For SSP, I chose to read The Obelisk Gate. Initially, my main interest in this book was after reading The Fifth Season in my Fall trimester English class, Imagine a World. I was extremely interested in continuing the series. Beyond that, the book was also unlike any other that I had read, leaving you guessing as the perspectives switched between multiple characters, as small details were slowly revealed. The book centers around a group of gifted individuals named Orogenes. It presumably takes place tens of thousands of years in the future, where the world has become isolated into small civilizations that get wiped out every few hundred years from events labeled “seasons.” Seasons are catastrophic events that the central character, Essun, slowly learns about and comes to understand. Orogenes are able to control the environment around them, creating a “torus” which can freeze objects, cause earthquakes, and sense changes in the atmosphere. They are in tune with the earth, but are seen as threats that need to be controlled. Without getting too spoiler-heavy, this book connected with me because of how I look to the future. The first book introduced us to Essun, who was put into the established world and learned about herself, but now in this second follow-up, it centers around the choices she makes to define who she wants to be and which side of history she wants to be on. I think graduating from high school with so many opportunities for what I want to do in life, I really connected with this book. Even if I don’t have powers like Essun, we are all unique in our own ways and have skills and ideas that make us who we are. I want to make my choices going forward carefully and, like Essun, find the best outcome for everyone I care about.