{"id":5299,"date":"2020-11-02T05:00:42","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5299"},"modified":"2020-10-27T09:02:09","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T16:02:09","slug":"mark-reads-the-stone-sky-chapter-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2020\/11\/mark-reads-the-stone-sky-chapter-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Stone Sky’: Chapter 11"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eleventh chapter of The Stone Sky<\/i>, Essun makes her choice. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Broken Earth<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of grief, death of a child<\/b><\/p>\n

This came full circle, didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?<\/p>\n

It is impossible to engage with the greater meanings of The Broken Earth<\/i> trilogy without talking about dead children. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at the core of Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s struggle. The book opens with Uche\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death, which is later made even more tragic when we find out about Corundum and what Essun chose to do as Schaffa came to take him away. And now, the final truth has settled in place: Essun is pregnant once again, and Hoa is using her to reproduce, to create another stone eater as Antimony did with Alabaster as he died.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Is that what the chapter title is referring to? Has Essun accepted her role in all of this? Will her home be found in Corepoint as she goes to reclaim the daughter she recently let go?<\/p>\n

Maybe. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such an intense emotional depth in this chapter, and indeed, so much of this book is about stories set up long ago coming to a close. (Which is exactly what a trilogy should<\/i> do!) In a way, Essun had made peace with her choice: Nassun would be better off without her and with someone she chose<\/i> as a guardian, as a parent. Essun would use the Obelisk Gate to catch the Moon, and in the process, she would die. But as this chapter unfolds, epiphanies motivate Essun to shift. Change is inevitable in this world, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? Nothing is static in the Stillness, especially as the Earth moves beneath their feet. Even when Castrima makes it to Rennanis, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no guarantee or certainty. As I said in the notes below, my sense of relief over the group finally making it to Rennanis was immediately shoved off a cliff and replaced by dread. But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just life<\/i> now, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? The Season is unfolding, and unless Essun stops it (or Nassun ends everything<\/i>), not one person will outlast the Season. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll all die before it ends. Sure, there will undoubtedly will be a generation born during<\/i> the Season, but will they outlast it?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And if they do, what price will they pay? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a terrible tragedy here, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one that has a new context. Prior to getting to Rennanis, the group stops at a node maintainer facility. Turns out that Essun had suggested to Ykka that they use the already-existing nodes to help stave off the worst of the Rifting. Practically, it makes sense, especially given how limited the orogenes are in Castrima. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fucked up and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no way reasoning away that truth. But Essun does something different here: She forces Ykka to know<\/i> what these facilities are and what price must be paid for comfort. I do wonder how many people across the Stillness ever knew the truth. Were node maintainer facilities spoken of openly? I assume not, since Essun, who worked for the Fulcrum, didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know the truth. But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not what she wants to do for Ykka:<\/p>\n

Because if she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to make this choice, then she needs to know exactly what price she\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand Castrima\u00e2\u20ac\u201dmust pay.<\/p>\n

You will do this\u00e2\u20ac\u201dmake her see these things, make yourself face it again, because this is the whole<\/i> truth of what orogenes are. The Stillness fears your kind for good reason, true. Yet it should also revere your kind for good reason, and it has chosen to do only one of these things. Ykka, of all people, needs to hear everything.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And survival is everything to Ykka, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? So it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t surprising that she chose to go along with this, but at least she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t choose this out of ignorance. She knows the price these children are paying to keep Rennanis safe. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also not presented as this wonderful thing, either. Like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still fucked up, even though Ykka knows!\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 wow. Everything is fucked up. The scene where everyone showers in the node facility? Fucked up. Lerna casually dropping that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s noticed that Essun hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t menstruated and is probably pregnant? Fucked up. Lerna posing the question of what Essun would do if he asked her not<\/i> to go to Corepoint? THE STATUES IN RENNANIS??? Jesus, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot. IT ALWAYS IS. I mean, Rennanis as a whole fascinates me because I truly didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect it to be as large as it is. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s comforting on one level\u00e2\u20ac\u201dall of the survivors of Castrima will have actual HOMES. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more than enough food and supplies. After the hellish journey across the Merz, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t HELP but be relieved.<\/p>\n

And yet.<\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always something else. Like I said: everything is fucked up in the Stillness. The very nature of this world\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhat people made it, how they are responsible for this nightmare\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis that there will always be some form of strife. Generally speaking, too, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s orogenes who bear the brunt of that strife. But what about this circumstance? Ykka has flipped the dynamic, sure, and out of necessity and survival, stills have to look to her and the other orogenes in order to survive. But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even more extreme in Rennanis because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually too<\/i> big. Granted, no one might come from the north because of the Rifting, but what happens if another comm decides to attack them from any other direction? IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S BACK TO BEING FUCKED UP AGAIN.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, Jemisin gives us this grand view of Rennanis and the potential problems Castrima will face in their new home, but then closes in on a more personal angle in the final moments of the chapter. It starts when Essun does some exploring and notices that a significant number of the Rennanis statues are just missing. From there, Hoa admits that the stone eaters have opportunistically devoured many of them, which is how Essun puts it all together:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re making another one now. Aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you? From\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfrom me. If it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not about food for you, then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 reproduction.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let it be known that I ACTUALLY KNEW THIS. Sort of! Because there was that strange stone eater at the end of the last book that I wondered if it might be Alabaster? And it sort of<\/i> is? Except not quite? Hoa shares an important distinction with Essun, explaining why she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t talk to him:\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153More importantly, because we are fragile at the beginning, like all new creatures. It takes centuries for us, the who<\/i> of us, to\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 cool. Even the slightest pressures\u00e2\u20ac\u201dlike you, demanding that he fit himself to your needs rather than his own–can damage the final shape of his personality.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First of all, I love the terms Jemisin chooses here: fragile. Cooling. Pressures. Shape. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all in metaphors of rock formation! But I also love that this moment is what finally pushes Essun out of reluctance, out of not<\/i> caring, out of not recognizing what she has<\/i>. Essun has lost so much; that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s undeniable. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always easier to focus on what was lost rather than what was gained, and here, Jemisin reminds Essun of that through this interaction with Hoa. She has friends. REAL friends, which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t something she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 shit. In ages? If ever<\/i>? Not just friends, but a home<\/i>:<\/p>\n

Which reminds you that you have Castrima<\/i>, too, if you want it. This ridiculous comm of unpleasant people who are impossibly still together, which you have fought for and which has, however grudgingly, fought for you in return.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That leaves one last piece of the puzzle, too:<\/p>\n

And maybe it means you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re choosing one of your children\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe one who has the best chance of survival\u00e2\u20ac\u201dover the other. But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no different from what mothers have had to do since the dawn of time: sacrifice the present, in hopes of a better future. If the sacrifice this time has been harder than most\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Fine. So be it. This is a mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s job, too, after all, and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a rusting ten-ringer. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see to it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when this all falls together. Essun has been trying to control how people love her. She pushes them away or shuts them out, and Hoa pushes her to accept that some people want<\/i> to be in her life, even if that means they will accompany her to the end of her<\/i> world. Even if that means that Essun will seek out her daughter. Even if that means death. Because:<\/p>\n

Maybe Nassun isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the only one you needed a home for. And maybe not even you should try to change the world alone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

AHHHHHHHH I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. SO VERY MUCH. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what this ending is going to look like. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M SCARED.<\/p>\n

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