I am a puddle of emotions and nonsensical thoughts. It’s difficult to convey what makes The Stone Sky and the whole Broken Earth trilogy so perfect. Part of what makes unpacking my feelings so hard is that this book and series is smarter than me. I am painfully aware of its layers and depth that I don’t have the intellectual capacity to breakdown yet instinctually understand. The other reason this book is so difficult to talk about is that every emotion I felt while reading The Stone Sky was so visceral. There isn’t any clear logic to my emotions. I can’t unpack as to why I loved these characters and this story with my whole being. It’s something that just is.

I’d like to apologize in advance because this really isn’t the most eloquent review, but I do think it’s an accurate picture of how The Broken Earth Trilogy impacted me.

The Broken Earth Trilogy is absolutely radical. N. K. Jemisin wrote a high fantasy series about motherhood. Sometimes it feels like women are only allowed to be fantasy protagonists if they reject womanhood and embrace masculinity as strength. To make our protagonist not only a woman but a mother of three who’s ultimate desire is protecting her children is probably one of the most radically feminist statements I’ve seen in fiction. Jemisin saw the power in a mother’s love and in a mother’s sacrifice. She saw that strength and made it the cornerstone of one of the most acclaimed fantasy series of all time.

This book and this series are filled with so many themes that resonate so deeply with me. I adore how Jemisin links the disgusting desire for power and the nonsensical need to oppress others to maintain the hierarchical status quo to climate change. However, despite how often we see the worst of humanity in this series this book is ultimately hopeful and inspiring. It’s the kind of story that breaks down why the world is fucked but shows us how to fix it and ultimately believes in the good of humanity.

The focus on the power of found family and the culmination of Essun, our protagonist’s, character arc was mindblowing. Seeing the community Essun has built around her unwittingly stand up to fight with her was beautiful. Seeing that contrasted with the family Nassun chose for herself was absolutely stunning. This book doesn’t give easy answers to complex questions and acknowledges that sometimes the people who love you let you down no matter how good their intentions. Jemisin embraces the idea of finding the people who will become your family.

There is so much that Jemisin says in this trilogy and never once felt overblown or pretentious. Just scathing, and accurate, and powerful.

I stand in awe of the craft required to write the kind of story Jemisin has written. The worldbuilding, the timeline construction, the tight control of perspective, these are all techniques that are masterfully integrated into this novel with ease. The Stone Sky brings the framing device established in The Fifth Season to the forefront of the narrative. The way our narrator weaves in and out of the story he’s telling makes it all the more impactful. There are snatches of narration that absolutely broke my heart that couldn’t exist without the framing device.

I can’t accurately describe how much genuine painful emotion was wrung out of me through Jemisin’s excellent character work. Jemisin’s characters don’t feel like real people you’d meet on the street. She heightens characters to a fantastical level, but you still deeply understand them. These people who have been made to feel less than human, who have been denied their humanity yet who still claim that as theirs and who are willing to fight for the very people who see them as lesser.

This is probably one of the most frustrating reviews I’ve ever written. I’ve never found it so difficult to convey exactly why a piece of literature has moved me. The Broken Earth Trilogy is so multilayered and there are so many facets to my absolute adoration of this series that it feels impossible to convey it in words. All I can hope is that someday I’ll be able to find them.