prejudice

The Obelisk Gate

Posted on November 2, 2016

Novel Ideas apologizes for the delay, but we return with a new episode on N.K. Jemisin’s The Obelisk Gate. This novel is the sequel to The Fifth Season, the Hugo award winner and a Novel Ideas favorite. We should warn you going in, since this is a recent publication, this episode is chock full of spoilers. In addition to spoilers, we also cover Chosen One plots, dark elements, shades of gray, and family. We also talk about how this story is not Harry Potter, adorable monsters, the importance of the moon, and how none of these characters are actually Gandalf.

The music bump is “The Unanswered Question” by Charles Ives in honor of all of the questions from the first book that were answered with more questions in the second book.

108 – The Obelisk Gate – Sympathetic Murderers

Our rating: A worthy follow up to the original with excellent depth of world building and characterization.

Ben: 10/10. I love the world building and the characters and anything else I forgot to mention.

Gabs: 9/10 moons. Darkness is slightly less shocking the second time around, but the complexity is great.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged adorable monster, answering questions with questions, Chosen One plot, complexity, darkness, Evil Earth, excellent characters, family, helping others v. helping yourself, listener Alex, listener feedback, N.K. Jemisin, not Gandalf, not Harry Potter, Novel Ideas meta-podcast, omg spoilers, oppressing the oppressors?, prejudice, protagonist traits, second person narration, shades of gray, spoilers, survival ethics, sympathetic murderers, The Obelisk Gate, throwing the moon away, trials of podcasting, trust, world building, wtf guardians, wtf Stone Eaters, zomfg spoilers.

Binti

Posted on June 15, 2016 Updated on June 15, 2016

Novel Ideas returns with Binti by Nnedi Okorafor, the winner of the Nebula award in the novella category this year. In this episode, we discuss empathy, outsider perspectives, colonialism, and forgiveness. We also talk about the lack of snark, kindergarten level thinking, adult hair touching, and not being a hater.

The music bump is “All is Forgiven” by the Jellyfish, which is thematically appropriate in at least two ways.

106 – Binti – Angry Young Jellyfish at Space Harvard

Our review: Good to very good, a very simply told story. Gabs would like for the story to be more fleshed out, but nothing that is necessary is omitted. No ratings this time because I forgot to get one from Gabs before she disappeared into the wilderness for the month.

Since this is a recent publication, be mindful of our spoiler policy. Short version: we spoil everything.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged adult hair grabbing, alternate history, angry young jellyfish man, averted romance, award nominees, award winners, Binti, climactic courtroom scene, colonialism, communication, cultural context, cycle of violence, discrimination, don't be a hater, empathy, forgiveness as a space saver, Himba people, IN SPACE, Khoush, kindergarten, MATH, middle grade, Nnedi Okorafor, no snark gene, novella, organic tech, otjize, outsider perspective, plucky YA protagonist, prejudice, Queen of Podcasts, sacrifice, simple style, small cast, space professors at space Harvard, technical difficulties, treeing.