Blurb: (From Book 1) This is the way the world ends. Again.
Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze -- the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years -- collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.
Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She'll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.
Review: Cool concept and great plot-threads in the first book. The magic system was inventive and the cast of characters interesting. The series does a proper good job of managing multiple story lines, often of stories that knowingly won't intersect for a long time. The setting's also great, with a post-apocalyptic environment that is headed for a round two.
This one wasn't originally going to be a recommend..... It for me lies somewhere pretty near the cusp of 'acceptable'. After trying to justify why though, I feel like there's more good associated memories with this book than I anticipated. In addition, the complaints I had aren't really major, and often not even complaints. So it'll get a recommend with a small warning. This series isn't bad, but at-least for me, it isn't associated with any greatness either. It was memorable however, and I definitely don't regret having read it.