With the world coming to an end nowhere is safe, but Essun in her orogene-friendly underground commune and Nessun, fleeing south with the father that just murdered her brother and straight into the arms of a Guardian, have found temporary refuge of a fragile, illusory sort at least. Nessun learns how to use her powers and Essun does the same, particularly in relation to the obelisks and the mysterious, missing moon Alabaster wants her to bring back.

Jemsin teases out the powers and the set-up and the BIG IDEAS in this volume, after the world-building of catastrophe in in volume one, so there's less of a headlong rush and chase and escape, but a slow build of doom and danger. We learn who the narrator is and glimpse what's on the other side of the world, and the same style, the slightly detached but compassionate voice depicting Essun's cynicism and rage and Nessun's hardening into a version of her mother for the sake of survival, keep the pages turning quickly. I may have to start that thing of waiting to read multi-volume epics until they're finished purely because the gap in time leaves me unmoored from the narrative for a few chapters until i catch hold again, probably because I am OLD.