Warning: This article contains spoilers about the Broken Earth trilogy.
If the Earth were conscious, then surely it would despise us by now.
But one reason thatN.K.
Broken Earth’s map is of an Earth with a single continent called the Stillness.
It’s a hard land, buffeted by consistent shakes and recurring catastrophes.
Uncovering their purpose is a major part of Essun’s journey.
Her eyes don’t move.
She might as well be the statue she gives the impression of.
Thin, its limbs atrophied.
Hatred of orogenes goes even beyond that.
Remember those concentric circles?
If they don’t obey, there’s always a wire chair to send them to.
Syenite’s reply is immediate and unbending: “There isn’t.”
What do we really mean, after all, when we talk about destroying the world?
But if the planet survives, and the human race survives, then what has ended?
Perhaps just an old way of doing things.
No one ever said change would be easy.
