Book Review
Jan. 21st, 2019 06:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Fifth Season
by N.K. Jemisin
This fantasy novel is amazing. Compelling and absorbing don't even being to cover it. The Fifth Season is set on a continent, ironically called the Stillness, that is beset by lots of seismic activity, where earthquakes are very common. Every couple of centuries, this activity causes an earthquake and/or volcanic eruption so cataclysmic that it triggers a fifth season - a time of devastation caused by the release of gas or ash, or both that cause massive die-offs of animal and plant life, a prolonged winter or period of darkness, The narrative opens at the start of one of these fifth seasons, with Essun, reeling from her husband''s murder of their young son and abduction of their daughter. Essun is an orogene, someone who can sense manipulate seismic activity and the earth itself. Orogenes are feared and hated, but also useful and thus are typically subjugated through oppressive control.
Everything abut The Fifth Season was wonderful. The worldbuilding is incredible. Even though the Stillness is for the most part a dark and desperate world, I never stopped wanting to read about it, to experience it. The characters are fascinating and compelling, especially Essun and Alabaster. Their motivations are complex as are the ways in which they negotiate their world and circumstances. The plot was as exciting and enjoyable as they come. Plus, Jemisin managed to completely surprise me multiple times. The writing itself is beautiful and sucked me right in - reading this book made me entirely forget my surroundings.
by N.K. Jemisin
This fantasy novel is amazing. Compelling and absorbing don't even being to cover it. The Fifth Season is set on a continent, ironically called the Stillness, that is beset by lots of seismic activity, where earthquakes are very common. Every couple of centuries, this activity causes an earthquake and/or volcanic eruption so cataclysmic that it triggers a fifth season - a time of devastation caused by the release of gas or ash, or both that cause massive die-offs of animal and plant life, a prolonged winter or period of darkness, The narrative opens at the start of one of these fifth seasons, with Essun, reeling from her husband''s murder of their young son and abduction of their daughter. Essun is an orogene, someone who can sense manipulate seismic activity and the earth itself. Orogenes are feared and hated, but also useful and thus are typically subjugated through oppressive control.
Everything abut The Fifth Season was wonderful. The worldbuilding is incredible. Even though the Stillness is for the most part a dark and desperate world, I never stopped wanting to read about it, to experience it. The characters are fascinating and compelling, especially Essun and Alabaster. Their motivations are complex as are the ways in which they negotiate their world and circumstances. The plot was as exciting and enjoyable as they come. Plus, Jemisin managed to completely surprise me multiple times. The writing itself is beautiful and sucked me right in - reading this book made me entirely forget my surroundings.
