Hmm... 
 This is difficult. 
 This is really a 3.5/5 for me. 
 Ok let's start with what's obvious. 
 The first book was utterly fascinating. The style was so compelling for me, it almost dominated the plot. By the second book, I was into it, and could concentrate more on the tale itself. This book felt like revisiting a really exotic hotel. It's still outlandish, but you're not gawking anymore. 
 I still love the stylistic choices the author has taken in this book. And the twist that it adds to the narrative. Rarely has my notion of POV been that challenged. And the way that choice's rationale is tied into the finale is really a marvel. You need to read from the first book to really get what she's done there. I can't comment on it without spoiling that facet of the book. And it deserves to be experienced, even if for its own sake. 
 The pacing is still as brisk. Still not the book where you'll be regaled (bogged down?) with descriptions of clothing and furniture and wall texture. The world still felt to me like a washed-out painting. Must have been the ash. After all, when the world is ending, who really has time for sightseeing, unless survival depends on it? 
 Not a lot of chapters in this book (13), but boy do we travel! 
 Jules Verne has nothing on this here lady! 
 What about the story? 
 Yeah... well... that's where it gets a little hairy. 
 Characters: 
 So we now have 3 POVs... somehow. 
 Essun the Mother, Nassun the Lost Lamb, and Houwa the Watcher. Slowly converging towards the grand finale, and the showdown that will decide the fate of Mankind (we're specific here. Whatever happens to Mankind, Father Earth will endure). 
 This book is not about great upsets. It's about crushing consequences. 
 So by the middle of it, you kind of know how it will end. The stage has been set. The actors are in place. 
 Essun was (still) the most interesting read for me, although she's mellowed quite a bit. Being slowly turned to stone has that effect on people. 
 But there's nothing much to discover about her anymore. 
 I felt no connection with Nassun. I can't blame it on any lack of definition of the character. She's carefully constructed, and feels very real. 
 Maybe because she's 11, female and struggling with a breakdown; while I'm old and male. Maybe because the first book has entrenched my loyalties with her mother. Maybe because of the impending clash between them, and my instinct (as a parent myself) to root for the parent (what do kids know about what their parents go through?). 
 Reading her chapters wasn't unpleasant. Far from it. But it didn't click. It was just... info. 
 Now what I really struggled with was Houwa's chapters. 
 See, the lady knows her stuff, she does, Mrs Jemisin. And she takes the technical details VERY seriously. I don't think I've ever felt the weight of an author's research as much as in this book. 
 Unfortunately, that torrent of savant words, real or imagined (sessapinae, anyone?) is probably what slowly disconnected me from the story. 
 And nowhere was it as glaring as in Houwa's story. 
 You know that trope: ancient technology that no one understands anymore? 
 Well. Get ready to have it explained. Because magic, in this series, is technology. 
 It was too much. I felt drowned. 
 (view spoiler)[The fact that the characters on stage were expected to behave as as statues certainly did not help add color to those chapters. It was consistent, but unfortunate. (hide spoiler)] 
 And that's a problem, since that's where we finally learn why and how we got to where we are. 
 I think the backstory chapters deserved more space to coalesce. 
 Oh, and the names... So many of them... How many times did I wonder: huh? Who's this again? 
 We also got a few confusing moments, (view spoiler)[like Nassun finding the memoirs of her mother's lover on the other side of the world (why? it brought nothing to the story except give Alabaster a last opportunity to spout self-centered nonsense) (hide spoiler)] 
 In the end, it doesn't really matter. I'm just a fussy bastard. 
 This book manages to satisfyingly conclude a brilliant series, tying all loose ends. 
 I didn't enjoy it as much as the other books, but it was... good.