{"id":5231,"date":"2020-07-10T05:00:58","date_gmt":"2020-07-10T12:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5231"},"modified":"2020-07-03T18:38:30","modified_gmt":"2020-07-04T01:38:30","slug":"mark-reads-the-fifth-season-chapter-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2020\/07\/mark-reads-the-fifth-season-chapter-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Fifth Season’: Chapter 14"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fourteen chapter of The Fifth Season<\/i>, I give up. I am now at the mercy of this book from here on out. 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 death of children, police brutality<\/b><\/p>\n

REMAIN AT LOCATION. AWAIT INSTRUCTIONS,<\/i> read the telegram from Yumenes.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, that message has a whole new meaning now, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?<\/p>\n

What the fuck do I even SAY after this? The reveal of the node maintainers ALONE sent me to the spirit realm, never to return, and then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 like all I can imagine is N.K. Jemisin typing up the end of this chapter and just CACKLING as she did so. Because I would have done the same fucking thing, knowing that I had written something that wrenches the story in such an exciting, shocking direction that PROBABLY NO ONE FORESAW.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, more on that in a second. A lot more, because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fucking RUINED, and I just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 what the fuck, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I was going to talk more about Syenite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s odd relationship with Alabaster, but\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 the chapter title. THE CHAPTER TITLE TOLD ME THE END AND IT JUST DIDN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T EVEN RESONATE WITH ME.<\/p>\n

All right, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fine. (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not.) I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll deal with this. (Barely.)\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking back over this chapter for the review is a TRIP. Look how cagey or coy Alabaster is as Syenite pokes and prods him to get him to talk about\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, literally anything about the current situation. Initially, I just took it as part of that mysterious stubbornness of his. He seemed to always delight in gently guiding Syen in a direction, but making her figure out the destination herself. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I thought was happening here: He knew exactly why the Fulcrum had ordered them to stay put, and he wanted Syen to put the pieces together.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And maybe that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually the case on top of everything else; Alabaster knows that sort of epiphany will always stick more than if he just outright tells her. But I also can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an element of protectiveness here: Alabaster is also aware that knowledge can be dangerous. No one can know that she can \u00e2\u20ac\u0153connect to the obelisks,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because what happens to her once that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case? As this conversation evolved over the course of the chapter, it was clear to me that in his own way, Alabaster was warning her about the Guardians. What would the Guardians do to her if they knew she had a power outside<\/i> of their system? Orogenes are not taught about this because\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwell, either the Guardians have deliberately hid this knowledge from them, or they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know this at all<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know which one is worse.<\/p>\n

I assume I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to find out based on what happens in this chapter. The bulk of chapter fourteen concerns the walk that Syenite and Alabaster take, one whose meaning changes almost by the page. Initially: Syen is annoyed. She just wants to get away from Alabaster, but he insists on going with her in case someone attacks them. (UGH THE FUCKING FORESHADOWING, HELP ME.) But then, the conversation shifts to the obelisk, which is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wrong.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 not because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fucking obelisk with a stone eater in it floating fifteen feet above the water. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 broken? In some way? I admit I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get exactly what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening here. (And the final image isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t making it easier.) But what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important is what this realization in Syenite inspires. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a delicate back-and-forth that unfolds as Alabaster tries his hardest not to address the obvious, and for good reason: his paranoia is justified. I believe him when he says that there is most likely someone using the stone to listen in on the conversations between Syenite and Alabaster, and thus, he assumes nowhere is safe inside the building. Even when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re outdoors, he still takes precautions. This obelisk has complicated matters in a way that he either anticipated or is surprised by, and it leaves him reluctant to be upfront.<\/p>\n

Syenite still figures it out, though: Alabaster can also control the obelisks.<\/p>\n

But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the worst realization she has. That comes after this moment:\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the only ten-ringer.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Most of my children have the potential to wear ten rings.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Initially, I thought that was his way of saying that orogenes were powerful in ways she hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t considered. It was directly tied to the conversation of the obelisks. He must have known that other orogenes had used their power, too, or were at least aware they could do that. That could still be true; I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be surprised by it. However, Jemisin delivers the blow that had me put my head down on my desk and leave it there in shock.<\/p>\n

Most of my children have the potential to wear ten rings,<\/i> he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d said, but there are no other ten-ringers in the Fulcrum. Rogga children are sent to the nodes only if they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t control themselves. Aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t they?<\/p>\n

Oh.<\/p>\n

No.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She decides not to mention this epiphany.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is now highly likely\u00e2\u20ac\u201dperhaps outright confirmed\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat the child in the node maintainer that they found was one of Alabaster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s children. They send the most powerful of his offspring to be\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i>. My mind immediately went to Essun: How does this world justify the death of children? By either mandating their death as part of a greater good or dehumanizing orogenes so much that the murder of one just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t murder. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what this society has bred. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what keeps it going: the death of some so others can live. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s uniquely tied in to the problem with the Guardians. The Guardians mold orogenes to be the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153right\u00e2\u20ac\u009d members of society, but who makes sure the Guardians are doing what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re supposed to? As Syenite points out:<\/p>\n

The Guardians keep their own counsel, and they object to inquiries. Vehemently.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that this is an intentional parallel, but that made me think of the American police force. Shit, law enforcement as a whole! I feel like that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case, given that this moment is followed by an interaction that hit a lot of emotional points for me reminiscent of police brutality and how agents of the state are used to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cleanse\u00e2\u20ac\u009d society of undesirables. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also trying to parse the complicated nature of what unfolds. It seems obvious that Guardian Edki believed that Alabaster was responsible for moving the obelisk; he was definitely surprised when Syenite confesses that it was her. The whole time, Alabaster was anticipating something terrible, too, given how tense he was. (What a brilliant way to build suspense, though! Introduce us to a character who walks through the story largely unafraid, and then have him suddenly seem terrified. THANKS FOR THAT.)\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WHO IS GUARDIAN LESHET? Because now I think I get why Edki is almost offended that Alabaster believed Edki was going to attack Syenite. This is only tangentially related to the obelisk, right? Alabaster did something to a previous Guardian, and that<\/i> is why he was attacked. Right? Is there a bounty out for him or something? Okay, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know! And I also don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite understand Guardians and their powers. We saw how Guardian Schaffa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s touch affected Damaya; here, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a much more horrifying and visceral affect that Edki has on these two orogenes. He seemed to know exactly where to stab Alabaster to keep him powerless and immobile. And then he targets Syenite, which makes no sense to me at all. If this was about Alabaster, why attack her<\/i>?<\/p>\n

It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter for the moment. Because Syenite shifts her power upward<\/i> to latch on to the obelisk, and then she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inside it, face-to-face with the dead stone eater, the first she has ever seen up close. Based on the description of it\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand the one we saw at the beginning of the book\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI feel certain that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re definitely<\/i> not human? They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re actual stone creatures?<\/p>\n

Look. I just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I still can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe what happened next. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. But there it is, in all its absurdity! Syenite wonders internally if the stone eater is all right, and then:<\/p>\n

The stone eater closes his mouth, and opens his eyes, and lowers his head to look at her. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fine,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thank you for asking.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

And then<\/p>\n

the obelisk<\/p>\n

shatters.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The casual nature of that reply KILLS ME. What a way to reveal that the stone eater ISN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T DEAD AT ALL.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m never going to be ready for any moment in these books. NEVER.<\/p>\n

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