Stuff I've Read/Watched in January

11.01.2026

Books

N.K. Jemisin - The Obelisk Gate & The Stone Sky
★★★★☆ & ★★★★⯪

These are book two and three in N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy (the first one, The Fifth Season, I read in December and rated five stars). This trilogy takes place in the Stillness, a continent defined by rapid (in geological timelines) geological change: frequent devestating earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and other environmental disasters lead to frequent "Seasons": periods of environmental hostility (due to ashfall or acid rain or poisoned air, etc etc - the Stillness features a wide variety of environmental hazards). The entire society of the Stillness is organized around preparing for survival during these Seasons.
In the Stillness, some people are born with the ability to sense and manipulate the kinetic and potential energy of the earth; these people are known as orogenes. They are extremely useful, but also extremely dangerous - and so they are often killed when their powers manifest or, if not, brought to the "Fulcrum" where they are trained and under the constant control of the mysterious Guardians.
The Fifth Season lets us know in the prologue: "This is the way the world ends. For the last time." An extremely powerful orogene rips open a fault line along the equator, spanning the entire width of the continent; the resulting eruptions release enough ash for a thousand-year long winter. At the same time, Essun - an orogene living in hiding in a small village - comes home to see that her husband has murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. This is a story about the end of the world, but it is mostly a story about other things: Motherhood, exploitation, dehumanization, grief.
All three of these books won the Hugo and it's not hard to see why: They are really, really good. Jemisin's prose is beautiful (and makes beautiful use of second-person narration). The world building is grounded and yet different from anything else I've read in recent fantasy; the world is deep and complex. However, I think Jemisin's true strength lies in her character work: Essun and her daughter are the heart of these novels and deep and wonderfully layered, as is their relationship to each other. Alabaster - a secondary character - and Essun have my favorite relationship in anything in a long, long time. (Unfortunately, some of the other side characters lack depth.)
The Obelisk Gate suffers a little bit from middle-book syndrom in the sense that it spents a lot of time setting things up and explaining lore; The Stone Sky is much better about this and is only not a five-star book because one plotline in it (The War) is convoluted and confusing. The heart of these novels are, to me, Essun and her daughter, and the way this story is resolved is beautiful. A strong recommendation for anyone who likes speculative fiction & books that are not afraid to look at the ugly sides of characters.

Ursula K. Le Guin - The Word for World is Forest
★★★★☆

In The Word for World is Forest, the Terrans are colonizing a planet whose name in the local language simply means Forest (hence the title). The entire landmass of this planet is covered by forest, which makes it very valuable to the Terrans, who have essentially eradicated trees on their home planet. The local people - the Athsheans - are completely non-aggressive and suffer from the Terran's violence until one Athshean decides to lead a resistance against the Terrans. But the Athsheans, who so far have not known violence against men, are left changed by the Terrans' violence forever.
The Word for World is Forest was written during the Vietnam war, which it is clearly referencing, although its main themes - colonization, pacifism, and environmental destruction - are still relevant today. The novella is indeed very determined to get its message across and, in the context, sacrifices character complexity. This is understandable considering the context in which the novella was written (my edition included an introduction by Le Guin, which was very welcome!) and also the fact that it is quite short, but it does keep it from being a five-star-read.

Movies

Knives Out & Glass Onion & Wake Up Dead Man
★★★★☆ & ★★★⯨☆ & ★★★★★

We've all heard of these movies, right? I've finally been convinced to watch them by gif sets of a hot priest and I figured I'd watch them in order (which you don't really have to do because, but they're all fun, so there's no harm in it either!)
This is a franchise of whodunit murder misteries connected by private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), who is gay and mildly eccentric and wonderful. I think all of these immediately are rated like half a star higher because I love an eccentric detective crime shows and the vibe is somewhat similar, except there's less cops (awesome!). These movies all have great cinematography, lighting, and acting; the writing is clever and tight and funny; all of the mysteries are satisfying and just the right amount of guessable (which means: all the clues are there for you on screen, but you don't notice them until it all comes together). All of these movies are also a satire and/or critique of a societal issue; Knives Out deals with wealth disparities and immigration; Glass Onion is about Billionaires; Wake Up Dead Man investigates radicalization, Christianity, and misogyny in the church.
In Knives Out, a rich old man is found with his throat slit the day after his birthday party, where his family, his housekeeper, and his nurse were in attendance - and Benoit Blanc is invited to the scene anonymously for reason unbeknownst even to him. This movie has the strongest mystery and is generally a strong introduction.