{"id":5276,"date":"2020-09-21T05:00:44","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T12:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5276"},"modified":"2020-09-13T12:50:12","modified_gmt":"2020-09-13T19:50:12","slug":"mark-reads-the-stone-sky-chapter-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2020\/09\/mark-reads-the-stone-sky-chapter-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Stone Sky’: Chapter 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first chapter of The Stone Sky<\/i>, Essun wakes up. 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 body horror<\/b><\/p>\n

I made a note of this down below as I was reading this for the first time, but… okay. Wow. This chapter features people wearing masks and goggles because ash falling has blocked out the sun. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s… that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot to read right now, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? THANKS, I HATE IT, WE ARE IN THE WORST TIMELINE.<\/p>\n

Even if that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the case, though, Jemisin works wonders here crafting the world post-Castrima. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eerie. Disorienting. Disturbing. And I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore how fucking brilliant it is that this is all told through the lens of Hoa, so we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re getting this extra layer to the story on top of it all? The opening parts, where Hoa provides a sort of exposition to both us and<\/i> Essun? IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S INCREDIBLE. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just always so much going on with these books? I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve said this before, but it must be such an entertaining thing to re-read this series and see new parts to Jemisin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s storytelling.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, this picks up just a few days after the end of the previous book, and in that time, the people of Castrima have abandoned their subterranean geode for Rennanis. All of this was already intense because of the ending of the last book, but as I said, Jemisin paints a terrible portrait of the world as the survivors head for the now-empty comm to hopefully… well, survive some more. Emotionally, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a baseline dread in this plot, but guess what? Jemisin adds more because why not hurt us??? Actually, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the emotional stuff layered in here that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so unnerving to me. It is a good thing that these people survived, and I think any of us can understand that Essun was put into a difficult position because of the attack on Castrima. Still, there are two main emotional threads that are the result of her decision to open the Gate and turn the inhabitants of Rennanis to stone.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First, and the most immediate concern, is that Essun pretty quickly realizes the physical cost she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had to pay for opening the gate. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not surprised, of course, since she already saw the same thing happen to Alabaster. There were moments in this chapter where Essun was detached from what was happening to her, which is deeply understandable. What she just experienced was… shit, pretty traumatic, right? Hoa talks of Essun \u00e2\u20ac\u0153rebooting,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d so to speak, and it makes sense. Orogenes are a complex system in and of itself, and opening the Gate? I am not shocked that this basically overloaded her and she needed a few days to basically reset her whole body. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an interesting structure thing Jemisin does here that I only noticed on the re-read for this review: Hoa starts out very generally, then gradually begins to weave in more exposition, until the POV narration shifts from his first-person\/second-person combo to Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s close third. Which is so fucking smart! It blows my mind how seamless this is, too, because I certainly didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t notice it the first time around. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how Jemisin guides us from Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reset state to consciousness. The imagery is haunting, disturbing, too, and then… then we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re right in Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s head.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I noticed that one of the first things she wanted that was specific was her runny-sack. Like… not food or water or the bathroom or a familiar face but the one thing that she managed to keep with her since leaving Tirimo. Oh, that hits hard, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? Because there are no people around from Tirimo. The only thing she owned was ONE sack. And I know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a small detail, but it says so much about Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mindset. Her practicality. Her sentimentality amidst THE END OF THE WORLD, and also the fact that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aware she might be able to save it.<\/p>\n

She just wants her runny-sack. SOMEONE GO GET IT FOR HER, OKAY.<\/p>\n

Amidst this, though\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand a lot of this is truly dark and scary\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis a whole lot of humor. Some of the dark humor comes from Hoa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s narration, but can we all just praise how fucking funny Hjarka is during a lot of this? SHE PLACED BETS ON WHETHER ESSUN WOULD WAKE UP AND WHETHER SHE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122D BE CONSCIOUS AND COGNIZANT. And she is shy to tell everyone to pay up, including Ykka! Hjarka, I absolutely RESPECT you. The same goes for Tonkee, who deliberately baits Essun in order to test her faculties. I LOVE THAT TROPE. She literally annoys Essun further into consciousness. BLESS THIS BOOK.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is after this, though, that the first emotional thread appears:<\/p>\n

Something\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wrong, though. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a testament to how much you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been through, maybe, that you seem to have developed a permanently crooked posture, your right shoulder sagging and arm dragging as if<\/p>\n

as if it is made of<\/p>\n

Oh. Oh<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The others stop bothering you as you realize what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We knew this. And Jemisin does a classic tension thing where the audience knows something the protagonist does not, and it is here where the dread comes crashing down. I used the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153practicality\u00e2\u20ac\u009d when talking about Essun and her runny-sack because she often is<\/i> a very practical, pragmatic person. Even here, as she examines her arm-turned-into-stone, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s little direct horror. She might be a bit unnerved, but she also knew this was going to happen. She saw it in Alabaster. Now, she has a very matter-of-fact reason for letting Hoa eat her arm: that shit is heavy<\/i>. Her body and her joints aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t meant to continually carry that amount of weight, and Lerna even points out that the stone gets COLDER at night, lowering her body temperature. So, maybe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the practical thing, and deep down, Essun knows she needs to let Hoa eat the stone.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to that, because I also have to talk about the other<\/i> emotional element to this chapter: Essun realizing that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pissed off most of Castrima. I think these people know that she saved them, and I bet that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d even be willing to admit that. But look… she destroyed the geode, even if she wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t entirely conscious of doing that, even if that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the intent.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t…\u00e2\u20ac\u009d You start to say, I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean to<\/i>, and stop. Because you never mean it, and it never matters in the end.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh, what a brutal<\/i> sentence. Jemisin calls back to so many things here: young Damaya. The destruction of Tirimo. Allia. How many things did Essun not mean<\/i> to do? The pain and hurt is still there, though:<\/p>\n

Ykka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction, though, proves that some things aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t about rationality. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take away people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s homes and sense of security in such an immediate, dramatic way, and expect them to consider extended chains of cupability before they get angry about it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the atmosphere that Essun is in. In hindsight, I get why Tonkee shushes Essun when Essun brings up Nassun, too. Like… one thing at a time! In a sense, Essun is on thin ice. Look at the way she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more or less abandoned and left to herself when they camp that night. No one is really rushing to be her friend. So I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know if these people are going to want her to be a part of the new comm, you know??? What if they see her as a powerful weapon, but don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to risk having her around? Oh god, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the EXACT insecurity she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had this entire fucking time, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all!!! ALL OVER AGAIN. Except on a much, much bigger scale.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But Jemisin pulls us back. She reels us in from the massive problems that Essun faces in her near future to bring us into the immediate, the intimate, the unavoidable. Essun and Hoa have one of the strangest relationships I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever read about (and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s saying something, given what we saw in The Inheritance Trilogy<\/i>), and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore Hoa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s feelings from the end of The Obelisk Gate<\/i>. This is love, and what he does for Essun in the final scene of chapter one feels<\/i> like love, even if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the most upsetting images I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve encountered in a book. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something sweet about how he refused to consume her stone arm in public; he wanted to allow her the grace of privacy. He is tender with her, which seemed like such a direct contradiction to the brutality of what he was going to do, but… maybe isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t brutal. Maybe it won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hurt. Maybe, as Hoa says, this has nothing to do with hunger or eating, but something else.<\/p>\n

That being said:\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His mouth opens. Wide, wider, wider than any human mouth can open. Once you worried his mouth was too small; now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wide enough to fit a fist. And such teeth he has, small and even and diamond-clear, glinting prettily in the red evening light. There is only darkness beyond those teeth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This absolutely makes me want to exit my own body. Truly. It unnerves SO MUCH. Like!!!! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so fucking freaky, I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wow, The Stone Sky<\/i> is wasting no fucking time, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n

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