What a great conclusion to the trilogy. This book was definitely the most ambitious of the three; Jemisin succeeded in pulling an awesome, gripping prequel plot line into the story, that helped round out the plot vey nicely.

Lots of story elements that were flung into the first book — and which I thought would remain unanswered questions — were brought together in this conclusion. very satisfying.

The Stone Sky gravitates around the theme of exploitation of the earth and the exploitation of humans. In the first book, it feels jarring that the Earth is referred to as “Evil Earth” and portrayed as vengeful. But, in this book, with the tales of extractive former civilizations, the fury of the Earth feels absolutely warranted, and the punishment it wreaks on humanity makes sense.

The author brings in & plays with themes relating to human justice: climate change, forced labor, luxury, energy, revenge, etc. These themes interact with the characters, with the plot, and with each other, but Jemisin resists the temptation to draw a hard moral line around any one idea or argument. I really like this. It’s left me with lots to think about.