Wait this is so good so far. Like, the verrrry first chapter I had to push through because there was a bit of world-building/setup that I didn't totally understand (my brain doesn't work on my best days), and I'm not that into second-person long-form narration, but once I got into the rhythm of the book, I actually started to give up my subway-naps in favor of reading. And that's saying a lot. 
 Edit: This is honestly more of a 4.5 review, I'm just saving my 5 stars for all-time faves. 
 I lost steam partway through (partially because I didn't want to have to wait for the third book to come out) and put the book down. After The Stone Sky came out, I picked it up again and started from the beginning. This was a pretty damn great read, and it takes quite a bit for me to be entranced by fantasy lately (the last SF&F novel I read that I loved was The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch), but Jemisin turns expected tropes on their head. 
 What can I say? This is fantasy that makes room for POC, for queer characters, about systemic oppression and the way it ruins and ravages people's lives. This is fantasy that, more than once for me, evoked Toni Morrison - it's not fantasy for the sake of escapism; Jemisin holds the mirror up to the worst of human nature and magnifies it. And for that reason, sometimes it's a hard book to fall into. 
 Nevertheless, I'm excited to pick up the second book and confront whatever hard truths Jemisin has for us there.