A review by lukesanby
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This novel was my most anticipated for years, but I could never make it further than page thirty-six. Until this book I have not had my dyslexia affect my reading ability since I was a teenager. I tried to ignore the pull to read this novel, but on the fifth attempt I got beyond the pinch point and by page seventy it was like reading any fantasy book; the words don’t make sense, but not because they are jumping around the page. Re-reading the first chapter is all I need to remind myself why I have kept trying to read this book. 

This book is renowned for its second person perspective, but really it is functionally a third person perspective with a different pronoun. None of the trappings of a truly second person perspective are utilised; you won’t find yourself being a character in this book, to choose your own adventure. What I found most distracting was the present tense. I find myself reading a third slower than usual. 

It has been a while since a fantasy book required me to look in the glossary, so I was impressed to find a short and pointed repository with the bonus of having no accidental spoilers. 

I know for many the aspects of motherhood and maternal pain are a key component to how connected they feel to these characters, and this special story. For me what connected with me was the exploration of a total loss of control over one’s life and the struggle to reclaim it. 

This is the kind of fantasy story which first made me fall in love with the genre. And none of my initial struggles with this novel can change how highly I regard it, which was not clear when I started to read it for the fifth time. 

I wish I had noted when I first suspected it was the different stages of one person’s life to see what made me think that. It feels like it was early on. What I know for certain is that a few chapters before it is explicitly revealed I had worked it out, and both times I made note of what had done it. Both times, for me at least, I found the hint very subtle. I look forward to being able to note every hint in my re-read, to examine how it was effortlessly accomplished. 


Music

 
  • The Birthday Massacre — {Playlist} 
  • Lacuna Coil — {Discography} 
  • Alexisonfire — {Discography} 
  • In Flames — {Discography} ~1 
 
~1 The last chapter was read to “In The Dark” from the album Foregone (2023). The music fit the atmosphere of a final chapter, but it was the way the lyrics in the chorus reflected the narrative which make me point it out (Countless voices in the dark || Speak of the end that isn’t far || The pain, the rage, our scars)