In the ice, east of the Black Rock, there is a hole into which broken children are thrown.
On Abeth the vastness of the ice holds no room for individuals. Survival together is barely possible. No one survives alone.
To resist the cold, to endure the months of night when even the air itself begins to freeze, requires a special breed. Variation is dangerous, difference is fatal. And Yaz is not the same.
Yaz is torn from the only life she’s ever known, away from her family, from the boy she thought she would spend her days with, and has to carve out a new path for herself in a world whose existence she never suspected. A world full of difference and mystery and danger.
Yaz learns that Abeth is older and stranger than she had ever imagined. She learns that her weaknesses are another kind of strength. And she learns to challenge the cruel arithmetic of survival that has always governed her people.
Only when it’s darkest you can see the stars.
The Review:
That ending has me in a tailspin. This is one of those books that I had to force myself not to read in a single sitting because I wanted to savor it. That's the most frustrating kind of book in my opinion, because you simultaneously have to crush the urge to keep going and to stop when all I wanted to do was have this story go on and on into infinity. Then again, that seems to be a pattern for me with Mark Lawrence's world of Abeth. I LOVE how fantasy and sci-fi is mashed together and it just...WORKS. Usually, I'd say that the fantasy is the best part of a book, but in this case...they are both interesting parts of the world's history. I'll admit that I wasn't really sure WHEN this takes place in comparison to Nona's story, but I think I have it all figured out as far as the timelines go. (But who really knows, I'm completely ready to have the wool pulled over my eyes when it comes to Lawrence's novels.)
I will say, I think I'd be more likely to be friends with Yaz than Nona, but I love Nona forever until eternity. I hate to compare the two, but since it's the same world, I feel inclined to. They are quite different, and for good reason. Yaz has to consider the obstacles before she can react, not being careful and considerate could spell death on the ice. Nona would rather rush in, consequences be dammed. I'm not sure how to feel about Zeen. On the one hand, I feel for him but I'm also BEYOND frustrated that he seems to need his big sis to rescue him so frequently. Don't get me started on Erris. I adore him. Hurt him and I'll be in my room playing doom and gloom tunes for a year. This is weird commentary, but I adore how Lawrence names the characters and places in his books. Most of the time they are quite unique. Does this add or take anything away from how I feel about them? Not necessarily, but it is something random that I enjoy.
The world building is as expected, amazing and no detail is spared. It makes reading Lawrence's novel more like an out-of-body-experience than "watching a movie in my head," if that makes sense. It's quite lovely and refreshing but DOES admittedly take a bit to recover and snap back into the real world or another book. This was the perfect read for the heavy snows in Maryland we've had. Honestly, I don't think I could have chosen a better story to vibe with the weather than this one. I'm also pretty sure I'm a quantal because I coincidentally had a panic attack while in the process of reading, and "touching the path" is about the best dang metaphor for what they feel like than I could ever think of. If you know, you know. The premise of the story sucked me right in. I do kind of wish we could have seen more about Yaz's life on the ice and gotten to know more about how life works beneath it. I felt the details there were a bit lacking, but not totally. I mean, you get to know lots of people I just wish Yaz had had time to really make deep connections and learn how these people have managed to sustain themselves and their own culture that has been born. The same goes with the tainted; I just want to know more about them, but I have a feeling that is going to happen in the next installment. These things are merely commentary more than criticism, however; I had plenty of information and there is no flaw in how much Mark does reveal, I'm simply so curious about this world that I want all the details possible and uncover all of the mysteries that undoubtedly exist. In a way, I kind of feel like being an architect of Abeth to figure out what happened exactly and how these people and fauna and flora inhabit it and who the people were before they left. There's a particular scene where Yaz is seeing the environment the way it was in the past that only further heightened this need to dig deep into the bones of the world. I can't really explain it any other way than I feel the same way reading about the history of Abeth as I do watching Indiana Jones.
4 out of 5 stars and it's going onto my favorites list because how could it not? Now the wait for the sequel begins and I pray to the gods of the sky for all the patience they can afford me. READ THIS BOOK!!!!!
