Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Den femte årstiden by N.K. Jemisin

90 reviews

lauconn's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Medical trauma

Minor: Torture, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

cerilouisereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Grief, and Pregnancy

alylentz's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Read for a grad school class; not generally my kind of thing but a really interesting concept that's impressively told. I was completely immersed by the end and felt totally invested in the characters' stories. I can definitely see why Jemisin is an exciting writer for the fantasy genre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Cannibalism

winx15's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Transphobia

blakethebookeater's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is a literary masterpiece and a perfect example of sci-fi/fantasy storytelling at its finest. N. K. Jemisin’s prose is captivating and I could not put this book down.

We follow Essun, Damaya, and Syenite as they navigate being orogenes in a world that hates them. Orogenes are people who can control and manipulate the energy of the Earth (think an earth bender but WAY more versatile and way more dangerous). The people of the Stillness are terrified of them and straight up murder them most of the time. Some, like Damaya and Synenite are sent to the Fulcrum to study their powers.

Essun’s story is the crux of this book though, as she comes home to find her son murdered and her daughter taken by her husband. She tried to teach her children to hide their orogeny, but children can’t always control their abilities. So she sets off to find her daughter and the man responsible for taking away what she loved most.

All three POV characters are interesting and compelling in their own right (Synenite’s was my personal favorite) and the way they thematically build upon one another is astonishing. 

As for prose, Essun’s POVs are narrated in 2nd person, which can feel strange but I thought it added a unique perspective to the narrative because it is so intentional and I have to believe Jemisin will have a payoff for it later down the line.

I have to say that it might be confusing for reader who haven’t read a lot of hard sci-fi/fantasy before and it took me about 100 pages before everything clicked into place for me. Jemisin doesn’t exposit about her world, just throws you in and you start to pick up clues from context, and although that may be off-putting for some people, give it some time and you’ll fall in love with the story.

This is a propulsive, character-driven novel that deserved every single award it won. I cannot wait to continue my adventures into the Stillness and more of what N. K. Jemisin has to offer because she is a one-of-a-kind writer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Genocide, Misogyny, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Cannibalism and Suicide attempt

francestea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I love the format of this book, the three alternating perspectives kept the plot moving and kept me guessing at how it would all fit together. The magic system is interesting, I’m mostly intrigued to learn more about the stone eaters in the next books.  The cast (mostly female) has great representation which is embarrassingly refreshing for the genre. I’ll definitely continue with the series and look forward to reading more by Jemisin.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

Minor: Pedophilia, Trafficking, and Cannibalism

s_hollandstone's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Forced institutionalization, and Police brutality

jbellomy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

While epic fantasy continues to not be my genre, even I can't deny that this shit is good. Jemisin creates a completely convincing world and populates it with lived-in characters. It's also well plotted, and horrifying/infuriating/straight up sad at exactly the right moments. I'm not the hugest fan of her prose style – the balance between formal and informal mode is difficult to pull off in epic fantasy, and I think that's where this book struggles most. Also, this conversation happened approximately five times:

Character 1 (usually Alabaster): *makes grim, vague allusion to terrible thing going down behind the scenes*
Character 2 (usually Syenite): "What?"
Character 2's inner monologue: Oh. Oh. {Please note here that Jemisin is infatuated with Oh, and relies on doubling said Oh to imbue dread in the reader.}
Character 1: *Fully explains terrible thing going down, rendering the previous allusion useless, since apparently he could've just been clear in the first place.*

So that bothered me. But usually the prose is more than serviceable, and I'm being nitpicky because this is just a really impressive feat and I feel bad that I didn't enjoy myself more? I need to accept that this is not my genre. But not before I read this whole series so I can get the parallel satisfactions of being in on the zeitgeist and nitpicking an incredible writer's work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Forced institutionalization

tashayns's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Sexual content, Slavery, and Blood

Minor: Violence

ellekhupe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Death

Moderate: Child death, Torture, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Alcoholism