Saturday, August 7, 2021

The Broken Earth Trilogy, by N.K. Jemisin

I always feel a little out of my depth when I read science fiction. I am very aware (too aware, probably) that there's an entire literary tradition with which I'm only glancingly familiar. It leaves me doubting my ability to understand everything I'm meant to understand. 

It's not that I don't enjoy reading science fiction. Another factor I struggle with is books like this devote time and language world-building, while at the same time having a plot that draws you in. I'm aware that the world-building is necessary, but the detailed descriptions of places – physical spaces, landscapes, environments – sometimes just go right past me (or more accurately I go right past them) as I follow the plot.

The Broken Earth trilogy would probably benefit from a closer, slower reading where I really devoted time to envisioning the places described, but I didn't read it slowly. The first book, The Fifth Season, took me a week to finish; the second book, The Obelisk Gate, four days; and the final book in the trilogy, The Stone Sky, I read in two days. I read the entire series from beginning to end in less than two weeks. I don't know how to make myself slow down. 

I liked these books a lot, but who didn't? I don't feel like I have anything valuable to add to the conversation.