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The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, 2)
N. K. Jemisin
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Essun's missing daughter grows more powerful every day, and her choices may destroy the world in this “magnificent” Hugo Award winner and NYT Notable Book. (NPR).
The season of endings grows darker, as civilization fades into the long cold night. Essun—once Damaya, once Syenite, now avenger—has found shelter, but not her daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world, with a request.
But if Essun does what he asks, it would seal the fate of the Stillness forever. Far away, her daughter Nassun is growing in power—and her choices will break the world.
N. K. Jemisin's award winning trilogy continues in the sequel to The Fifth Season.
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Posts about this title from Boundless Press
Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Apr 15 2025
POV: the books are less than $10 so you have to buy them all 😭 a book haul
I should not be allowed near a bookstore.
15 books
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Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Feb 6 2025
finishing every book series I'm in the middle of | my series TBR for 2025
What should I read for the first vlog?? 👀
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Posts about this book from across Bindery
The Alchemist Society\ \ Shay\ \ • Sep 10 2025
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August Reading Wrap Up: 9 Books (Not IG being like “yOuR vIdEo Is OvEr 3 MiNuTeS…. bLaH bLaH bLaH” •The Obelisk Gate by N.K Jemisen •The Stone Sky by N.K Jemisen •Swift and Saddled by Lyla Sage •House of the Beast by Michelle Wong •Bog Queen by Ana North •Our Memories Do Not Belong To Us by Yiming Ma • The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno Garcia •The Last Ballad of Hope by Phillip C Quaintrell • A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik #books #bookish #bookstagram #reading #readingwrapup #augustreadingwrapup #bookworm
9 books
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Apr 19 2025
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honestly rude that these aren’t the most popular books in the whole world, y’know?
📚 books mentioned: - The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin - The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin - The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
#sffbooks #scifibooks #fantasybooks #bestfantasybooks #bestscifibooks #thebrokenearth #thebrokenearthtrilogy #thefifthseason #nkjemisin #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #bookstagram @orbitbooks_us @hachetteus
3 books
Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Apr 15 2025
POV: the books are less than $10 so you have to buy them all 😭 a book haul
I should not be allowed near a bookstore.
15 books
7
Left Unread Books\ \ Michael LaBorn\ \ • Apr 6 2025
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Authors, I want to publish your books!
Pitchfest starts in three days and I am VERY determined to find our next publication! So, to help you help us both, here is a detailed look at exactly what I'm looking for.
18 books
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Left Unread Books\ \ Michael LaBorn\ \ • Mar 24 2025
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Authors: It is Pitchfest time! Bring me your books!
There is another Pitchfest quickly approaching and I want to make sure you have all of the information you need to participate! So authors, check this out for a list of the type of manuscripts I am looking for! And good luck everyone!!!
24 books
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Left Unread Books\ \ Michael LaBorn\ \ • Feb 17 2025
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Black Authors Who I Think History Will Remember
I started this post as a Bluesky thread a few days ago, but I realized I needed more space than a social media post would allow. So here are some of my favorite Black authors! Enjoy!!!
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Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Feb 6 2025
finishing every book series I'm in the middle of | my series TBR for 2025
What should I read for the first vlog?? 👀
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Left Unread Books\ \ Michael LaBorn\ \ • Jan 6 2025
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Writing From The Human Experience
Witnessing violence, while eye-opening, is not enough to really incentivize people to pursue change. They also have to see the humanity of the people experiencing that violence. And that needs to be reflected in our writing.
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Left Unread Books\ \ Michael LaBorn\ \ • Dec 19 2024
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Octavia Butler saw Elon Musk coming, and we need to talk about it!
Let's talk about company towns and how the great Ms Octavia Butler was an oracle for our (being Black people) ancestors.
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Left Unread Books\ \ Michael LaBorn\ \ • Nov 26 2024
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How white authors are ruining dystopian literature
I am being criticized again for asking white authors not to erase Black people in their stories. So... let's talk about it. What is the point of dystopian literature and how are white authors failing us all?
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Left Unread Books\ \ Michael LaBorn\ \ • Nov 24 2024
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Review: Broken Earth by NK Jemisin
NK Jemisin is one of the most dynamic and important writers of our time. And her series--The Broken Earth Trilogy--is perhaps one of the most important stories you could read as people on a planet we are actively destroying. This book broke my brain in the same way that Parable of the Sower, Kindred and Tender is the Flesh did. I couldn't recommend it more. Click the photo below to read more, and make sure to check out the link I posted for the special editions shown below!
4 books
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Left Unread Books\ \ Michael LaBorn\ \ • Aug 16 2024
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[As you know, I have been searching for the perfect manuscript to be our first Left Unread book! And I have been STRUGGLING. Over the last month, I have read SO many incredible books. I read a chapter from each of the 30+ books submitted to us through the Pitchfest and the 10+ agented books that I found interesting. And out of all of those books, I've come across 13 total that I thought had potential to be the kind of story I am looking for.\ \ So I have been BUSY for the last month, reading through manuscripts, searching for the PERFECT manuscript. And honestly, a lot of these books really spoke to me, for various reasons. Some of them for the incredible writing, some of them for the ambitious storylines or the dynamic characters, etc. I feel so privileged because I've been able to spend the last five weeks reading some truly incredible authors. But I was struggling, because while many of them were really good books, they just weren't the very specific thing I am looking for. And honestly, I was getting a little discouraged over the last week, wondering if I was even going to find one! Because while many of them interest me, and I think would do well in my hands, I really really wanted our FIRST publication to have some really big conversations. That has been the mark of my content. Books that say something challenging about the world. And I wanted that for our first one! Something dystopian or a fantasy that was heavy on the dismantling of systemic oppression.\ \ And don't get me wrong, that's not ALL I want to publish. I am very open to publishing a wide variety of stories. But I wanted the first one to really dive into some of the themes I built this community talking about! (And some of these books did that on a smaller scale, which is fine! I am not diminishing those stories or saying they don't say important things.).\ \ I found one during pitchfest that really did what I was looking for, but after speaking to the author, it seemed a better fit to pursue for a later publication! (Which, no promises there, but at this point, I am very eager to figure out a timetable with that author so that we can stamp the Left Unread seal on it--meaning Snow White Burns the Patriarchy, of course). But that left me without a sure manuscript for the 2025 Fall season.\ \ Well...the one I just read is a strong contender. So let's talk about it:\ \ This is a dual POV fantasy, following three women in a small nation that has spent the better part of a century fighting for it's independence from a larger aggressor:\ \
- One of them is a warrior who was taken as a child from a neighboring nation and raised to be a soldier in the Queen's war for independence. She is a ruthless warrior who is not only accomplished in battle, but has built her entire identity around her ability to kill for a Queen who robbed her of her own family, home and culture. She has no public name of her own, no identity outside of her service, and is forced to wear a mask at all times to ensure anonymity and conformity.\
- The second POV is a more senior member of that warrior sect who, despite being a second-class servant as well, has somehow risen to one of the highest positions in the nation as advisor to the Queen. She is fighting between advocating for her people and fighting to distance herself from the shame of being one of them. Her entire life is about nudging the Queen in the right direction while helping her to oppress her own people for a kingdom none of them are quite allowed to exist in.\
- And the third POV is a small child who is rescued from their larger oppressor because of her potential for supernatural power. She knows there is a chance that, if her power ends up being unhelpful, she will be left for dead. But if it ends up being helpful...she will be turned into a weapon just like everyone else under the Queen's rule. Because at the end of the day, her only value is as an asset in a war that has nothing to do with her.\ \ This story follows these women as they pursue their own aims, while their stories interconnect and weave together a tale about colonization, oppression, and the perpetual victimhood of the people under empire, regardless of empire's aims. While reading this story, I found myself wrestling with questions about freedom, oppression, and the concept of empire. Because in the hands of empire, even liberation is a weapon against the oppressed. This book had me unsure who the good guys are, who the bad guys are, and what it means to truly be free.\ \ I took plenty of notes on areas where I thought the story could expand, grow and develop, but overall, this story was masterfully told. And my brain is already churning out all of the incredible conversations that I could have with this story!\ \ Here are some of the comparisons I drew as I read:\ \
- Watching our characters be reduced to their service to empire reminded me a lot of the primary conversation happening in The Name Bearer by Natalia Hernandez. Throughout that series, we are following a young woman who was taken by her family and stripped of everything that made her her own person. She has no family, no home, no posessions...not even her own name. She exists only to fulfill her role to empire. And that is a major theme in this story. No one--not even the Queen--has real atonomy. Everyone exists as a pawn in the all-consuming fire of empire.\
- Engaging with our FMC's reminded me a lot of the way NK Jemisin navigated The Broken Earth series. We know early on what players hold power in this kingdom, what their aims are, and just how hopeless its people are. We are watching as they suffer, hoping with them as they fight against the system...while knowing just how little chance they have of actual escape. It reminded me of the absolute hopelessness of Jemisin's characters, and just how desperate they had to get to actually get freedom within reach.\
- One of the things that impacted me most about The Poppy War series by RF Kuang was just how willing Kuang was to confront us with the horror of war. She never asked us to focus solely on the powerful. She let us see as the common folk suffered under the weight of war. This book does that as well. We are not just watching our main characters fight in a war. We are seeing the effect their war has on the people who have no power to fight for themselves. And i find that so powerful. Because that is the position our readers are in in the real world.\ \ One of the things that makes me hesitate is that it is a duology. The book had a very strong conclusion to this story, but it opened the door to a massive development that I am VERY CURIOUS ABOUT. But I would want to know where the second half of the story is going before I could really commit to it. Because colonization and oppression are massive conversations. I would hate to commit to a story this ambitious and then find out later its heading in a direction that I couldn't co-sign. But based on THIS story, I'm not too concerned about that. (I have asked our team to reach out for some clarity there so we can make an informed decision).\ \ Let me know what you think about what I've shared in the comments below, and over on discord!\ \ I am very interested in both of the stories mentioned here, and if our stars are aligned, we could absolutely release this story in Fall of 2025, and then have just as strong of a follow up with Snow White Burns Down the Patriarchy in Sping of 2026. (Don't quote me on that, because obviously neither author has actually signed on. I am dreaming here, not announcing how things will go.)\ \ But yeah...I am pretty interested in that thought. Putting out two very strong female driven stories back to back, written by women of color who have a lot to say about challening empire? Kinda a good vibe, right?\ \ Let me know what you think. Like I said, there are some others I would be interested in the future I think. Some, as is. Some, contingent on some redirection. But here is where I am looking for our debut and second launch...assuming both authors are interested.\ \ I am not SOLD yet. But I could be. How do y'all feel about these two stories? Would you be in for helping me chamption two strong FMC stories in a row? Or should we keep looking? It's really not the end of the world if we don't find something immediately. Agents will continue submitting manuscripts, and there will be future pitchfests as well! We can take our time if the stories we have in front of us aren't speaking to us!\ \ Share your thoughts and ask your questions! Let's talk this out for real! I meant it when I said I want to do this together. I don't want to make a decision without considering your thoughts and ideas!!!\ \ \ \ \ \ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/Kp1hHIcCwwhlKKRAM9W8/)
Publishing Update: Finger's Crossed... we might have something here!!!
I am feeling really really good about the manuscript I just finished reading this morning and I wanna talk about it! Click down below to read about this manuscript and what next steps may look like...because this might be it, y'all!!! So make sure you engage. I want us to talk this out as a community!!!
10 books
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Left Unread Books\ \ Michael LaBorn\ \ • Dec 18 2023
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Black and brown dystopian recommendations
#BookTok #blackbooktok #bipocauthors #readwithmichael #writewithmichael #octaviabutler #brokenearth #marrowthieves
8 books
Fantasy & Frens\ \ Zoranne\ \ • Dec 6 2023
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complete fantasy series recommendations i think are worth reading (or worth gifting)! if you have read any of these books, let me know what you think! ◡̈ books mentioned: - the faithful and the fallen quartet by john gwynne - the broken earth trilogy by n. k. jemisin - the shepard king duology by rachel gillig - the farseer trilogy by robin hobb - shades of magic trilogy by v. e. schwab #fantasyseriesrec #fantasyseries #epicfantasybooks #zorannereads
15 books
Fantasy & Frens\ \ Zoranne\ \ • Dec 15 2022
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book series the reader in your life NEEDS! #fantasyseries #brandonsandersonbooks #prioryoftheorangetree #fantasybookrecs
13 books