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bearredmon's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
coralinejonesss's review against another edition
1.0
Did not finish. I got more than halfway through the book and found it an absolute slog. Many sections could have been edited out. I really like Starhawk's nonfiction witchcraft books so I expected to love this series but it just wasn't for me due to the writing.
doesitcomeinpurple's review against another edition
1.0
This is one of the worst books I’ve ever read, for so many different reasons. Stay far away.
vkshiro's review against another edition
2.0
I really liked the dystopian/utopian aspects of the book but could really have done without the witchcraft. For some reason I thought this was a sci-fi book and I couldn't have been more incorrect. That's what I get for choosing a book without reading the summary. (I almost never read the summaries.)
I found it confusing that the author wrote about how the "Millennialists", an ultra-conservative Christian fundamentalist group forsake science (sound familiar?) yet the rebels turn to magic/witchcraft instead of science for most of their needs. I think she does a disservice to her message--that an eco-utopia is something worth striving for and possibly attainable. Magic should have nothing to do with it.
If you are a fan of fantasy, then you will probably like this book more than I did.
I found it confusing that the author wrote about how the "Millennialists", an ultra-conservative Christian fundamentalist group forsake science (sound familiar?) yet the rebels turn to magic/witchcraft instead of science for most of their needs. I think she does a disservice to her message--that an eco-utopia is something worth striving for and possibly attainable. Magic should have nothing to do with it.
If you are a fan of fantasy, then you will probably like this book more than I did.
vaevin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
mugsmr's review against another edition
1.0
Too boring and long to read. Author goes into too much detail to the point I felt like I was reading an essay. Characters were bland and uninteresting. Too much sex.
siavahda's review
5.0
HIGHLIGHTS
~Hopepunk + witchcraft = The Best
~peace is violence’s kryptonite
~bees are a girl’s best friend
~everyone is named John and everything is F I N E
~a utopia you’ll believe in
~‘we didn’t destroy the databanks, the crystals just don’t like you’
The Fifth Sacred Thing is a book I don’t know how to talk about.
It’s not one of the books I instantly recommend the moment I make a new friend. It’s not even a book I gift to fellow fantasy-readers. It’s a book I’m shy of showing to people. It feels so private, so personal, so intimate. To put The Fifth Sacred Thing into someone else’s hands is like giving them my warm, beating heart to hold.
Considering what the eponymous fifth sacred thing of the main characters’ philosophy is – spirit, or love – that seems entirely appropriate.
This is a book set after a climate and societal collapse. In the North – of what used to be California, if I put the pieces together correctly – a new and painfully perfect society has been built, where people of all races and creeds have come together in their determination to find a better way. It’s a city where every child speaks American Sign Language, where shrines to Yemaya and Kuan Yin and the Virgin Mary are equally honoured, where there is no violence and no hunger or thirst. It’s a city built by witches, where computers are powered by semi-sentient crystals and healers use as much magic as medicine to treat their patients. It’s a city that holds four things sacred – earth, air, fire, and water – and whose philosophy is based upon the truth that no one can own these things, and no one can be denied them.
It sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? The whole point of this book, though, is that it’s not. Is that it can be true.
It’s never going to be easy.
But it will always be worth it.
The Fifth Sacred Thing is a little bit of a manifesto, a little bit of an open question – and wholly an incredible story. We have three main characters: Maya, an elderly queer Jewish witch who was instrumental in the City’s creation; Bird, her biracial grandson; and Madrone, an immensely talented Latina witch-healer who is the grandchild of two of Maya’s lovers. Bird has been missing for ten years, after going south to scout out the lands of the Stewards – think Handmaid’s Tale, but turn the racism dial to 12 and add the worst perversion of Christianity you can imagine – and Madrone has spent about that long battling wave after wave of epidemics, which she and the other healers think might be an attempt at biological warfare from the Stewards.
The book opens during one such epidemic, and with Bird finally making his way home. What he has to tell his people is horrifying – the reality of life under the Stewards – and terrifying: the Stewards are definitely coming for the north.
How does a community built on peace defend itself against one built on violence?
Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!
~Hopepunk + witchcraft = The Best
~peace is violence’s kryptonite
~bees are a girl’s best friend
~everyone is named John and everything is F I N E
~a utopia you’ll believe in
~‘we didn’t destroy the databanks, the crystals just don’t like you’
The Fifth Sacred Thing is a book I don’t know how to talk about.
It’s not one of the books I instantly recommend the moment I make a new friend. It’s not even a book I gift to fellow fantasy-readers. It’s a book I’m shy of showing to people. It feels so private, so personal, so intimate. To put The Fifth Sacred Thing into someone else’s hands is like giving them my warm, beating heart to hold.
Considering what the eponymous fifth sacred thing of the main characters’ philosophy is – spirit, or love – that seems entirely appropriate.
This is a book set after a climate and societal collapse. In the North – of what used to be California, if I put the pieces together correctly – a new and painfully perfect society has been built, where people of all races and creeds have come together in their determination to find a better way. It’s a city where every child speaks American Sign Language, where shrines to Yemaya and Kuan Yin and the Virgin Mary are equally honoured, where there is no violence and no hunger or thirst. It’s a city built by witches, where computers are powered by semi-sentient crystals and healers use as much magic as medicine to treat their patients. It’s a city that holds four things sacred – earth, air, fire, and water – and whose philosophy is based upon the truth that no one can own these things, and no one can be denied them.
It sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? The whole point of this book, though, is that it’s not. Is that it can be true.
It’s never going to be easy.
But it will always be worth it.
The Fifth Sacred Thing is a little bit of a manifesto, a little bit of an open question – and wholly an incredible story. We have three main characters: Maya, an elderly queer Jewish witch who was instrumental in the City’s creation; Bird, her biracial grandson; and Madrone, an immensely talented Latina witch-healer who is the grandchild of two of Maya’s lovers. Bird has been missing for ten years, after going south to scout out the lands of the Stewards – think Handmaid’s Tale, but turn the racism dial to 12 and add the worst perversion of Christianity you can imagine – and Madrone has spent about that long battling wave after wave of epidemics, which she and the other healers think might be an attempt at biological warfare from the Stewards.
The book opens during one such epidemic, and with Bird finally making his way home. What he has to tell his people is horrifying – the reality of life under the Stewards – and terrifying: the Stewards are definitely coming for the north.
How does a community built on peace defend itself against one built on violence?
Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!
solardavy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
an interesting solarpunk like book, with some fantasy mixed in.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic
breenmachine's review against another edition
4.0
Loved the main characters and the utopian vs dystopian societies. I liked how all of the different spiritualities were combined in the north. I equally liked bird and madrone, but my favorite character was maya. Very emotional. The author did a good job of keeping me tuned into the world and wanting to keep reading.