Then sense reasserts itself' - are great reminders that even in our age of computer-generated genre blockbusters, the imagination can still dream up things that defy traditional visual representation. She might as well be the statue she appears to be. There have been rumors of a possible TV adaptation of Broken Earth, but Jemisin's descriptions of stone eater speech - 'the stone eater's mouth doesn't open when she speaks. Then there are the stone eaters, living statues who move through the earth like water and have spent millennia working toward the fulfillment of their master plan. Uncovering their purpose is a major part of Essun's journey. These relics flit constantly between reality and dream, each one made of a beautiful gemstone like aquamarine, sapphire, and (most importantly) onyx.

There is beauty in the Stillness: The sky is full of floating obelisks, remnants of some long-lost civilization. It all takes some getting used to, but once this world reveals itself to you, there's no going back. Each book is therefore a trilogy unto itself, stories laid within stories like the concentric rings used to age trees or distinguish the power levels of different orogenes. The other novels are also each split into three characters, though now Essun must share the stage with her daughter, Nassun, their shared mentor/tormentor Schaffa, and her protector Hoa. The Fifth Season focuses entirely on one woman, though it refers to her by three different names (Essun, Syenite, and Damaya) as it tells the stories of three distinct periods in her life. Depending on your perspective, the orogenes are either the only force saving humankind from earthquake-induced extinction or the very reason for the Earth's angry instability - and there are a lot of different perspectives on display in Broken Earth. Another big difference between this land and ours is its population of 'orogenes,' humans born with the ability to generate shakes and control the movements of the earth.

It's a hard land, buffeted by consistent shakes and recurring catastrophes. Broken Earth's map is of an Earth with a single continent called the Stillness.

The broken earth trilogy by nk jemisin