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Jess

Jess Reviews The Broken Earth Series by N.K. Jemisin

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The people of The Stillness live at the will of the Seasons–world-ending tectonic disasters that occur without warning.The Stillness has not always been this way and this current season might just be the last.

I bought the box set of this series in 2018 and have just gotten around to reading it. This immersive series is a dynamic blend of science-fiction and fantasy that is must listen on audio. Narrator Robin Miles did her thing with these audiobooks. She has amazing range and her multifaceted performance highlights the epicness of this earth-bending series. 

A fantasy series is a successful read for me when I CANNOT figure out how the author came up with the story, world or concept. To that end, this series is a smashing success. The characters and the struggles they encounter felt real and lived in. There are actual worlds in Jemisin’s head. That is the only explanation. 

The Fifth Season

Life in the Stillness, a vast dystopic landscape, revolves around Seasons– apocalyptic natural disasters that occur without warning.  The earth has it out for humanity and the only ones who can control it are Orogenes, those born with the ability to control kinetic and seismic energy. To be an  Orogene is to be feared, enslaved, and abused.

The first book follows Essun, a 40-year-old Orogene in hiding, as she attempts to outrun the current apocalypse to exact revenge on her son’s murderer. Unfortunately, this is not an ordinary Season and Essun is soon pulled into a large conspiracy that will change everything.

I don’t know what I can say about Jemisin’s award-winning series that hasn’t already been said. It is an immersive and well-imagined tale. Her storytelling is unique (it’s in the second person) and she masterfully weaves multiple POVS in an unexpected way. I will say it took me a  few chapters to get into, but once you get into the flow it’s hard to put down.

A majority of the characters are Black. Ir is delightful reading a fantasy book where caucasian features aren’t the automatic default. There is also a healthy intersection of LGBTQ characters and representation.

My only critique is that I had a hard time picturing exactly what the setting looked like. They mention gaslights and horses so at first, I imagined a dystopian early 20th century–but something about the clothes and the way medical devices are described felt a little more 90’s ? IDK. Maybe it’s supposed to be like Mad Max vibes ?

The Obelisk Gate

Jemisin’s storytelling ability is still going full force in the second book. Essun and her motley crew of travelers have been volun-told into joining a utopian underground community. In between dealing with community politics, Essun learns the whole truth about this very unusual season.  This is a stationery book and I was sad to see we don’t get to watch the characters travel.

Essun’s ten-year-old daughter Nassun has a POV and look, I’m not the biggest fan of children’s POV in brutal adult books but I think this one worked well. Nassun has to grow up fast as she learns about her potential as an Orogene and what it means to sacrifice.  One of the characters, Chaffa, is a Guardian whose job is to control Orogenes in a harsh but gentle manner.  I’m not really understanding what Jeminisn is doing with this character or what they add to the story. This character’s origins, motivation and purpose just never made sense to me.

The Stone Sky

The world’s fate is now in the hands of a mother and daughter on two sides of a millennia-long war.

My favorite part of this book is the flashbacks that finally reveal the origin of The Stillness and what the mysterious Stone Eater creatures are. Reveals like this are why I enjoy speculative/dystopian stories. This book languidly moves towards the finale, which honestly wasn’t as massive and action-packed as I thought it would be. I thought the ending was fitting but I can’t say I truly understood parts of it or that it gave me the emotional punch I was hoping for.

In conclusion

I’m sold on Jemisin as a writer and am up for checking out her other series.  These last few years I’ve been diving into fantasy by POC writers and it never disappoints. I think there is freedom to storytelling when you break away from the stereotypical fantasy setting 

 Pastoral England where?

Anyway… I’ll wait here until someone casts Danai Gurira in the movie adaptation.

No Filter and Other Flaws by Crystal Maldonado

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Contemporary YA | Holiday House | Published : 02/08/2022

17-year-old Kat Sanchez is a photographer and free spirit. She loves herself and her plus-sized body but can’t help but to obsess over the low engagement her photography gets on Instagram. On a whim, she uses photos of her beautiful blonde co-worker and creates “Max”– a fake social media influencer who becomes an instant success.

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Romance Readers and Writer’s Expo

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Last weekend Kat and I grabbed tickets to the FREE Romance Readers and Writers Expo. It was a great opportunity to meet and buy books from Black romance authors.

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On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi

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On Rotation is as close as I’ll ever come to medical school.

This novel follows twenty-something Angie Apia as she tackles her third year of medical school, demanding residents and her parents’ high expectations. To top it all off she can’t stop pining over a charming sensitive artist… who has a girlfriend. Talk about a quarter-life crisis.

This was a fun slice-of-life with an angsty emotional romance subplot that will appeal to Kennedy Ryan fans. Medical school is not glamorized at all and I felt like I was being let into a world I will probably never experience. I wasn’t at all surprised to learn that Shirlene Obuobi is a physician. Obuobi is also a cartoonist and I believe she designed the book cover.

Angie is supported by her group of wild and successful friends. A large part of this book is about how those friendships can change and grow. The pace of the book was a tad slow for me and we probably could have dropped a few side characters.

My only other critique is that the first few pages of this book had a much different tone than the rest of the book. The book starts with Angie confidently monologuing about her body and curves…then it never comes up again. I mean the cover has ‘peach’ earrings on it so I sort of thought her relationship with her body would play more into the book. Instead, her biggest hurdle is overcoming her imposter syndrome.

Single Black Female by Tracy Brown

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Urban fiction is a genre I’ve always wanted to explore. Going in, I was expecting this book to be about hustling and doing what it takes to make it big on the streets– but this book takes a slightly different perspective. It focuses on three women searching for stability and success decades after their lives intersected with the high-powered Brooklyn drug game.

Ivy has spent 16 years supporting her incarcerated husband Mikey and raising their sons, but she’s ready to start over in Staten Island along with Deja, who became a suburban mom instead of holding down her wrongfully convicted boyfriend. Ivy’s sister-in-law, Coco, is a top executive whose education and success are owed to Mikey but she is ready to strike out on her own.

The book is compulsively readable and you get sucked into the melodrama. The character’s backgrounds feel real and complicated. I don’t know if this is a function of the genre, but I found the book does reiterate plot points and character relationships quite often. It was a little jarring

You also never have to worry about trying to figure out what a character is thinking because this book seamlessly shifts POVs in the middle of scenes in a way I don’t think I’ve read before. 

My favorite character was Deja’s sister Nikki–an Instagram model and professional party girl. She brings a lot of humor and provides plenty of unfiltered advice to the characters. She doesn’t have a storyline but is played up as a main character in the marketing for some reason ? I’m curious if she will get her own book.

The last  20% of this book focuses on police brutality and the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. The shift was sudden but I think the plot line was well done.

I can’t wait to read more urban fiction and maybe dive into Tracy Brown’s backlist.

Brown was getting her feeling out about 2016 in this book.  Tr*mp supporters get dragged (one literally) left and right in this book.

This book is also not the Lifetime movie of the same name. I’m sure the publishers must have been annoyed by that.

The Bounce Back by The Bounce Back Addie Woolridge

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After a disastrous show, performance artist Neale Delacroix decides to trades in the stage for corporate America–where she discovers she is capable of more than she ever thought possible.

This book is basically about a twenty-eight-year-old who decides to start “Adulting” with the help of her roommate, sisters, and cute new co-worker. I would classify this book as women’s fiction with a splash of romance. I know teen me would have loved to read a book centered around an eccentric but loving family of sucessful Black artists living in Washington state.

The book is light and humorous. Woolridge notably creates a wonderfully diverse and inclusive community in a way I wish more authors (and editors) would. Neale is an easy character to root for though at times she does come off as (for lack of a better word) a bit like Mary Sue. She is always able to make things work in her favor and anyone who slightly questions her is a villain.

I gather this book is a part of a series that follows the three Delcroix sisters. While I didn’t feel like I was missing anything by starting with book two, I can see the appeal of going back to the first book.

This is from Amazon’s Montlake Imprint. I know Amazon is an evil corporation but I find that I enjoy books put out by them.

Unrelated, the art style on this book cover just doesn’t work for me. It’s a little to abstract. Also I feel like putting the love interest on the cover makes it seems like this is a romance–which it is not. On the flipside, I think if they put a sole female character on the cover it looks YA.