I originally wrote “5 reasons to read The Broken Earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin” when N. K. Jemisin had just won a Hugo for the third book in the The Broken Earth trilogy, so all of the books in the thrilogy had a Hugo Award which was completely unheard of at the time. Now the original post:
Jemisin doesn’t only write fabulous books, she is also an exceedingly cool person who writes amazing essays about oppression. I would recommend any of her books, but because her triple Hugo-win this posts focuses on her masterwork: The Broken Earth trilogy.
The series has some heavy themes and can be a hard read, but it is so worth it. Here are my 5 reasons to read The Broken Earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin, but first the setup.
Table of Contents
The setup for the first The Fifth Season
The world is broken and is ending. It is not the first time the world is ending in one spectacular natural catastrophe after another that topples empires and lays civilasations in ruin. humanity survives because they follow a number of unbreakable laws, known as the stone laws. Part of the population has the genes that allow them to manipulate the forces of nature making them both feared, suppressed and immensely powerful.
We follow three women: The young girl Damaya, who has been given to the guardians to be trained to use wild powers to control earthquakes; adult Syenite who can control the earthquakes and is on what should be a simple mission and the middle-aged Essun, who is on the run from his village and heading out into the world to find his daughter.
Reason 1: All the awards
Each year the members of World Science Fiction Convention vote for the year’s best novel among many other categories for the winners of The Hugo Awards which are handed out at Worldcon. The Broken Earth is the only series ever where every single volume has won the award. It is with good reason that the series won three years in a row as well as the Nebular and many many other awards. Jemisin gave an amazing acceptance speech, that is also well worth watching.
Reason 2: World building
Jemisin has created a world where the nature is at war with itself and where the societies’ main focus is to deal with it. When some people are born with more powers than others, there is two choices… either they end up at the top of society or they are feared and society will do it’s damndest to dehumanize them and oppress them.
Jemisin has chosen the lather path for The Broken Earth trilogy. She examines the consequences of that choice closely working with examples of real life oppression as her base without shying away from any of the ugly details. As the series progresses the world feels more and more like science fiction rather than fantasy – because the approach to the world building is a science fictiony approach in the same way as the Pern books. The focus is on the social consequences rather than technology.
The people inside the system all have good reasons to help upholding the oppressive system – including the oppressed that are part of the system. The ones on top are not cartoon villains but rather feel like real people with real reasons for their actions. Jemissin examens how we internalize and uphold the norms of the society that we grow up in and how that can become part of our own oppression. She also examens how system uses soft and subtle power to sustain the system.
The world of the series in the middle of an apocalypse – in the middle of the collapse of civilizations. Much of the series is about the reactions to the collapse and about how new systems arises when old ones collapse. Throughout the series the focus stays firmly on the humans of the world rather than the big picture.
Reason 3: Complex characters
All the characters of the The Broken Earth trilogy are whole people. They are good and evil. They have dreams, ambitions and their own goals. They are all trapped inside the system that they live in – even the powerful are trapped. Jemisin’s characters gets to make mistake, they do not suffer under a narrative expectation of being perfect, but their mistakes does not turn them into villains.
Essun is not a good mother, but we understand her and sympathise with her and she gets to be good in other aspects of her life. Alabaster is arrogant and sharped edged, but also loyal and brave. I could keep going. Not only are the main characters complex, but so are the minor characters. The book does not judge it’s characters based on one mistake, it lets them have edges and spikes, strengths and weaknesses without falling into the trap of heros and villians.
Reason 4: Light in the dark
A lot of fantasy believes that darkness with darkness on top is the same as dept of narrative. Jemisin shows us that no matter how hard and dark people’s lives are, there are glimes of light. Nobody is all evil or all good. If you paint all of the world in tones of dark gray, then the picture will turn out just grey with no contact. Jemisin lets us see the sparkles of light – of hope, dreams and love.
The darkness becomes so much darker because of the contrast. She examens heavy and dark subjects about oppression, dehumanization and abuse of power. But the books have family, friendship, love and revolution. They books are a heavy and dark read, but it is not depressing because she shows the grimmers in the darkness – she lets us hope.
Reason 5: All the feels
It has been a long time since I have cried as much as when I read The Fifth Season. Jemisin’s complex characters conquered my hearth with all their mistakes and edges, so when the world hurt them, it hurt me as well. When she let them succeed in something I felt their joy. Especially the two adult women’s humor and sarcasms had me smiling and laughing. In other words – the series gave me all the feels!
Content warnings
Violence against children, abuse, slavery, involuntary pregnancy
That was my 5 reasons to read The Broken Earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin! Have you read it and what did you think?
If you want to read more, read my review of The Fifth Season and my thoughts about Motherhood in The Broken Earth trilogy.
This review was originally posted on the blog HvaFan: 22 of August 2018. Updated, translated and edited June 31 2024
Leave a Reply