The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

Title: The Fifth Season

Author: N. K. Jemisin

Pages: 449

Finished: March 7, 2021

First Sentence: Let's start with the end of the world, why don't we?

Summary: This is the story of Damaya, a young orogene sent to the Fulcrum for her ability to control rock. This is the story of Syenite, a 4-ringed orogene sent to be a mate to the mighty ten-ringed orogene Alabaster. This is the story of Essun, orogene in hiding who must hunt for her husband, the man who killed her son all while the world ends.

Thoughts: The book opens with the body of a toddler who was beaten to death by his father. I have to admit, I considered dropping the book then and there. It's not a happy image, nor is it one I particularly want in books I read for fun. I pressed on, however. The prologue includes someone ripping the world apart by controlling the bedrock of the continent, a boy made of rock being born out of a geode, and a woman who must enact revenge on her husband. Happy stuff.

This isn't the happiest of books, but I found myself engrossed in the story. Right off the bat, this is a book with its own world, its own vocabulary, and its own social system. It's not explicitly spelled out either. There's a glossary in the back, and with careful reading, you can pick it up fairly quickly, but if you don't like that, this may not be for you. 

If, however, you're of fan of worldbuilding, then this could be right up your alley. It's billed as an epic fantasy, but I feel it runs into more dystopia than anything. The world they live in is clearly a far-future version of our world

The characters are frustrating. All of them were a bit tough for me to like. I don't know that you have to like a character to make a book rewarding, but I found them to be on the acerbic and standoffish side. Of course, it did make sense considering they were members of what is essentially an enslaved people. And those that enslaved them are such masters of gaslighting it makes your skin crawl.

The writing style was interesting. Two of the characters' POVs were in the third person while the third was in the second person. I've never read a book in second person POV. It took a few chapters to figure it out. 

N. K. Jemisin is a black author. Her dedication reads  "For all those who have to fight for the respect that everyone else is given without question." She's also described herself as an author who likes "to write about ordinary people -- all kids of ordinary people -- in extraordinary situations, preferably in non-Earth worlds which nevertheless reflect our own. I'm trying to write decolonized fiction, for our postcolonial world. And at the end of the day I just want to tell a good story" (from her author blurb on Amazon). It's very clear that that's what she's doing with people in power controlling others. And it's interesting to see what happens when the controlled end up in communities where they can control themselves.

Also interesting to note, the characters are default darker-skinned. This is one of those things that shouldn't be surprising, but if you read enough fantasy, it seems in general that characters tend to be default white, so that was cool to see once I figured it out. I was also pleased to see LGBTQIA+ representation as well. 

The book ends on a cliff-hanger so if you find yourself enjoying it, make sure you have the second one either checked-out or on hold already so you can keep moving along. I have a feeling the books are going to move along as one big story.

I'd recommend this for anyone who enjoys epic fantasy or dystopia and maybe even sci-fi fans.