Reviews

The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin

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bookedupwithlyndsay's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Some of my questions were answered but now I have even more questions after that ending???

full review to come while I process my thoughts

infyria's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

gelisvb's review against another edition

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5.0

I think that N.J.Jemison is a genious.
This book is simply brilliant.
I have never met such a beautiful writing and such a seamless narration. This author has absolute control over her story and characters. Nothing is left to chance.
Here is a writer who knowns what she is doing.
I can understand why this may not appeal several readers.
This book is effortlessy brutal.There is a strong sense of detachment from the characters.Evil is all around. Heroes are long gone. Life is terrible.
But this book is a work of art and it's so original and shockingly well written.
I use the term shook for a reason.
Everything falls into place perfectly. Everything makes sense and the reader knows what has happened, but he undreastand it only when the author clears the path.
It will leave you emotionally drained and not as a figure of speach.
I am giving it five stars and I don't know If I'm strong enough to pick the next book.

raqreads's review against another edition

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4.0

“Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall; Death is the fifth, and master of all.”

The Fifth Season was the April pick that Raquel, Álex and I chose for our 2020 High Fantasy & Sci-Fi Challenge. This is an Adult science fantasy story that takes place in the Stillness, a continent set in a post-apocalyptic future version of Earth. This world is constantly threatened by natural disasters, which leads to Fifth Seasons every few centuries that leave the world on the brink of extinction. Fortunately, there are orogenes—people with the power to manipulate the earth—who can reduce the impact of those environmental catastrophes.

We follow three women of different ages who possesses orogeny. Essun is a woman who is crossing the continent in order to find and kill her husband, who kidnapped their daughter and ran away from their village right after brutally murdering their son for being an orogene. Damaya is a little girl whose family hands her over to a Guardian—a warrior whose task is to control orogenes through training or pain—and who is taken to the Fulcrum, a training institution for orogenes. Syenite is a young woman and four-ringer in the rank of the Imperial Orogenes—being ten rings the highest rank—who is assigned to go in a mission with a ten-ringer, named Alabaster, and breed with him in order to provide a powerful orogene child to the Fulcrum.

The Fifth Season is a story about caste oppression. Essun, Damaya and Syenite have to survive in a world where orogenes, derogatorily called roggas, are basically slaves. They are persecuted and oppressed even though their power is the only thing preventing the extinction of the world. Even families don’t dare to hide their own children if they show any glimpse of orogeny. Jemisin doesn’t shy away from graphically describing the brutality of this world: child abuse, torture, forced breeding, slavery and mention of cannibalism. But among all these extremely horrific things and the PTSD experienced by the main characters, sometimes the author also offers a glimmer of hope.

“It’s somewhat flattering to think that despite her feral status, they actually want something of her infused into their breeding lines. Then she wonders why a part of her is trying to find value in degradation.”

I really enjoyed this book and how astonishingly well-crafted this world is. Although I have to recognise that it took me a while to grasp my head around some concepts, especially regarding the use-castes—professions—and races. I think the idea of a seismic magic system in a setting with floating obelisks is quite unique and it truly blew my mind quite a few times while reading this first instalment. Also, there is quite some foreshadowing through the entire book. But even though I picked up on one of the main plot-twists very at the beginning, there was another one that I didn’t see coming.

I loved Jemisin’s compelling, beautiful writing. There are so many stunning and powerful quotes during this book. I also found very interesting how she uses different narration styles, being Essun’s chapters written in second-person, while Damiya’s and Syenite’s chapters are written in third-person. Moreover, I loved the LGBTQIA+ representation, which we get to see through some of the side characters—there is trans, gay and bi representation. And what can I say about the polyamorous relationship? It truly gave me all the feels.

Summing up, N.K. Jemisin blew me away with this complex first book in an Afrofuturistic trilogy. The Fifth Season is a very original science fantasy story with amazing character-development and an intricate world-building. I really can’t wait to read more about these characters and the Stillness, so you can definitely bet I’ll be picking up the sequels soon because I need answers. A lot of answers.