Closing in on #1 we’ve got a couple of books whose authors are familiar with the Top 3, as both have appeared here before. Both books are written by women, both have a fantasy element, but one skews toward science fiction, and the other, surprisingly, historical fiction. Let’s take a look.
#3 – The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin (2017) – Minor SPOILERS below.
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As a series, the Broken Earth Trilogy is very strong. As a single book concluding the trilogy, I must say that The Stone Sky is the weakest of the three books, although still strong enough to come in at #2 for the year! (Book 1, The Fifth Season was my #1 book for 2019, and Book 2, The Obelisk Gate was my #2 book last year). While still incredibly imaginative, gripping, and intensely emotional, there is a whole lot of exposition and historic explanation that N.K. Jemisin has to explain as we approach the conclusion of her epic. In addition, the book rotates between three sets of characters: Essun, arguably our protagonist throughout the entire trilogy (I say arguably, because all of the character make questionable decisions throughout); Nassun and Schaffa, Essun’s daughter who she has been chasing after for the past two years, and her former Guardian, who brutalized Essun to keep her under control; and a new group of characters set centuries past that ultimately reveal the history of the mysterious and fascinating Stone Eaters. For me, a lot of time that was spent on Nassun and Schaffa, was just text I had to get through, as I did not have a strong emotional connection to the two characters and their storyline. Of course, they were essential, providing the emotional and physical foil to Essun’s raison d’etre, but I could not forgive Schaffa his cruelty and manipulations and his utter brainwashing of Nassun was as frustrating as it was necessary to the plot.
Ultimately, the conclusion was satisfying and powerful emotionally, capping an entire trilogy that marveled your imagination and wrenched your heart all the way through. The complexity of Jemisin’s world, spanning eons of time, is incomparable. I very much look forward to seeing her set her pen to to other worlds, Ultimately, this was Essun and Hoa’s journey for me, and while I would have liked more of them in this book, I was satisfied with their overall arc.
#2 The Hidden Palace by Helene Wacker (2021) – Delighted to discover that Helene Wecker had written a sequel to her NYT best-selling novel, The Golem and the Jinni (my #2 book of 2013). The Hidden Palace picks up where she had left off in her debut, detailing the unusual journey of two singular souls, a golem named Chava Levy, and a Jinni named Ahmad, who inhabit an ever-changing world of early 20th century New York City. Although the pair find solace in each other’s company, their relationship is a tumultuous one, eventually fracturing in a way that ripples outward and affects many around them as they struggle to find their places in a human world.
Set against the backdrop of the years leading up to World War I, Wecker does an astounding job of of juggling a bevy of characters and giving each one intriguing depth of character, and complexity of desire. Unlike her first novel, there is no out and out villain in The Hidden Palace – but rather flawed, complex human and inhuman characters who are just struggling to find their places in the world. Coming in at nearly 500 pages, The Hidden Palace takes its time unspooling its story, in a way that allows the reader to really savor the detail of both the era, and the humanity of the characters.