A review by ajk925
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
5.0
I read this book back in 2021 and this is my first reread. The Fifth Season still felt as fresh and as unique as it did the first time I read it.
As vague as I was with my review of Recursion, I want to share some of the details of The Fifth Season just to illustrate how enthralling and unique this world is.
The novel is a mashup of post-apocalyptic science fiction and fantasy. This version of Earth is unstable and volatile, forcing it's people to adapt between cataclysmic events, known as Fifth Seasons. Tectonic plates are constantly in motion and every Fifth Season causes a massive shakeup of the Earth's terrain and its people. Finally, there are people known as Orogenes, that can tap into and control the seismic activity of the Earth.
All that being said, there are familiar themes within The Fifth Season. The mixture of these themes and the unique world creates a captivating and fresh story of power struggles, mastering yourself, and trusting those around you. I won't go into much more detail here but I can wholeheartedly recommend The Fifth Season if you're looking for a textbook example of what Sci-Fi and Fantasy can do, present you with a world that is completely different than ours while tying itself back to the dynamics and struggles we are all familiar with.
I cannot wait to read the rest of this series for the first time.
As vague as I was with my review of Recursion, I want to share some of the details of The Fifth Season just to illustrate how enthralling and unique this world is.
The novel is a mashup of post-apocalyptic science fiction and fantasy. This version of Earth is unstable and volatile, forcing it's people to adapt between cataclysmic events, known as Fifth Seasons. Tectonic plates are constantly in motion and every Fifth Season causes a massive shakeup of the Earth's terrain and its people. Finally, there are people known as Orogenes, that can tap into and control the seismic activity of the Earth.
All that being said, there are familiar themes within The Fifth Season. The mixture of these themes and the unique world creates a captivating and fresh story of power struggles, mastering yourself, and trusting those around you. I won't go into much more detail here but I can wholeheartedly recommend The Fifth Season if you're looking for a textbook example of what Sci-Fi and Fantasy can do, present you with a world that is completely different than ours while tying itself back to the dynamics and struggles we are all familiar with.
I cannot wait to read the rest of this series for the first time.