Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - The Fifth Season

A well developed fantasy setting with intriguing and unique magic systems in place, while maintaining the familiarity in a system that exploits the same people it oppresses. The different perspectives allow for a solid look at the world, though it often feels difficult to grasp, with magical vocabulary that's equally difficult to acclimate to without familiarizing yourself with the appendix first. I also have a personal struggle and bias against 2nd person perspectives, though the writing was superb, and the discomfort and tone of a 2nd person narrative is definitely intentional and masterfully executed.

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madyou's review

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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zoiejanelle's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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

best adult fantasy book i have read to date. a book about what it means to become a parent, to lose a child, and to sacrifice everything for love. an allegory for blackness in the U.S. really cool magic system, great writing (once things picked up) and emotional twists. highly recommend to all fantasy lovers!

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maeverose's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

TL;DR: The story is really good, but the ‘trans rep’ is offensive, and it’s extremely dark just for the sake of it at times.

I think this book is incredibly creative and original, and has important commentary on race and colonialism, told through a fantasy lens. I didn’t end up enjoying the book, so this review is mostly negative, but I’d still recommend the book if you can handle the content and can look past the transphobia.

First, I think if you’re going to include something as sensitive as sexual assault and rape, especially happening to children, it needs to have an important reason to be there. In this book I felt that those things in particular were there mostly for shock value. It really wasn’t necessary to take it as far as she did, and it bothered me.

Second, the way the trans character Tonkee is represented I found to be offensive. Not only is she frequently described as being smelly and unclean when no one else is, leading me to believe N.K Jemisin sees trans women as gross, but there’s also this line in a scene when she’s taking a bath in front of Essun (I don’t really understand why she did that in the first place but ok):

“You’re a little surprised to see a penis somewhere amid this process, but, well, not like any comm’s going to make her a Breeder.”

I could be misunderstanding, but the only reasons I can think of for why she would’ve included that comment would be to say that trans people are undesirable, or to point out that Tonkee can’t get pregnant, ‘but no matter, because she’s too ugly to be made a breeder anyway’. Either way, both of those statements are offensive and have nothing to do with what’s happening in the scene. Why would Essun’s mind immediately go to thinking about her undesirability or inability to get pregnant after finding out she’s trans? That felt transphobic to me. Also the fact that the two trans characters in the book (one isn’t even named) are introduced as being trans by describing their genitals, which perpetuates the idea that thinking about/asking what’s in a trans person’s pants is okay... it’s none of your business and it’s irrelevant to their gender identity. I really don’t understand the people praising this book for having trans characters… Tonkee isn’t even a main or important character hardly, and Essun seems to see her as an annoyance the entire time.

I don’t know if the offensive way Tonkee was represented was intentional or not, but it really doesn’t sit well with me and kind of ruined my experience of the book, which sucks because it is a really good story besides that.

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purlhaggard's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I love this book so much.

Such a cool world, such different systems, I loved it,

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atlas_shruggs's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

Holy. Shit. This is an excellent piece of fiction, and it has rocked me to the core (pun intended).
The story follows three people: Damaya, a girl with great gifts that the world hates her for; Syenite, a powerful student who wants nothing more than to prove her worth; and Essun, a mother looking for revenge.
Knowing nothing about this book is the best way to go into it. I only knew that it had good representation and was well written, so I suggested it for my book club, and boy was it amazing.
It is masterfully written, the story ties together in such a gorgeous way, and even though it's confusing at first, the payoff at the end is more than worth pushing through this confusion.
Immediately after finishing it I had to go back and read the prologue, and it was so satisfying.
This review is all over the place, but just read this book okay??
Oh and check trigger warnings, for the love of god.

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