“Some worlds are built on a fault line of pain, held up by nightmares. Don’t lament when those worlds fall. Rage that they were built doomed in the first place.”

In this final installment of the Hugo award-winning Broken Earth trilogy, author N.K. Jemisin shows us exactly what happens when worlds fall. This book begins, mid-apocalypse, with what’s left of humanity scrambling to adapt to life after a catastrophic geologic event. The trilogy’s heroine, Essun, is still on her quest to find her daughter. Only now, she’s gained a bit of a side quest… Saving all of humanity. Some unexpected twists and captivating character development keep the reader hooked into this detailed, if not sometimes slowly-moving, story.

While it lacks the action-packed storylines of the first and second novels, The Stone Sky offers a better look into the origins of this tormented world and its twisted social structures. Jemisin brings the reader face-to-face with her Evil Earth and asks them to look closely and notice the resemblance. Covering themes of prejudice, cooperation, forgiveness, family, and personal power, this book beautifully depicts some of the complexities of human existence. Jemisin’s literary skills shine as she manages to interweave these details on a scale from microscopic to cosmic, and still keep the narrative clear and direct.

The Stone Sky is an essential and outstanding conclusion to the Broken Earth trilogy. Any anthropology fan will love the author’s deep dive into an ancient society’s ambitious, sometimes horrific, history. Any fan of fantasy will delight in learning more details about some characters’ magical connection to the earth. Lastly, fans of the series will enjoy the culmination of this epic story and its, somewhat happy, ending.