Book Review: “The Stone Sky” by N.K. Jemisin

Oct 18

Håfa adai! Welcome to my review of The Stone Sky, the third book in The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin.

The book review portion of this post consists of two parts: a spoiler-free plot summary and my thoughts on the story. In the second part, I give my personal rating and break down the setting and worldbuilding, storytelling, cast of characters, and themes. There may be some lightweight spoilers—such as how characters interact with each other and the world around them—but I will not give away any major plot twists or endings. I want to share my opinions of the book and maybe encourage you to purchase a copy of your own.

Click on the tags at the bottom of this post to see all reviews with the same tags in the Fantasy bookshelf.

Spoiler-Free Plot Summary of The Stone Sky

Nassun is no longer the same little girl who witnessed the murder of her little brother at the hands of their father. The world is no longer the same place she believed it to be now that she understands the cruel and unexplainable trials her mother subjected her to after realizing that she is an Orogene. And the closer Nassun is lead to Corepoint, the more she believes what the world deserves is retribution, not redemption.

Awake from the incapacitation caused by using the Obelisk Gate, Essun is met with more obstacles between her and finding her daughter Nassun. And as the Moon returns to its closest point of orbit to the Earth, Essun must race to use it to end the Fifth Season once and for all, before someone else uses it to achieve a far more disastrous end.

Important Trigger Warning for The Stone Sky

The Stone Sky depicts discrimination, child abuse, and child murder. These scenes and themes are essential to the plot. Always prioritize your mental health before engaging with any work of fiction or non-fiction. If these scenes and themes would cause you distress or discomfort in any way, then please make sure to take necessary steps to prepare and protect yourself before and after reading this book.

Why are books challenged in the United States?

Since 1990, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has been responsible for documenting attempts to ban books in libraries and schools throughout the United States. According to recent data compiled by the OIF, attempts to ban books are shifting from individual parents to groups of like-minded individuals organizing on social media (and other platforms) to challenge books perceived to offend the groups’ values. The OIF states that data compiled on such groups demonstrates “a growing, well-organized, conservative political movement, the goals of which include removing books about race, history, gender identity, sexuality, and reproductive health from America's public and school libraries that do not meet their approval.” In other words, conservative groups in the United States choose to challenge certain published works if those works do not reflect the specific groups’ conservative values.

Why is The Broken Earth trilogy challenged in the United States?

Although it has not been explicitly listed in the American Library Association’s Challenged Books Archive, which compiles annual lists of the top 10 most frequently challenged books, The Broken Earth trilogy is often the topic of discussion in peer-reviewed academic literature and in college courses due to the themes it presents. Throughout the series, N.K. Jemisin explores themes of systemic racism and prejudice, genocide, generational trauma, dystopian collapse of society, human-driven environmental crises, gender fluidity, and sexuality. These are themes that can be alarming or triggering to many conservative-leaning communities, which causes many books throughout the United States to become challenged every year.

My Thoughts on The Stone Sky: 5 stars!

The final installation of the Broken Earth trilogy alternates between Essun’s search for her daughter Nassun, Nassun’s journey to Corepoint with Guardian Schaffa, and the backstory of Hoa. I did not realize it when I started the series, but N.K. Jemisin’s narrative approach to addressing Essun as “you” is the elusive second-person perspective! I cannot recall ever hearing the second-person perspective in another novel, but it is the narrative style most commonly used by Dungeon Masters when guiding players through the story of the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Nassun’s journey with Schaffa is told through the third-person omniscient perspective. The chapters revealing Hoa’s backstory are told from the first-person perspectives of different characters, allowing the reader to piece together this elusive character’s history from different points of view.

Through the various narrative approaches used for each character, The Stone Sky expands even further on the trilogy’s themes of genocide, the systemic oppression of entire communities, and how trauma is passed on from one generation to the next. These themes are succinctly and devastatingly tied together in a line Schaffa says to Nassun. To paraphrase it here, Schaffa explains that genocide is not just the murder of a people, but the erasure of the very idea that they ever were a people to begin with. I was walking my dog when I reached the chapter where this line is delivered, and it literally stopped me in my tracks. The dynamic between Schaffa and Nassun—juxtaposed with the dynamic between Nassun and her mother Essun, and the earlier dynamic between Essun and Schaffa—deftly demonstrates how each generation believes they should “prepare” the next generation for the prejudices they are most certainly destined to face as they navigate the world.

My rating for N.K. Jemisin’s The Stone Sky is 5 out of 5 stars! I thoroughly appreciated the entire experience of The Broken Earth trilogy. This first-time experience of the series was through listening to the Booktrack Edition audiobooks read by Robin Miles—who also reads the audiobook of Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures—which features an ambient musical soundtrack to the reading of the book. My only criticism of the Booktrack Edition is that the ambient sounds were so soothing and calming that it would inadvertently make me drowsy. I felt so conflicted! On one hand, I was so intrigued by N.K. Jemisin’s writing and captivated by Robin Miles’ reading that I could not stop listening but, on the other hand, the ambient music kept making me sleepy! I definitely want to go through the series again so, in the future, I will read physical copies of the books or listen to the regular editions of the audiobooks read by Robin Miles. Regardless of the format, I highly recommend N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy to fans of authors that are not afraid to explore challenging themes, and of stories that blur the lines between high fantasy and science fiction worldbuilding. I look forward to revisiting this series again and to reading more stories from N.K. Jemisin.

Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of The Stone Sky, the third book in The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin.

Rating Cheat Sheet

4.75 - 5.00 stars: Everyone should read this book! (If you’re into that sort of thing.)
4.00 - 4.50 stars: I appreciated many aspects of this book. I recommend it!
3.00 - 3.75 stars: I liked some aspects of this book. I won’t revisit it, but someone else might really like it.
2.00 - 2.75 stars: There were some things I appreciated about this book, but I do not recommend it.
0.25 - 1.75 stars: I do not recommend this book. I did not enjoy or appreciate the experience of it.

Post Date: 25 August 2025