The Broken Earth
#514.29 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 3 books Status Complete 2015–2017 Reading commitment Medium N.K. Jemisin Last reviewed 2026-08-05
Overview
The Broken Earth is N.K. Jemisin's trilogy set on the Stillness, a supercontinent wracked by recurring apocalyptic Seasons, where orogenes, people who can manipulate seismic energy, are feared and exploited. All three volumes won the Hugo Award for Best Novel (2016, 2017, 2018): the first author to win three consecutive years, and the first trilogy to win for every volume. Jemisin received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2020. Beginning with The Fifth Season (2015), the trilogy follows three timelines centered on women navigating a world defined by cyclical, civilization-ending geological catastrophes and the institutionalized persecution of the orogenes whose powers could prevent or worsen them. Jemisin's unconventional second-person narration in parts of the trilogy, combined with its structural puzzle of interlocking timelines, was widely credited alongside its unprecedented Hugo sweep with reshaping expectations for what literary ambition in genre fantasy could achieve.
Epic fantasy, Dark fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking
The Broken Earth N.K. Jemisin
| Work | Year | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Fifth Season; Hugo Best Novel 2016, first Black author to win the category. | 2015 | core | 4.28 (354,228 ratings) |
 | The Obelisk Gate; Hugo Best Novel 2017. | 2016 | core | 4.28 (207,058 ratings) |
 | The Stone Sky; Hugo 2018 + Nebula 2017 + Locus Fantasy 2018; the trilogy's three consecutive Hugo wins are unprecedented. | 2017 | core | 4.32 (176,382 ratings) |
Library (1 work)
- Stone Hunger (2014) ; Clarkesworld #94 (July 2014); set in the Stillness per nkjemisin.com, unrelated to the trilogy's main narrative.
"Stone Hunger" (Clarkesworld, 2014): set in the Stillness per the author's site, unrelated to the main narrative; expanded.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Broken Earth? The Broken Earth's Core Canon is 3 books, plus 1 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
- What is the reading order for The Broken Earth? Publication order, starting with The Fifth Season. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Broken Earth finished? Complete (2015–2017).
- How much reading does The Broken Earth take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 3 Core Canon books · ~1,294 pages).
- How is The Broken Earth ranked? #51 in this site's official ranking, based on 737,668 reader ratings across 3 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #51?
Ranked #51 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.29 across 3 core books.
- Backed by 738k reader ratings.
- Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 3 rated core books rate within 0.04 of each other.
- Less than 0.01 behind #50, The Daevabad Trilogy (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Top-tier rated · 3 books · Complete · 738k ratings · Ranks #51 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length epic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (3 Core Canon books)
- The Fifth Season (2015)
- The Obelisk Gate (2016)
- The Stone Sky (2017)
Awards (verified at the primary sources)
- Hugo Best Novel: won 2016, 2017, 2018 (thehugoawards.org)
- Nebula Best Novel: won 2017 (The Stone Sky); nominated 2015, 2016
- Locus Fantasy: won 2018 (The Stone Sky) · World Fantasy: nominated 2016, 2017
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2016: won: The Fifth Season; First Black author to win Hugo Best Novel.
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2017: won: The Obelisk Gate
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2018: won: The Stone Sky; Three consecutive wins for all three volumes of a trilogy, unprecedented.
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2017: won: The Stone Sky; 2017 award year, presented May 2018.
- Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2018: won: The Stone Sky
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2015: nominated: The Fifth Season
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2016: nominated: The Obelisk Gate
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2016: nominated: The Fifth Season
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2017: nominated: The Obelisk Gate
Related universes
- Same author The Inheritance Trilogy: Both by N.K. Jemisin. The Inheritance Trilogy (her debut) is a second, independent universe from The Broken Earth, with no shared characters, setting, or continuity.
- Same author The Dreamblood Duology: Both by N.K. Jemisin; confirmed separate, unrelated worlds.
- Same author The Great Cities Duology: Both by N.K. Jemisin; The Great Cities Duology (a living-New-York urban fantasy) is a 4th, independent universe with no shared characters, setting, or continuity.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what The Broken Earth and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Faithful and the Fallen Epic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.38
- Troy Historical fantasy / Epic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.37
- Shadow of the Leviathan Epic fantasy · Ongoing · Medium commitment · 4.37
- The Bound and the Broken Epic fantasy · Ongoing · Medium commitment · 4.33
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.29 across 737,668 ratings on 3 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: The Broken Earth Core Canon accepted 2026-08-05
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia (English) Tier 2
- N.K. Jemisin, official website Tier 1
- Nebula Awards (SFWA) Tier 1
- The Hugo Awards, official site Tier 1
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broken_Earth
Related universes: see the Related universes section above.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-06
Rule: Core = the trilogy (2015-2017), unprecedented three consecutive Hugo Best Novel wins. One related story (Stone Hunger) expanded.