The Obelisk Gate falls victim to second-book syndrome, being merely very good where The Fifth Season was great. The story condenses down to two lines. Essun in the underground town of Castrima, trying to survive the beginning of what may be the worst apocalypse yet, and her daughter Nassum at an antarctic training facility for orogenes. The two are set up for a collision course, as they learn to master the ancient technology of the floating half-real obelisks, and a form of orogeny beyond orogeny that goes by the prosaic name of 'magic'.

The story is best when it stands on its characters, and the ethical impossibility of doing what is necessary to survive. This is familiar ground, but Jemisin has a sharp eye for these moments, and for how people live with their bad decisions. The story is weakest as she adds new elements to deepen the mystery. Factions of an ancient war and the silvery threads of the new magic are less realized and less interesting than the previous politics around orogeny, and the mastery of heat and force.

That said, I enjoyed it a lot, Jemisin is a hell of a talent, and I think she knows where book 3 is heading. I'm not sure I do though, and I'm not sure if these people deserve their happy ending, or if they deserve to watch it all burn. On consideration, it'll be both. Moses never set foot in the Promised Land.