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4.39 AVERAGE
4.39 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is a very solid 3.5 stars...I just don't like it quite enough to round up to 4 stars.
The best things going for it are incredible world-building and story-telling. Jemisin tells her story from the alternating and varied perspectives of 3 characters, each a woman and an orogene--i.e., someone gifted at tapping into earth's powers to quell or create earthquakes. These characters are: 1) a young student Damaya exiled from her hometown and brought to the school for orogenes, 2) an older student Syenite leaving the school on a mission, and 3) an older woman Essun on a quest to track down her husband and daughter. Each character is in unique environments, and this allows Jemisin to build an impressive world, layered with numerous cities, cultures, and social classes. For the most part, Jemisin doesn't just "exposition dump" all these facts, but ties them in only as they become critical for her story. In this way, your knowledge of the story's world (named "The Stillness") grows naturally with the story arc. The story itself is excellent, but also heart-breaking. Jemisin is a very gifted-story teller and her writing is engrossing.
The worst things going for this book are uneven dialogue and a hurried ending. Essun is written from the second person perspective, which is hard to adapt to. It took me ~100 pages to get used to this POV but I think it was a great artistic choice. My actual problem was with the dialogue between Syenite and her mentor, Alabaster. Their early dialogue is full of fits-and-starts as if each is a constantly angry child with ADHD. It's hard to read. My biggest disappointment with the book, however, is its last 100 pages (~3 chapters). To this point, Jemisin has wonderfully tied two of her character's narratives together. She then rushes to tie in the third narrative. The antepenultimate chapter is straight exposition with a reveal simply for the sake of it (i.e., Tonkee) and the penultimate chapter is beautiful but rushed. I wished Jemisin had slowed down with the book's ending, and maybe even waited to tie all the narratives together until the sequel.
All that said, "The Fifth Season" is a good book and I look forward to the sequel.
The best things going for it are incredible world-building and story-telling. Jemisin tells her story from the alternating and varied perspectives of 3 characters, each a woman and an orogene--i.e., someone gifted at tapping into earth's powers to quell or create earthquakes. These characters are: 1) a young student Damaya exiled from her hometown and brought to the school for orogenes, 2) an older student Syenite leaving the school on a mission, and 3) an older woman Essun on a quest to track down her husband and daughter. Each character is in unique environments, and this allows Jemisin to build an impressive world, layered with numerous cities, cultures, and social classes. For the most part, Jemisin doesn't just "exposition dump" all these facts, but ties them in only as they become critical for her story. In this way, your knowledge of the story's world (named "The Stillness") grows naturally with the story arc. The story itself is excellent, but also heart-breaking. Jemisin is a very gifted-story teller and her writing is engrossing.
The worst things going for this book are uneven dialogue and a hurried ending. Essun is written from the second person perspective, which is hard to adapt to. It took me ~100 pages to get used to this POV but I think it was a great artistic choice. My actual problem was with the dialogue between Syenite and her mentor, Alabaster. Their early dialogue is full of fits-and-starts as if each is a constantly angry child with ADHD. It's hard to read. My biggest disappointment with the book, however, is its last 100 pages (~3 chapters). To this point, Jemisin has wonderfully tied two of her character's narratives together. She then rushes to tie in the third narrative. The antepenultimate chapter is straight exposition with a reveal simply for the sake of it (i.e., Tonkee) and the penultimate chapter is beautiful but rushed. I wished Jemisin had slowed down with the book's ending, and maybe even waited to tie all the narratives together until the sequel.
All that said, "The Fifth Season" is a good book and I look forward to the sequel.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I went into this book completely blind. I didn't know anything about the premise or the characters. I think that actually made this book much for interesting. This book did not hold back. It starts with a character dealing with a very traumatic event. I will be vague, but it wasn't something I was expecting. I found the world incredibly interesting and the way that N.K. Jemisin decided to tell the story was very interesting. I have read quite a few books this year, and this one was a fresh take on multiple POV's. I can't wait to start the second book, and depending on that book, I might update my rating, but as of now, it is a 4.35. I could see it jumping to 4.5 if I like the second book.
Spoiler Thoughts
- Typically don't like multiple POV, but having all of them be the same person was a really cool twist. I thought that each character was going to meet in some way, but I didn't expect them to be the same girl.
- This book did not hold back by starting with the death of a child. If I were Essen, I would have broken as well. The death of a child is so traumatic, but the way the child died, being beaten by her husband, is heartbreaking. She is completely justified and hope she gets her vengeance.
- I didn't love Alabaster and Syenite's relationship. What I mean by this is two people are being forced to sleep together by the Fulcrum to Syenite to conceive a child by a 10 ring. This alone, the Fulcrum needs to end, but what bothered me a bit was the trope of a girl and a guy having to work together through something, but the girl is always constantly upset and annoyed by anything the guy does. Is Alabaster the easiest person to deal with? Absolutely not, but Syenite seemed to be annoyed by everything Alabaster did. This is a trope that happens quite a bit and one that I personally don't care for, but again, that is just a personal preference.
- I really liked Hoa and didn't think that he would be a stone-eater. Also, the fact that he is the narrator of this tale was pretty crazy and means that he Essun told her everything that happened in her life, this also means that I think Essun most likely dies, and Hoa is one of the few remaining who can share her tale.
- I grew to really like Alabaster. I think that despite the circumstances I think that he grew to love Syenite in his own way. I think that they both loved each other in their own way but I felt that Alabaster loved Syenite more than she loved him.
- When he is taken by the stone eater at the end, I knew he would be back, but his life sounds horrible. It sounds like both he and Essun had hard lives.
- Syenite decides to kill her child rather than give her child to Fulcrum. She then connected with the obelisk to destroy pretty much everyone there. The scene of her floating in the water face up and her body face down was so haunting to me.
- Alabaster and Essun reunion. Alabaster telling Essun that he understood why she did what she did, but he would never forgive her.
- Alabaster reveals that he is the one responsible for the crack in the continent and asks her if she has ever heard of a moon. What does that mean? I'm so curious where the second book is going to go.
- This was heavy, and I wasn't expecting some of the dark things that happened in this book, but it was still a really good book.
Spoiler Thoughts
- Typically don't like multiple POV, but having all of them be the same person was a really cool twist. I thought that each character was going to meet in some way, but I didn't expect them to be the same girl.
- This book did not hold back by starting with the death of a child. If I were Essen, I would have broken as well. The death of a child is so traumatic, but the way the child died, being beaten by her husband, is heartbreaking. She is completely justified and hope she gets her vengeance.
- I didn't love Alabaster and Syenite's relationship. What I mean by this is two people are being forced to sleep together by the Fulcrum to Syenite to conceive a child by a 10 ring. This alone, the Fulcrum needs to end, but what bothered me a bit was the trope of a girl and a guy having to work together through something, but the girl is always constantly upset and annoyed by anything the guy does. Is Alabaster the easiest person to deal with? Absolutely not, but Syenite seemed to be annoyed by everything Alabaster did. This is a trope that happens quite a bit and one that I personally don't care for, but again, that is just a personal preference.
- I really liked Hoa and didn't think that he would be a stone-eater. Also, the fact that he is the narrator of this tale was pretty crazy and means that he Essun told her everything that happened in her life, this also means that I think Essun most likely dies, and Hoa is one of the few remaining who can share her tale.
- I grew to really like Alabaster. I think that despite the circumstances I think that he grew to love Syenite in his own way. I think that they both loved each other in their own way but I felt that Alabaster loved Syenite more than she loved him.
- When he is taken by the stone eater at the end, I knew he would be back, but his life sounds horrible. It sounds like both he and Essun had hard lives.
- Syenite decides to kill her child rather than give her child to Fulcrum. She then connected with the obelisk to destroy pretty much everyone there. The scene of her floating in the water face up and her body face down was so haunting to me.
- Alabaster and Essun reunion. Alabaster telling Essun that he understood why she did what she did, but he would never forgive her.
- Alabaster reveals that he is the one responsible for the crack in the continent and asks her if she has ever heard of a moon. What does that mean? I'm so curious where the second book is going to go.
- This was heavy, and I wasn't expecting some of the dark things that happened in this book, but it was still a really good book.