Reviews

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

cmarciano56's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Amazing. Might be might favorite fantasy book of all time. Great narrator. Great story. 

lini002's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

At the end of the world, a woman must hide her secret power and find her kidnapped daughter. We follow 3 POV's in this, Damaya a child that is taken to the Fulcrum to train her rogga powers so she won't be a threat to those around her and will be able to calm the Earth, Syenite a four ring rogga sent on a mission with a ten ringer to do a check on a colony and also to conceive a child and then a third POV written in second person where the reader is Essun, a mother looking for her kidnapped daughter.
 
This book is clever and well-structured. Jemisin writes an entirely new and enchanting fantasy world that is so different from anything I have ever read before. The POV work in this is eye opening as a writer myself and intriguing as a reader. There is a lot of preliminary stuff going on in this one, we really are getting to learn the world in this one and understanding these characters and their experiences. The plot isn't a lot but the character work and worldbuilding makes up for that massively. I kind of now want to take Jemisin's class on writing because I'd love to learn how she crafts like this. Definitely picking up the next one, I will be giving this one 4/5 though because it does feel like a set up book.

dramleatherworks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

4.25

beckdins's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.5

wathykite's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

kayri687's review against another edition

4.0

i really liked this!! i feel like I did not understand the ending... specifically the ending line? also I just feel like I missed a few things getting answered because I was listening to the audiobook and my comprehension is worse via audio. will def continue. might reread the last bit with my eyeballs and reassess my rating.

crustypatriot's review against another edition

2.0

The beginning of this book had promise, and I was intrigued with it for a good while because of N.K Jemison's writing style. The 2nd person narration choice was very interesting and I liked it quite a bit although it was a bit jarring. Over time though, this book became more and more bland, confusing and one big info dump. I got to the point at page 365/468 where 2 of the main characters had a threesome with a person they just met. It was ridiculous and made 0 sense for the plot. It was just a major eye roll to an already bland and lifeless story. It pushed me the over the edge to decide to stop reading. 2/5. DNF

whatnataliereadss's review against another edition

4.0

This book was truly incredible, an absolute masterpiece! The prose took a while for me to get used to, I’m not sure I ever fully did BUT this is the most cleverly crafted book IVE EVER READ. NK Jemisin is a genius.

Let’s break it down:

What I loved:
/ The complex story telling & layered prose
/ When everything clicked into place it BLEW MY MIND
/ The apocalyptic setting
/ The plot (once I realised what it actually was!)
/ The diversity & rep


What I didn’t love:
/ This book required a lot of brain power to read & was at times a bit of a struggle - a worth while one though.
/ This is my first sci fi (sci fantasy) novel so I was bogged down a bit trying to wrap my head around the science, so i didn’t connect as deeply to the characters as I’d have liked.

I will definitely be continuing with the trilogy! But not straight away as my brain needs a rest lol!

maddiethealex's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

reneekgood's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Second read. Still probably the greatest fantasy novel I’ve ever read