The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 4 January 2021
by N. K. Jemisin
Global climate change is an ongoing and accelerating catastrophe that seeks drastic and inventive solutions. (Will we get there before it is way too late? Unlikely. The world will be different, but it surely won't end. Will it?) For some, the solution is technological. We can supposedly build our way out of this mess, develop and continue to grow. One such concept is geoengineering, the notion that we can transform large elements of the environment to un-do the damage done by our unintentional and destructive geoengineering up to this point. Nuke the hurricanes, block out the sun with orbiting clouds of debris, bury CO2 in the ground, alter the very fundamentals of the planet's systems. Hey, what could go wrong? Indeed, one can imagine certain geoengieering technologies turned against the Earth as much as for it. How do you control such a thing? How do you put that genie back in its bottle? What do you do if geoengineering could be done by individuals holding strange superpowers connected to the Earth's tectonic energy? That's where this novel comes in.
N.K. Jemisin imagines a planet on which tectonic forces are far less stable than humans are familar with. The ground itself is jittery, given to shakes of varying magnitude on a daily basis. At irregular intervals, a planet-wide catastrophe is brought about by tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes, suddent tectonic shifts. There is one great continent, the Stillness, that within human record was once several continents. There is a long lore of what have become known as Fifth Seasons, a period of environmental catastrophe that human civilization must endure. As a result, the civilization itself cannot develop and grow beyond a certain point. It is too regularly set back upon itself. So in this fragmented planet, some places have electricity, some don't. People travel by horseback on long finely engineered roads. They communicate via telegraph. But there are hints of more advanced technology that hasn't survived. It is an artwork of great imagination to envision this world, let alone its causes and solutions.
And so, there is also a species of human that has the superpower of calling upon and manipulating the Earth's energy. These orogenes can quell earthquakes or summon them. They can freeze an adversary solid. They can stop a tsunami. But they're also just people. As children they can only barely control this power. As adults they can help keep the land stable, or they can call forth a civilization-ending disaster. As a result, they aren't allowed to just run free. Orogenes keep themselves quiet or they are turned over to the Fulcrum for education and control. Those who can't or won't control themselves are killed. Their humanity is denied. They are servants to the greater empire. A rebellion of orogenes can end everything.
Jemisin's novel follows three stories of orogenes in different stages of their lives. One is called to the Fulcrum. One is in hiding and searching for her murderous partner after a great catastrophe over the horizon. Another is on an adventure to a coastal city needing tectonic servicing. How these three tie together would be revealing too much, as would how this Earth is connected to our own. This is a highly imaginative story, a whole world re-invented and yet tied to realities that humans face today. There are questions of power and identity, the purposes of civilization and history. There are narrative excesses here, as the story veers toward fantasy perhaps a little far for this reader's taste. But there is narrative invention here that stretches the genre. Voice shifts, time is bent. Past present and future are blended into a whirling mass of flying stone. This is the first of the Broken Earth trilogy. It sets up the universe we are traveling in with its author. It suggests that what's to come may veer into darkness, if you care to explore further.
(For this book, Jemisin was awarded the 2016 Hugo award for best novel. The following two books in the series, The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky, also both won the award.)