{"id":5262,"date":"2020-08-28T05:00:22","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T12:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5262"},"modified":"2020-08-17T17:13:48","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T00:13:48","slug":"mark-reads-the-obelisk-gate-chapter-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2020\/08\/mark-reads-the-obelisk-gate-chapter-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Obelisk Gate’: Chapter 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twelfth chapter of The Obelisk Gate<\/i>, I have been defeated by this book. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Broken Earth<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of abuse, grief, and slavery<\/b><\/p>\n

Holy fuck.<\/p>\n

Well, I know more things, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t I? I imagine that re-reading this trilogy has to be a delight. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so enamored with the way that Jemisin reveals information throughout the story and how much of it is tied to these deeply emotional moments. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exposition done cleverly and believably, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Nassun has so little knowledge about the world, about herself and her powers, and that means these important learning moments for her can also be a means to reveal things to the reader. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re grounded first in a rare thing in this series: joy. I could feel it in these sentences. Nassun was home<\/i>. She was in a place where she belonged as best as she could, where she was accepted, and now, she was able to just… be herself. Be an orogene<\/i>. Gone are the times when she had to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wait until the dark of night, lying awake after her parents have gone to bed.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Now, she gets to use her orogeny out in the open.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deny that a huge reason why she feels this way is because of Schaffa. Schaffa, who terrified me and enraged me, and who, especially after the last chapter, appears to genuinely be on the path to becoming a different person, one of who doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to harm an orogene again. Well, within his own morality. Again, he isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t redeemed at all, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want this to come off like he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cured\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or anything. But as it stands right now, he does seem to be telling the truth: He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to do what he did anymore. So, Nassun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perception of Schaffa affects her happiness. In short: He provides her a safety she has never had.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, that still doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily make him a good person, and I think I need the context of the entity controlling Schaffa to understand if he is using Nassun like a pawn, even if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unknowingly. But for now… look, the three Guardians here in Free Moon aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t doing what they were taught to do. They aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t! They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re open about the past of the Fulcrum, despite how intensely uncomfortable that is. They offer up information to Nassun as she asks for it, and their teaching is devoid of the violence and abuse that I got used to in the previous book. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S VERY SURREAL.<\/p>\n

And it all is in glaring contrast to Jija. I suppose it was only a matter of time before he figured out that this place isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> for curing orogenes. Still, it was so difficult to read that exchange between him and Nassun about Eitz and training. He is sticking to his assertion that orogenes are not human, that his daughter must be cured for her to be fully loved by him, and… well, the denial is strong in Jija. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that moment later on where he tells Schaffa that his daughter isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t an orogene. Which… man. Like… what sort of dissonance is living in his mind that he could actually say that out loud? The whole reason he brought her here was because she is an orogene. But I think this is a sign of how he is compartmentalizing this. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not an actual<\/i> orogene because that can be changed, so I feel like he states this less as an observation and more as a misguided piece of hope. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what he hopes<\/i> she is.<\/p>\n

But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the truth, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m getting increasingly worried about what this is going to mean for the remainder of this book. How much more of this will he be able to tolerate, and what will it look like when he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i>? We get a glimpse of that when he rushes onto the complex and tries to threaten Schaffa, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see a version of this where Jija survives. RIGHT. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s be real, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll lose a fight against the Guardians, and Schaffa has made it painfully clear that he will put Jija down if need be:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I will kill him if he ever hurts you, Nassun. Keep that in mind, if you value your father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life more than your own. I<\/i> do not.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

WELP, THERE IT IS. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so crushing to Nassun because she is torn: between the joy that her freedom brings and her intense need to be loved and validated by her father. She wants both<\/i> things, but the way life is working for, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s apparent she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have both. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see Jija coming around on this, you know? He literally murdered his younger child for being an orogene. I know that Nassun is alive because of her special and close relationship with her father; that was examined at length earlier in the book! I do love that this book is making me think about what it means to love a family member. From Jija\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perspective, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to imagine why he thinks his actions are a manifestation of his love for Nassun. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem toxic or inappropriate for him to do what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done! But like the opening paragraph points out, this shit is complicated. Jija doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know his daughter like he claims to!<\/p>\n

But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s go back to that conversation about Nassun being a pawn. I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still trying to figure out Schaffa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s complicated identity, and this chapter adds another huge wrinkle to that. I got absolute confirmation that there is<\/i> an endgame at work here that Schaffa hinted at early in the book. He is seeking to undo \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a great mistake,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d one that encompasses both the enslaving of the orogenes under Guardian control and the Shattering. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s two-fold, and we are at least seeing how, on this very small scale, Schaffa is<\/i> changing how he treats orogenes. At times, he goes a bit overboard in his defense of them, like what we saw with Eitz\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family or when he threatens Jija. (And that joy he experiences when he does that kinda shit? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s… deeply unnerving, to say the least.) And we also know that when Alabaster opened the Rift, he dumped the Fulcrum of Yumenes into it, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like Schaffa has to worry about them finding him.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But this part feels like the biggest clue yet:\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I present its wishes to you as a choice, and I will abide if you say no. It is… less trusting of your kind. Admittedly, for good reason.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In this ancient war, who would be less trusting of orogenes? Earth, right? Which means that… christ. Earth is what saved Schaffa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, and Earth is now trying to get Shaffa to do their bidding. If that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the logic and it sticks, then I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still worried! Because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what Earth wants right now. To purge all humans? For peaceful coexistence? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing not the latter, so it brings up an important question once more: Is Nassun a pawn, too?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

More on that at the end, because we have to talk about The Thing. The exceptionally terrifying and confusing and shocking Thing that happens here. Two major things come of it: We learn of a brand new power that orogenes are capable of and that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still a Fulcrum base that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t purged. Nassun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new power is… fuck, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to talk about it because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all wrapped up in something deeply traumatizing for Nassun: She killed one of her only friends accidentally. She can turn people to stone. To gems. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a kind of orogeny that is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153slower, crueler, yet much more refined.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Artful,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hoa describes it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s horrifying. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand how it happened. I get that Nassun called her obelisk to her; I get that she had an instinctual reaction to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153falling up\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the blue column of light; I get that she could sess the node maintainers and other communities of orogenes. (But not Castrima, of note.) She was in a heightened state of awareness due to her panic and fear. But literal<\/i> stone? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get it. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get how that<\/i> becomes part of her power. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a molecular<\/i> change, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! That shows a ridiculous control of her orogeny.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While this chapter sinks into the terrible grief of Nassun, I was left wondering what was going to come of all this. I suspect that the Guardians are after the Antarctic Fulcrum; they want to destroy it before they are found out. I bet Schaffa sees that as good for Nassun, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still not convinced that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the best thing for her. If he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been fighting Earth this whole time, what happens when he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stave off the pain? Or ignore it? What if Earth retaliates? WHAT IF I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M NOT EVEN RIGHT ABOUT ANY OF THIS.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This chapter was just… holy shit, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still floored.<\/p>\n

NOTES<\/b><\/p>\n