NK Jemisin. You. Are simply. The best at what you do. I see now you were a master at your craft from the beginning, only to get better as time passes.

This book will give you everything and more. Love is a weapon and a tool, and a right of respect for all beings. These nuances are portrayed. Corruption is flawed and absolute, while it does not manifest the same across all beings. These nuances are explained. Holiness and depravity are distinct yet subjective, depending on who is considered holy and whoever else is not. That is one of the themes and messages, yet not the only one.

A running subtheme of the flaws, violence, and fallibility of men (and by men, I mean dudes with dickheads and egos). The male species is diverse and vibrant in this story, and yet reflective and why and how women are wary of men. Jemisin does not portray all men in this book as villains, but shines a light into the characteristics and habits in all men, and why distrust is natural with them.

And the reality of women, be they heroes or villains (because the men are the sideshows in this tale, remember. The protagonists and antagonists, the ones who drive the story, are the women after all). Jemisin made sure to portray her main actors to be either complex in their imperfections, or absolute villains in who they are. Nothing that is rooted in apparent assumptions who how women act or are, only that they are deeply human in their decisions and reality. That's not to say this is somehow novel, only that Jemisin writes this truth in a way many (male) authors fail to do so. I say this as a man, aware of my own flaws and imperfections, and I can only marvel and be in awe in the mastery that is NK Jemisin's writing.

She's truly the best at what she does. I'm thankful to exist in a time in human history where I can enjoy her works (may many more come).