Who else is reading it? How far through are you? When would be a good time to discuss the book?

Some questions:

• Are people enjoying the books? Do we want to continue with the reading?
• The scale of the action has changed enormously in this book, from the personal story of Damaya/Syenite/Essun to one of world-spanning and world-shattering consequences. Was this a successful transition?
• What type of book is this? SF? Fantasy? Superhero? Something else?
• Jemisin is pushing the racism analogy hard. Is it one that's working? Do you think the book is a worthwhile commentary on the real world and forces in it?
• Nassun is being manipulated by the adults around her. To what extent is Essun also being manipulated, or affected by the baggage of past manipulations? Do either of these characters have anything to tell us about manipulation, control, and abusive relationships?
• What questions do you have?

Essun tries to negotiate with the Rennanis army occupying Castrima. It doesn't go well, her orogeny is disrupted by a Guardian's knife, and she is rescued by Hoa. Tonkee concots a plan to herd boilbugs into the army.Ykka yokes Essun to create an escape tunnel, and that allows Essun to learn how to yoke together all the orogenes in Castrima and the obelisks to carry out Tonkee's plan. All the Rennanis soldiers are boiled alive by the boilbugs. Some stone eaters attack; Hoa disables the first. Hoa then takes Essun to the surface. He buffers Essun's first attempt to yoke together all the obelisks. She senses the stone eaters attacking Castrima and traps them in the geode's structure. Essun turns all the inhabitants of Rennanis to stone then detects Nassun by her command of some obelisks. Essun is greeted by Hoa, Antimony, and an unknown stone eater made of alabaster.

Interlude

Hoa contemplates the fate of the surviving soldiers from Rennanis, and the destruction of the mechanisms that maintain life in the Castrima geode. Essun's right arm has become stone. Hoa discusses consent with Lerna. Hoa tells Lerna about what happened in Rennanis, and Lerna deduces that the people of Castrima could move there. Hoa explains his motives.

Chapter 20

There is a revelaiton that stone eaters can't access the obelisks. Nassun detects Essun's use of the Obelisk Gate; the grey stone eater explains things to Nassun. Nassun realises that she cannot hope to rely on either parent. Jija finds Nassun; she explains that she has done bad things, but was guided to do them. Nassun calls the sapphire obelisk and transforms it into a knife shape. Jija attacks Nassun; she turns him to stone. Steel tells Nassun that she will kill all she loves, but she can stop that by capturing the moon.

Questions

• We now know what the Obelisk Gate is. Was sufficient piple laid to justify this revelation? Did it follow from what had come before?
• Just as Essun was perhaps demonstrating some morality, she unleashes a biological weapon on an army, killing them all, then commits a genocidal act against a city. Are any of these actions justifed?
• Who are the "you"s referred to at the end of the interlude?
• Both Hoa and Steel, Essun and Nassun, want to recapture the moon. What do you think is really the difference between them?
• Is Nassun right to think that she was guided (groomed?) into the actions she's done?

After observing Steel the stone-eater calm Schaffa earlier, Nassun enjoys using her abilty to manipulate magic/silver to heal plants, animals, and people (though she executes a commless raider she experiments on). We see that Nassun is much more powerful than any other orogene in Found Moon. Nassun offers to remove the object in Schaffa's sessapinae, his corestone. Schaffa refuses, as he wants to keep the vitality it provides. Nassun nearly removes it anyway. Nassun goes to see Jija and they argue about her continuing orogene nature. Jija tells Nassun about how a friend of his was killed by an orogene. They argue more and Nassun scares him with orogeny.

Chapter 18

Hoa is revealed as the narrator of the Essun chapters. He also reveals that Grey Man / Steel wants Essun for his own purposes and aiming to destroy Castrima to get to her. Essun and Alabaster discuss the inevitablity of stills turning on roggas. The orogenes of Castrima prepare to defend themselves from lynching. Ykka has called for a vote on Rennanis's offer in the morning. During the night, Bets maybe attacked Cutter and Cutter killed Bets. Ykka defuses the scene by executing Cutter. Later, Waineen fights Penty, an orogene child. Nassun has a flashback to Jija killing Uche, draws on an obelisk, and turns Waineen to stone. Alabaster intervenes to stop Essun killing many more people, at the cost of completing his conversion to stone. Antimony takes Alabaster's body, after a gnomic message about the onyx obelisk. Essun puts on the rings Alabaster made for her. She uses his spinel obelisk-knife to destroy the ballot box with the words, "No voting on who gets to be people." Essun is now the dictator of Castrima.

Interlude

Hoa attempts to call a truce with his enemy, but receives only a howl of rage as reply.

Questions

• Is Schaffa's insistence on keeping his corestone because of his love of Nassun or his desire to live?
• Why did Nassun hold back from removing Schaffa's corestone, when she doesn't hold back from doing worse things that she feels are right?
• A key part of the argument between Jija and Nassun is Jija lying to himself. How does Jija's self-deception contrast with Nassun's "clear sightedness"?
• Did you expect that Hoa was the one narrating Essun's life to Essun? Any speculation as to how this would come to be?
• Were you convinced by the portrayal of the tension in Castrima overnight?
• What's the symbolism of Essun wearing an orogene's rings?
• Current events: how does the novel's depiction of race relations and racially-motivated conflict resonate with current events in the US? Do orogene lives matter? Is Essun right to seize control by force?

Personally, Essun's cry of "No voting on who gets to be people" is the key point of the novel. The themes of dehumanisation and recognition have been key throughout. What do other people think of this reading? Does this novel have anything to say about who we do, and should, regard as "people"?

Nassun, Schaffa, and Umber visit the Antarctic Fulcrum and question the orogenes there about their lack of Guardians and why the orogenes are still alive. After some verbal fencing, Schaffa loses patience and kills the orogenes in the room. Nassun recognises a torus-slap and hand-breaking as things Essun learned from Fulcrum. After the killing, Nassun waits outside and is overcome by hatred. She uses the sapphire obelisk to turn all the orogenes to stone. There is some kind of stand-off between Schaffa and Umber.

On the way back, Nassun and Schaffa don't trust Umber, as Umber perhaps thinks Schaffa should have killed Nassun. The grey stone-eater (who represented Rennanis at Castrima six months and a chapter before). The stone eater offer to teach Nassun how to fight the thing controlling Schaffa. Umber agrees to not kill Nassun, despite her being very dangerous.

Chapter 16

Hoa emerges in his stone-eater form, and is revealed as the stone-eater who was trapped in the garnet obelisk at Allia. They discuss whether either of them are "people". Hoa says he is protecting Essun from other stone-eaters. Essun and Hoa talk to Ykka, who has been talking down a lynch mob. Hoa says that some stone-eaters want to kill all humans. Ykka and Essun argue about the loyalty of the stills in Castrima

Questions

• Is Nassun a destructive and uncontrolled weapon, or a manipulated child? How could she atone for killing the orogenes in the Antarctic Fulcrum?
• The phrase "lynch mob": a deliberate reference to racial violence in the US, or a general turn of phrase?
• Essun's distrust of stills: a reasonable defence mechanism, or racism itself?
• What do us readers think of the revelation that much of what we see has been the result of a conflict between stone-eaters, and between stone-eaters and other factions?

Essun applies her harsh teaching methods to the orogene children of Castrima, preparing them for the moment when the stills of Castrima rise up to kill them. Essun continues to learn about magic from Alabaster. He reveals that the Guardians are the third faction in the war between Father Earth and humans. He also describes how he used the obelisk network and node maintainers to open the Yumenes rift. Rennanis is mentioned as a centre of surviving node maintainers. Ykka enlists Essun to remove Tonkee from Castrima's conrol room. Ykka tells the story of how the Castrima stills didn't turn against her when she revealed her abilities, and Hjarka comments that Castrima is a new type of place. Tonkee lets Essun (and others) into the control room. They investigate a plinth that guards some shards of rusted iron. Tonkee and Ykka argue over Tonkee's acess to the control room. Tonkee grabs one of the iron needles, it burrows into her, and Essun saves Tonkee at the cost of amputating her arm with magic.

Interlude

Hoa describes "killing" several stone eaters near Castrima and mentions another powerful stone eater assembling human forces to attack Essun in Castrima.

Chapter 14

Six months have passed for Essun as she settles into life in Castrima. Tonkee and Hjarka start a relationship. Tonkee describes the pressing need for meat to Castrima's leadership. Rennanis declares war on Castrima, by both killing a hunting party and by a grey stone eater appearing in the middle of Castrima (with Hoa's arm). Rennanis seems to have adopted the "scrap of fine cloth" signifier of the equatorial people feeling Yumenes. Essun uses an obelisk to detect what's around and discovers an army marching on Castrima. The stone eater gives Renannis's terms. Essun attacks the stone eater, who leaves. Essun finds most of Hoa in her room. She feeds him his stone "meal" and Hoa reforms, inside another geode. Hoa is revealed as the stone eater inside the garnet oblisk at Allia.

The chapter endnote is the declaration of orogenes being non-human.

Questions

• Does the notion of Guardians being the "third side" make sense?
• There is a lot of reincorporation of earlier elements (the things in Guardians, rusty iron needles, scraps of fine cloth, magic to affect living tissue and poison, Hoa's stone food, the garnet obelisk). When all these pipes were laid, introduced, they didn't seem connected. Has the earlier confusion been worth it? Have things paid off? Would the book be better or worse if these factors were introduced now, rather that callbacks from earlier?
• There's a lot of action in these chapters, and action is something Jemisin does well. Does she do it well in these chapters? How does she do it, and what techniques can we learn from her?

Schaffa dreams, probably of his childhood and life before Meov. He remembers the surgery that altered his sessapinae and made him a Guardian. He remembers some of the horrific things he did, including killing unborn babies. He remembers Damaya. When we wakes, he is revolted by what he was.

Chapter 12

Nassun is showing great orogene ability, by using "the silver" (what Alabaster and Essun call "magic") to control the earth. This is in contrast to Fulcrum teaching. The other Guardians let slip they knew about magic and the potential of obelisks, but suppressed the knowledge and the people who were capable of contacting the obelisks. Jija gets angry when he learns that Nassun is learning orogeny and that none of the children have been cured of it. Nassun's renewed fear of Jija causes Schaffa to order her to stay in Found Moon. Schaffa hints about Nassun's great purpose and her role in undoing a great wrong in the past. That night, Eitz wakes Nassun from a nightmare; Nassun calls on an obelisk and turns him to stone. Jija is scared away by Schaffa. Nassun also sessed the remnants of the node network, and the Antarctic Fulcurm with orogenes.

Questions

• Are you convinced that Schaffa has changed his ethics? Is his concern for Nassun consistent with his contempt for Jija?
• Why do you think the Guardians kept some "obelisk-aware" orogenes around in their breeding programme?
• Hoa turned a kirkhusa to stone. Nassun turned Eitz to stone. Alabaster is turning himself to stone. How are all these connected to the stone eaters, and the moon?
• Can you regard the Nassun/Jija separation as a manifestation of Nassun growing up? Does it matter that others are urging Nassun to move away from Jija while Nassun wants to stay with him?

We hear the tale of the near-destruction of Jekity last Season. Jija heals from his harpoon wound and is accepted into Jekity. Nassun meets the other orogene children in Found Moon, including Eitz (from the coastal comm in chapter 3). Schaffa and Nassun discuss her pre-Rifting upbringing. This includes Fulcrum-style orogeny training and Essun testing Nassun's control by breaking her hand. They discuss the thing in Schaffa's head; it causes him pain, which can be eased by something from and orogene. Schaffa confirms that what's in his head is different from the other Guardians, and they'll kill him if they know about it.

Chapter 10

Alabaster tells the story of how Antimony took him to Corepoint, a city on the other side of the world inhabited by stone eaters and with a hole that goes very, very deep. The stone eaters have been in the city for a long time and there are a lot of them. Alabster tells Essun the stroy that Antimony told him, that the obelisks were created to boost orgoeny and something went wrong to eject the moon. Alabaster says that Father Earth is a sentient being, not a metaphor. Alabaster says there are three sides in the conflict: Humans and stone eaters, Father Earth, and another. Neither Alabaster nor Antimony say who the third side is, but it's perhaps related to what Alabaster found at the bottom of the shaft. Antimony wants Essun to channel the energy of the Rift through the obelisks to capture the moon.

Questions

• Has your opinion of Essun's parenting changed after reading this chapter and what Essun did to her daughter?
• Why did Schaffa name his complex "Found Moon" and why site it here?
• What is the third side in the war?
• The Shattering took place a long, long time ago. Why have it so many thousands of years ago?
• Essun and Nassun are much more powerful than most feral orogenes, but no more powerful than Fulcrum-bred ones. Why are they the chosen ones for this story, but not some Fulcrum orogenes?
• Jemisin continues to slowly dole out the backstory exposition. (At least this chapter wasn't interrupted by a bowel movement.) Is the pacing good for the book? What else are we learning about the wider world apart from the basic facts of Alabaster's story?

Nassun and Jija travel south for a year. Jija somehow hears about a place called "Moon" that can cure orogenes. When they arrive, they're attacked by bandits and saved by Schaffa. Jija is severely injured by a harpoon in the attack. Nassun displays fine-control orogeny to sever the harpoon's chain. Schaffa does the feeding-from-sessapinae trick on Nassun, and Nassun detects that "[Schaffa]'s not alone in there."

The endnode has an gnomic reference to Guardians and Warrant.

Chapter 8

Essun picks up on some anti-orogene sentiment in Castrima, but she is enjoying settling in and engaging with mundane activities without hiding her identity. Essun goes on a short trip on the surface to see a cluster of impaled bodies. She and the hunters surmise it's a signal of a newly-established comm. Essun seems to have been volunteered to train the other orogenes in Castrima. Essun and Alabaster argue about young orogenes, the death of Innon and Coru, and Alabaster's poor pedagogcial technique. Then we're promised more exposition next time!

Questions

• When and how do you think Jija heard of the Moon? Was it even before he left Tirimo?

• Everyone in the book is a killer. Even sweet little Nassun slaughters everyone in a town when she's shot at. Do we care that all the characters are psychopathic, or should we treat this as a sensible response to a Season?

• Nassun describes Jija as cracked and fragile, echoing the description Innon gave of Alabaster in The Fifth Season. Do you think Jija and Alabaster are similar characters?

• Essun learnt about magic in the last chapter, so now Nassun has had the same revelation, independently. Really?

• Is the impaling comm to the north Tettehee, or someone else? If someone else, who?

• Is Alabaster angry because he's been thwarted in his plans to destroy the world (or perhaps save it), or because Essun killed Coru, or because Alabaster knows it was necessary and he'd have done the same?

Nassun and Jija are on the road, fleeing Tirimo. Nassun tries to explain that Essun told her to conceal her orogeny. We get some insights into Essun's harsh parenting of Nassun, forcing her to control her orogeny. Jija knocks Nassun off the cart, just as the Yumenes quake hits. Nassun's orogeny saves her, Jija, the cart, and maybe a few other people. Nassun changes and starts to deliberately manipulate Jija. Jija kills an injured traveller before they head further south.

Chapter 6

Tonkee doesn't know what a "moon" is, but talks about the deep (pre-Sanzed) history of the Yumenescene Leadership families. Tonkee speculates that Seasons haven't always happened, using evidence of lack of evolutionary adaptation. Yumenescene archives suggest that the obelisks kept the world mostly whole during the Shattering Season and are the key to ending the Seasons. Essun visits Alabaster, they talk about rings and Fulcrum, then he asks Essun to sess his arm. She sesses the "magic" in him and Alabaster speculates on its connection to the obelisks.

The endnote describes what appears to be a violent conflict between stone eaters.

Questions

• The way Essun raised Nassun: is this essentially a recap of how Essun was raised by the Fulcrum?
• In what ways are Essun and Nassun similar, and how are they different? Is Nassun really cleverer than Essun?
• Is Jija a good parent and a good man? (Apart from the rage-induced infanticide, that is.) How should a parent raise a child in a world with possible Seasons?
• What do people think is the relationship between Antimony and Alabaster? Protector? Predator? Scavenger? Witness?
• Orogeny uses a mystical field that comes from living things, binding them together. Star Wars wasn't the first to use this trope. Does "magic" fit in this story?
• Why did Jemisin have Jija (rather than some random villager) kill Uche? Would the story have been weaker or stronger if Jija was a naïve softie?
• What do people think of the pacing? Chapter 6 is basically two chunks of exposition.
• Structurally, the book is back to three viewpoint characters, and Essun's chapters are still told in the second person. Does this structure work? Have people got used to it?

Schaffa is almost killed when Syenite destroys the Clalsu. He survives by partially succumbing to a psychic force that takes him over. He loses much of his humanity in exchange for even-more superhuman powers. He is taken in by a family of fishermen. Etiz, one of the children, is an orogene and asks to be taken by Schaffa. Schaffa kills most of the rest of the village then leaves with Etiz.

Chapter 4

An injured Hunter is brought back to Castrima, covered in scalding insects. Alabaster destroys one, but the orogeny seems to turn his forearm to stone. Essun kills the rest. But the hunter's injuries are too great; Ykka orders his euthanisation and Lerna carries it out. There's an ongoing turf war between the stone eaters (Hoa and Ruby Hair), seemingly over Essun.

• The endnotes of these two chapters give more hints at a hidden history: the Guardians predating the Sanze empire, and variations of stonelore discovered and passed to the Fourth university (destroyed while experimenting on obelisks)

Interlude

This talks about a war, or perhaps an eradication of vermin. It seems to be written by someone who considers themselves above humanity, or perhaps in the service of somehing beyond humanity.

Questions

• Schaffa already knows about stone eaters, obelisks, and orogeny. Do you think the Guardians knew about the obelisk at Allia before Syenite discovered it?
• The force that rescues Schaffa seems similar to what overtook the Guardian just after Damaya found the Socket in the Fulcrum. What is it? How else may it have been manifesting? How does the surgical damage to Guardians' sessapinae come into it? Do you think we'll get coherent answers to these worldbuilding questions?
• Essun seems to have very easily given up on the search for her daughter, Nassun. Is this a character-driven decision or a plot-driven one?
• What does the treatment of the injured hunter tell us about the personalities of Lerna, Ykka, and Alabaster?
• Who is the narrator of this interlude? Is it still Hoa?
• Jemisin's trying to say something about who has the right to rule. The Sanzed way is that orogenes are too dangerous to rule and must be controlled, enslaved. Meov and Castrima had orogenes in charge, but solely because of their power, not their wisdom. Both models are "might makes right" imposition of control. Is such a power structure essential in times of crisis?

This starts with a chunk of exposition about the history of lorists. Nassun gives a gift of a diamond the visiting lorist. The lorist returns it to Jija. Uche sesses the diamond, Jija realises Uche is an orogene, and kills his son in a fit of rage. Nassun returns home, is shocked by the sight of Uche's body, and is comforted by Jija. They prepare to leave Tirimo.

Chapter 2

This chapter is a continutation of the last chapter of The Fifth Season. Alabaster tries to explain to Essun/Syenite what a "moon" is, then asks if she can summon an obelisk. Apparently obelisk-summoning is needed for whatever Alabaster has planned for Essun. Essun goes to ask Ykka for permission to go topside and is roped into the comm's ruling council. Essun goes topside and summons an onyx obelisk (not any of the ones Alabaster or Essun thought it might be) then the topaz (the intended one) as an afterthought. Hoa is unsettled by a pile of ash.

Questions

• Why does Jemisin want to tell us about the history of lorists?
• What do people think of introducing the Nassun/Jija storyline in this book?
• Is Nassun a believable eight-year-old child?
• Are Jija's actions believable?
• Lerna fancies Essun. Where do you think the relationship will go?
• Ykka assembles a council of dissenting voices. What does it say about her character? Is it somewhat idealistic?
• How long do you think it will be before Ykka gets deposed? Who will do it?
• What do you think Alabaster is planning for the obelisks? What justification will there be for why Alabaster hasn't done it already by himself?
• Sweepstake time! Hoa says there are stone eaters in Castrima who are unknown to the humans. Which people are really stone eaters in disguise?

Here are some questions to start some discussion.

Is this a good book?

There are a few definitions of "good". Use which ones you want.

• Is it engaging and fun to read?
• It is well-crafted (use of language, rich characters, etc.)?
• Does it have something important to say?

Is it a graphic novel?

The book's had some criticism for its inconsistent world-building and events happening as plot contrivances. That's led to people saying the book is more like a graphic novel than a traditional novel. Yet we've read some ripping yarns here in the past: Hiero's Journey and Venetian Masque spring to mind as books with rather ludicrous plots; those books didn't receive this criticism. What's different about The Fifth Season compared to those other books?

The Obelisk Gate

Are you looking forward to the next books? What do you think will happen?

The gaming question

Your friends ask you to run a "Fifth Season" game. What important element from the book would you include? What system would you use? When and where would you set it?

Alabaster tells the story of the Season of Teeth. Guardians attack Meov. Alabaster erects a wall around the island and sinks some of the ships. Antimony the stone eater drags Alabaster into the earth. Alabaster makes Syenite promise to keep Coru out of the Guardian's hands. Syenite joins the Clalsu as they attack the remaining Guardian ships. The Clalsu is boarded. Innon is killed by a Guardian, disintegrated. Schaffa tries to persuade Syenite to surrender. Syenite refuses, kills Coru, and calls on the amethyst obelisk for power. She destroys the remaining ships and kills most people in the ships. The first-person narrator is revealed as Hoa.

Chapter 23

Essun goes to see Alabaster. Antimony and Hoa have a stand off. Alabaster is burnt, half-turned to stone, and partially eaten. Alabaster says he created the Yumenes rift, using the obelisks and node maintainers (who are now all dead). He then asks Damaya/Syenite/Essun about a moon.

Questions

• Alabaster tries to protect Meov by creating a wall. Syenite tries to defend Meov by attacking the Guardians. Are these different actions in character with what we know of these people?
• Syenite kills her child; Essun is prepared to kill her husband to save her child. Are these two desires consistent in one character?
• Two more twists in these chapters: Hoa is the narrator, and Alabaster opened the Yumenes rift. Did people see either of these coming?
• Why would Alabaster be interested in a moon?
• Why did Alabaster create the Yumenes rift?

Two years have passed. Syenite is bored. She persuades Innon to take her on a raiding trip. Alabaster is afraid that Syenite will leave him and Corundrum. Syenite goes on the ship and assists in a raid. Her orogeny makes her victorious, but she has to drown the survivors to keep Meov secret. There is an interlude of a legend of the first Season. She plugs the volcano at Allia, and is perhaps spotted by a Guardian.

Chapter 21

In a huge surprise, we discover that Essun is Damaya, and hence Syenite. We also discover that Tonkee is Binof, who has been following Damaya/Syenite/Essun for thirty years. Obelisks were traveling towards Tirimo, attracted to Essun and Uche. Hoa reveals he's a stone eater and makes gnomic comments about the stone he's eating. Essun meets Lerna, who tells his story. Hoa tells Essun that Alabaster is in Castrima, and dying.

Questions

• Is Alabaster a good father and "husband" when he doesn't want to Syenite to go raiding?
• What does it say aobut Innon's character that he ordered the drowning of the raided sailors? What does it say about Syenite's character that she did it?
• We finally see a Fulcrum-trained orogene doing what she was trained to do! How does Syenite's ability compare to what else we've seen?
• What is Hoa eating? Is it really himself? Why is he separated?
• Essun notes that she is more sarcastic than she used to be. I think we're meant to see that Essun is becoming more like Syenite. Have you, the reader, noticed a change in Essun's character?
• Essun is now accompanied by people from all three of her previous ages (Tonkee/Binof, Alabaster, Lerna). What do you think will happen next?

Comment

When I first read the book, I was reading it quickly so I was actually shocked by the reveal about Damaya/Syenite/Essun being the same person. My wife had the same reaction when she read it.

Essun, Hoa, Tonkee enter Castrima and discover it's a city, many Seasons old, built in a geode. There's a big sensawunda moment. Ykka demonstrates he unexplained power to "call" orogenes and stone eaters to her. Ykka explains that the air filtering systems require orogeny to operate. Essun and her gang may now be prisoners of Ykka.

Chapter 19

Syentie and Alabaster are trapped in Meov, as they would be blamed for the destruction of Allia. Alabaster is happy to be free of the Fulcrum, Syenite is not happy to be exiled. The garnet (broken, submerged) obelisk made the hole that destroyed Allia, but it's unclear why this happened and what (or who) caused it. Innon fancies both Syenite and Alabaster; they both fancy him. Alabaster is unsure what to do; Syenite is generous and plays matchmaker. They all end up in bed. Syenite realises she's pregnant.

Interlude

This implies time passes. It draws a metaphor between tectonics and life. After the last sentence, does anyone else hear Richard Burton saying, "Slowly but surely, they drew their plans against us."?

Questions

• Ykka and Innon. We've now seen two non-Fulcrum-trained orogenes, who are open about their abilities and are in leadership positions. How are they different from the Fulcrum-trained orogones? Is their confidence a product of their abilities, or are they leaders because of their personality? Does orogeny make for a good leader?
• Are you impressed by the city-in-a-geode? Would this be an interesting setting for a game?
• Why would Ykka want to keep Essun & co in Castrima?
• The Castrima chamber is a deadciv artefact powered by orogeny. What point is Jemisin trying to make by including it in the story?
• Jemisin is careful to let us know that Innon isn't using his physicality or privilege to get Syenite or Alabaster into bed. Is it important to you that Jemisin does this? What if she just hadn't mentioned these details?
• Both chapters have characters finding places that could be home. In both places they're welcomed but also trapped. (Arguably, the same is true of Damaya in the previous chapter.) How do the characters react to these changes? How do you think they will react in future? How will their existing relationships change?
• Is Syenite stronger than Alabaster? Is Alabaster's crying a sign of weakness?
• Any more ideas about who the interlude's narrator is talking to?

Antimony the stone eater carried Syenite and alabaster to the island of Meov, to escape the destruction of Allia. Alabaster speculates about factions of Guardians, describes the ways Guardians kill, and mentions that orogeny is more flexible than rock moving (as if we didn't know). They meet the inhabitants of Meov and learn the comm is several Seasons old, the people make a living through piracy, and no-one on the mainland knows the island is inhabited.

Chapter 17

Damaya settles in to life in the Fulcrum, and seems to be a model and capable student, spending her spare time exploring the Fulcurm complex. Binof Leadership Yumenes appears one day and entices Damaya to find the hidden something; hidden at the centre of the Fulcrum, and hidden at the start of the Sanzed empire. Damaya uses orogeny to find doors. They find the socket in the centre of Fulcrum, and Timay Guardian finds them. Damaya's mind is somehow affected by the socket. Timay starts ranting about someone being angry and wanting communion. Schaffa kills her; Timay's episode seems to be not unheard of among Guardians.

Finally, Damaya is "offered" the chance to take her first Ring test. Do you think she passes?

Questions

A lot happened in these chapters.

Within-world

• Who or what triggered the eruption that destroyed Allia? If a who, why?
• Alabaster has to unlearn what the Fulcrum taught him, but he's not the first high-ringer. Why does Fulcrum / the Guardian order suppress knowledge of what orogeny can do? Do they know all it can do?
• Is the Guardian ability to reflect orogeny, and turn flesh to stone, the same as Hoa's?
• Castrima and now Meov: these are two communities where orogenes are welcomed, if not leading. How do you think these communities will be different from the Sanzed norm we've seen until now?
• Grit life seems cheap. Why doesn't Schaffa (or someone else) kill Damaya?
• What are Schaffa's true feelings towards Damaya?
• Did anyone spot the connection between Damaya and Syenite?

About the text

• The interlude prompted thoughts of missing islands, and now the characters are on one. Was the technique successful? What else have we been primed to expect?
• What is Jemisin trying to say about Alabaster, by making his mother tongue that of the islanders' rather than Sanze-mat?
• Binof seems to have no idea of the danger she's in, or what life is like for grits and orogenes. What do people make of her privilege?
• Jemisin often uses the technique where a character works out some puzzle and just tells us that the character has solved it, without telling us the solution. (Us readers are expected to work it out, perhaps with heavy-handed clues just after). Does this technique work?
• We've not paid attention to the chapter endnotes. Have people been reading them? Do they add to the story?

And finally

• Wild speculation time: What are the needles in the socket? What formed the socket? What was Timay ranting about? What was in Timay's skull?

Syenite and Alabaster are told to wait in Allia. They speculate on the reasons why, and who poisoned Alabaster. Alabaster mentions that no-one's been able known to affect an obelisk in the past three thousand years. Alabaster implies that some node maintainers are orogenes too powerful to be controlled. They are attacked by Edki, a Guardian; he stabs Alabaster with a glass knife and disables Syenite's orogeny. Syenite draws on the obelisk's power, talks to the stone eater inside it, and the chapter ends on a cliffhanger.

Chapter 15

Essun and her gang arrive in Castrima, initially bemused by the lack of walls, consistency, and people. In a huge surprise, Hoa is revaled as a stone eater, and seems to have an antipathy to (and shares an agenda with) a stone eater resident in Castrima. There's discussion of how bad this Season will be. There's no word of Nessun and Jija. Ykka uses orogeny to calm Essun. Essun and the gang decide to stay in Castrima, at least for the moment..

Questions

• How has the relationship between Syenite and Alabater developed?

• Why is Syenite able to draw on the obelisk when other orogenes have been unable to?

• Orogeny seems to be a multi-facted ability. Is this believable?

• Essun is a woman grieving for her children and angry with her husband. Is the portrayal convincing?

Syenite demands and eventually gets some respect from the leadership of Allia. Syenite inspects the harbour and finds something unusual under the coral. After a brief discussion, the comm asks her to remove the obstuction in the harbour. She does, but her power is taken by the obelisk that is causing the blockage. The obelisk rises to float over the harbour and Syenite sees a dead stone eater trapped inside it.

Chapter 13

Tinker takes Essun and Hoa to her home. Essun surmises that Tonkee was a scholar, a geomest, at a prestigious university. Tonkee bathes and is revealed as a trans woman. The three of them continue walking south, following Nassun. They meet equatorial people and hear their stories of the Yumenes disaster. Hoa eventually loses Nassun's trail among a gathering of orogene power.

Questions

• There are universities, with scholars and engineers. They all charge large fees, but seemingly deserve then. Is that consistent with the world?

• Leadership is a caste and therefore hereditary. Does that work? It's in contrast with the seeming meritocracy of the Fulcrum.

• We see Syenite handle Allia's leadership. Does she do it well? Is she better or worse than Alabaster? Does it seem in or out of character for Synenite?

• What are the obelisks?

• Does Tonkee have any motive to join Essun and Hoa other than curiosity?

• What does Hoa detect, and what does the gathering mean? As a reader, are you interested?

Another hint about Essun's complex past, but she decides her love for Nassun means she has to stay who she is. Essun and Hoa flee the roadhouse in the night, rather than get involved in the fight that breaks out. They return in the morning, Essun confident in her orogeny to keep them safe. They have a wary but friendly encounter with a commless geomest. Hoa is attacked by a feral kirkhusa; Hoa turns it to stone, saying he didn't want to reveal that ability "yet." They continue south, with the commless woman.

Chapter 11

Damaya settles in to life as a grit in Fulcrum. Maxixe, another grit, sits with her for lunch. Following that, Damaya is bullied. Damaya enlists the help of Crack to find out who's behind it. This exposes a secret trade in shoes, alcohol, sexual favours, and letters home. Maxixe has his hands broken, Jasper is exiled, and Crack is disappeared.

Questions

• The roadhouse encounter between Essun and the commless woman: does this ring true as something that would happen in an unfolding apocalypse?
• Ch 10 reinforces @Apocryphal 's idea that these chapters are the gathering of a superhero team. Who is the commless geomest, and what are her powers?
• The kirkhusa is another instance where Jemisin describes the unusual without describing the normal. (There could have been descriptions of pet kirkhusas in Tirimo; Essun could have had one.) Is the technique still effective?
• There's a throwaway mention of one of the grits being a boy without a penis. Any thoughts on this?
• Is it plausible how Damaya deals with the bullying, and the outcomes of it?
• Is there any speculation about Crack's fate?

Syenite and Alabaster travel to Allia. The subject of "node maintainers" comes up, orogenes that stop earthquakes around their base. The node maintainers are orogenes who failed training. Alabaster comments that stonelore wasn't as fixed in the past as it is now, and suggests society can be different; Syenite doesn't see how. Alabaster quells a massive quake, harnessing Syenite's power to do so (something supposedly impossible). They visit the node maintainer that set off the quake. The surrounding area isn't as devastated as Syenite thinks it should be, but everyone is dead inside the compound. Alabaster describes how node maintainers are surgically maimed to use their orogeny instinctively, then sedated. Alabaster says that children of orogenes without orogeny become Guardians.

Interlude

We're invited to think about what's missing from the world, and given some examples.

Chapter 9

Syenite and Alabaster arrive in Allia. They're met by Asael, a minor functionary in the comm's leadership. Alabaster takes offence at the slight. Alabaster says his orogeny overwhelms his need to eat. Alabaster's food is poisoned. He uses Syenite again to extract the poison from his system; there's confusing description about falling upwards. Alabaster says something about parallel scaling and quotes from a stonelore table that supposedly doesn't exist.

Questions

• We've seen Alabaster do lots of things that are supposedly unusual for an orogene. But we've not seen what's "usual" (apart from Essun destroying Tirimo), and we've only Syneite's word for how unusual they are. Does this technique work?
• Stepping outside the narrative, how does the episode with the node maintainer connect to the themes of the book?
• What are Alabaster's motivations in explaining all this to Syenite? Do you think he would do the same for all the orogenes he mentors, or is Syenite something different?
• In the interlude, we're invited to spot what's missing. What is it?
• Technology: there's electric lights, telegraphs, and asphalt, but no power sources we've seen other than muscle. Is the technology consistent?

Damaya shows an awareness of geologic instability, and her attention to it disturbs Schaffa. Schaffa tells a story about the origin of the Guardians, including some exposition about how orogene powers work. When Damaya wants to assert her responsibility, Schaffa breaks her hand as a test of her self control. (Remember the trainee in Syenite's chapter, with a bandaged hand?) Schaffa says he loves Damaya.

Chapter 7

Essun continues on the road for a bit. Hoa becomes more of an enigma as Essun considers him. He doesn't seem to act his age. He says nothing of his past. He has no possessions, not even clothes, apart from a bundle of something. He doesn't know what soap is. He looks like no other person Essun has seen. And he seems to know where Essun's daughter is.

Questions

• What do people make of the relationship between Schaffa and Damaya?
• There's been a lot of exposition in the past few chapters. Has that been handled well?
• Are you convinced by the portrayal of Essun as a grieving mother?
• Random speculation time: who or what is Hoa?

A chapter set in the Fulcrum, the home of the official orogenes. Syenite has an elliptical conversation with her boss, Feldspar. Syenite is being ordered to become pregnant by a senior orogene. Alabaster, the senior, is as unhappy about all this as Syenite, but both eventually follow their orders. They're being sent to do something with a coral reef in the harbour of Alliia, about a month's travel from Fulcrum.

This chapter is set in the Fulcrum, in Yumenes, which as destroyed in the prologue. We learn that there are different ranks of orogene, signalled by different numbers of rings on fingers. Increases in rank seem to come with increases in power, control, and behavioural reliability. We also learn that most orogenes are the children of Fulcrum orogenes, only a few, like Syenite, are "feral".

Chapter 5

Back to Essun. She's on the road, looking for Jija and Nessun. We get a bit of slice-of-life on the road, and hints that things will soon become very desperate and dangerous outside a comm. One night, she's visited by Hoa, a boy of about six or seven. Essun lets him sleep on her bedroll. The chapter postscript mentions non-human intelligences.

Questions

*In Fulcrum, the orogenes seem to have a lot of self-determination. It's a rigid order, but it's one that seems to be operated by orogenes. Does this mesh with the prejudice we've seen in the previous chapters?

• Is Syenite's "suggestion" to have a child by Alabaster a sign of acceptance by the order, a punishment, or a loyalty test?

• Skin tones: what colour skin do you imagine for the characters we've met in the books?

• Who is Hoa?

• And a meta-question: is it helpful to have these questions? Does it steer the conversation too much? Would you miss them if they went away?

Chapter 3
Essun is overcome with grief and decides to leave Tirimo, seeking Jija; she's not sure whether she'll ask him about Nessun before killing him. Rask, the headman, agrees to give Essun a gate pass and reveals that Nessun was alive when she and Jija left. Rask escorts Essun to the gate, some of the villagers try to kill her, and Essun reveals her orogene powers. In her rage over Uche, she destroys most of the town and kills many of the inhabitants. 

• In chapter 2, the narration changes to the more standard third person, but back to second person for chapter 3. Is the narration still "too cool for school"? Is that an impediment, or something you could get used to?

• We see more of the prejudice against orogenes, and some of why that fear might be justified. We also see people without the prejudice. Does the prejudice seem reasonable in this world? Do the non-prejudiced have compelling reasons for their lack of prejudice?

Essun with her dead son, ending her world. And the world outside ended the day before. Neither is new for her. A boy-like person emerges from a geode.
And this is the last time the world ends.

Some worldbuilding keywords: stonelore, stone eaters, sessapinae (sense organs), obelisks, Father Earth. The man who destroys the world contacts his fellow slaves.

Chapter 1
Essun is grieving for Uche, her dead son. She stopped the Yumenes earthquake destroying the town, but didn't save the nearby town of Sume. Essun is an orogene (earthquake controller), as is Uche. Orogenes are hated, nicknamed "roggas". The townsfolk think it reasonable that Jija killed his son, Uche, because Uche was a rogga. Lerna, the doctor educated elsewhere, doesn't share this prejudice. Essun decides to leave Tirimo.

Questions: do you get a sense of place of Tirimo? Does the author do enough to show you what the place and people were like before the Yumenes disaster? Does it matter that you have little context for the events in these two chapters, and what they mean? Is this hampering or heightening your enthusiasm for the book?

I suggest new readers don't read the appendices yet, or perhaps at all until the end of the book. I enjoyed discovering the world as it unfolded through the story.