May 7, 2021

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

The second volume of the Broken Earth.  Nassun finds her father standing over her dead brother.  He killed his son because he discovered the boy was an orogene - someone who can control the power of the earth to make changes around themselves to defend or to kill.  But Nassun's talents allow her to calm her father and they set out to find a safe place.  Essun, the mother, finds herself outed as an orogene in their village just after a massive earthquake.  The villagers agree to let her go, but at the gate, the village men try to kill her, unsuccessfully - she kills the entire village instead.  She sets out to find her daughter and husband.  On the way she acquires a couple of followers, one who turns out to be a girl Essun knew and went with to discover a secret.  The other turns out to be a being of stone who can travel through the earth.  They end-up in an underground comm.  The comm is attacked, and Essun uses an obelisk to kill almost all of the attackers.  Even though they survive and eliminate the attackers, the comm is so damaged that the survivors must set out for another place.  Meanwhile, Nassun, who has been learning about how to control her powers at a camp, eventually is forced to kill her father in self-defence using an obelisk.

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