Book Club Guide

The Stone Sky

by N. K. Jemisin · 2017 · Science Fiction

Key themes

Mother and daughter on opposite sides of an unimaginable choice
The deep history of the Stillness — and who caused the apocalypses
Completing a trilogy that rewrote what epic fantasy could be about

About this book

The concluding volume of the Broken Earth trilogy brings Essun and her daughter Nassun toward an inevitable confrontation over the fate of a world wracked by recurring apocalypses — and reveals the deep history of the Stillness and the Obelisk Gate. Jemisin's trilogy made history as the only series to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel three years running, with this final volume completing one of the most acclaimed achievements in contemporary fantasy.

Published in 2017, The Stone Sky won the Hugo and Nebula Awards, completing the Broken Earth trilogy — the only trilogy to win the Hugo for Best Novel in three consecutive years (2016, 2017, 2018). Jemisin has described the series as a response to the genre's historical lack of attention to systemic oppression.

Discussion questions

Essun and Nassun are heading toward a confrontation that could end or save the world — and they want opposite things. How does Jemisin develop this central conflict — and does the novel ask you to take a side?
The Stone Sky reveals the deep history behind the Stillness's repeated apocalypses. How does this revelation reframe everything in the first two books — and does the explanation satisfy?
The Broken Earth trilogy uses the apocalyptic genre to explore systemic oppression — orogenes as an enslaved and feared underclass. How does The Stone Sky develop this allegory to its conclusion?
Jemisin won the Hugo Award for Best Novel three years running with this trilogy — the only writer to do so. What does The Stone Sky do that completes this unprecedented achievement?
The trilogy's prose includes second-person narration in places. How does this formal choice function in the final volume — and what does it ask of the reader?