The Obelisk Gate

The Obelisk Gate (2016) by N.K. Jemison is the award-winning second volume in the Broken Earth trilogy. I've already bought the third book. This is a wonderful read, hard to put down.

from the back of the book:

The Season of endings grows darker as civilization fades into the long, cold night.

Essun has found shelter, but not her missing daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world, with a request that would seal the fate of the Stillness forever.

The author introduces the series here and talks about how she became an author:

You can read the beginning of this book (a seamless continuation of the first one) here. It's obviously not a stand-alone novel. Go get the first one, and let me know if you like it as much as I do.

NPR closes by saying,

Beyond the meticulous pacing, the thorough character work, and the staggering ambition and revelations of the narration, Jemisin is telling a story of our present, our failures, our actions in the face of repeated trauma, our responses to the heat and pressure of our times. Her accomplishment in this series is tremendous. It pole vaults over the expectations I had for what epic fantasy should be and stands in magnificent testimony to what it could be.

Kirkus Reviews concludes a positive review by calling it "stunning". Publishers Weekly calls it "compelling, challenging, and utterly gripping".