong>– If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"