Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Eleven SF&F books with a powerful message of social justice

At the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog Joel Cunningham tagged 11 sci-fi & fantasy books or series with a powerful message of social justice, including:
The Broken Earth trilogy, by N.K. Jemisin (The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky)

Jemisin’s Hugo-winning Broken Earth trilogy is a ragged scream of rage at the injustice that racism and inequality brings.In the opening chapter, a man uses magic to break the world because the world has shown him it has no cause to treat him like a human. A woman cradles the broken body of her son, murdered because of what he is, and what he represents, rather than anything he did. A government treats immensely powerful but subjugated magic users, who have the innate power to move the earth, as animals, little better than tools, breaking their will and their bones in order to keep them compliant and ensure the continuity of the society that oppresses them. That some of these people, so-abused, choose to destroy everything in their anger, perhaps we can forgive them for lashing out. That some of them still see beauty in the broken earth speaks to their humanity more than anything else.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue