Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

307 reviews

ceridwen33's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book is beautifully executed from a craft perspective, it was just so dark and depressing that I cried multiple times. I did decide to continue the series, but it was a brutal book to push through during a pandemic.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

midnightstory's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

this was crazy and a lil boring at times but also so good

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mes0pelagic_fan's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious

4.0

good lord mind the content warnings on this one 

an introspective, fascinating, and overall deeply depressing look at a world threatened by geologic activity and the powers of the highly oppressed people used to control that geologic activity. 

yikes honestly i had trouble reading this at times 🫣 seriously read the warnings 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

silversparkles50's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

dkamada's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny inspiring mysterious fast-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Loved having a two person book club for this with Meghan, so many good reveals!

Marked that there are moderate racial slurs, but it depends if you are looking to avoid specific racial slurs used in our world vs the concept of people using racial slurs if that makes sense. I.e. there are racial slurs specific to this book that are used frequently

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lua_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I read this book after seeing several people recomend it and hype it up, and I think my mistake was going in with too high expectations.

N.K. Jeminsin created an extremely interesting and complex wolrd, with a unique magic system and a pretty exciting premise, but despite all that, to me, the actual story felt completely bland.

My biggest issue with the book was the main characters, Damaya, Syen and Essun,
them being all the same person, you can see why all of them bothered me the same
so maybe if you like them more you might enjoy the book a little better. But to me it felt like,  mainly Syen, was completely incapable of complex thought, she constantly avoids actually thinking about the problem beyond a surface level, to a point that it gets very frustrating,
the god damn volcano in Allia was SUCH an obvious trap, that I feel like after dealing with the guardians and the Fulcrum her whole life it was just so frustrating seeing her think "wow why would the fulcrum leave things like this" and then REFUSE TO THINK MORE ABOUT IT
there are several times in the novel that Syen's Pov says "she couldn't think" and it was just really frustrating. Essun at the very least has a very good reason to refuse thinking in the beginning of the book, but that also gets frustrating after a while. A few times it just felt like the main characters avoided thinking (not asking questions, not reaching conclusions, not making strategies) just so the plot could progress, wich to me made it fell like all three characters weren't active in their own storylines. The world building is very intense wich I do usually like, but in the book there just wasn't a storyline above it that made me actively exited to keep reading.

I do really like the conflicts and the depiction of the abusive and toxic relations between the Guardians and the orogenes in their charge, N.K. went above and beyond with it, and every scene with Damaya and her Guardian had me at the edge of my sit. The mystery of Hoa was also fun to try and figure out, and the dynamics between Syen and Alabaster felt deep and complex in the most interesting of ways
wich only makes Alabaster's state by the end of the book seem more like a waste of potential to me, I really liked him
for the first half of the book most of what happened with Damaya's storyline caught me by surprise, which made it very fun to read.

But at the end it just didn't feel like a lot actually happened during the book, very few moments during all three storylines felt exciting or had any action, so maybe if someone liked slower and less action packed books they might like this this lack of moments, but it just wasn't my cupof tea.

Also this book is VERY heavy on wolrd building and N.K. makes very little effort to explain it all, so I definitely don't recomend it for people who aren't used to lore heavy fantasy.

Overall, to me, it felt like a really interesting world with a very bland main character

The ending does get a little more intense, and leaves off at a cliffhanger, wich is mostly of the reason for me to give the book a 3,7 instead of 3,5. I think I'll read the rest of the series, but I'll definitely have to change my expectations and mindset before starting book two, so that I'm ready for a slow series of tragic happenings, rather then an intense character fighting her way trough events. 


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sammymilfort's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

dahliapyne's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

phan_boy's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Interesting magic and world building. Great characters and character development. The plot is emotional and impactful. Overall this is one of the best fantasy stories I have read in a while

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

witcheep's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings