Reviews with content warning for Hate crime - The Fifth Season

I cannot rate this book highly enough. It starts off with a bang, and what exactly the bang was is something the book takes it's time getting to, and its GLORIOUS. The book is a masterpiece from a master of her craft, a book that manages to be both technically interesting and just a up-all-night-until-you-finish and why-didn't-I-pick-up-the-sequel-already kind of book.

If you're interested in what makes the book interesting from a technical standpoint: let's start with one of the perspectives being written in the second person ("you"). I've seen those who couldn't get past it, but the reveal of exactly who the narrator is is definitely worth it. Then there's the expert use of multiple perspectives. A first for me was the use of an interlude that really amped up the tension.

I'll say here that I mostly stick to my epic fantasies and don't venture into science fiction much, and while post-apocalyptic can be fun, I've never found one to rave about before now. This book manages to blur science fiction and fantasy seamlessly, all in a constantly-post-apocalyptic-but-also-currently-apocalyptic setting.

The setting is fascinating - a planet so unstable that its occupants suffer irregularly-scheduled climate-based apocalypse. This state of affairs has shaped everything about the way people interact with the world as well as themselves.

The magic system includes a clear sense of where someone falls in terms of power, and how magic works is explored and explained in great detail.

More than anything else though, this is a very intense book. There are a lot of heavy emotions being processed during the course of the book, and Jemisin manages to do this in a very authentic way. If you have trauma triggers, definitely review the CW section, because this book will put you through it.

Overall, the book manages to balance world-building, plot and character development exceptionally well. I don't think there's any notable flaws to this book at all.

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boglord's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

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quil's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense

4.5

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marta22's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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kriziny's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Ce livre est l'une des meilleures science-fiction que j'ai pu lire. La manier dont l'autrice raconte et explique les choses est très agréable. J'ai tout de suite était pris dans l'histoire. Ce que j'ai également beaucoup apprécie c'est que il y a des paragraphe ou l'autrice nous parle à nous entant que lecteur. Dans le livre j'ai également pu remarquer que il avait volontairement ou involontairement un lien avec notre monde réelle par exemple on peut reconnaître du racisme entre les Fixs et les Orogenèse, ce qui peut nous faire réfléchir sur la similarité entre le livre et la réalité et a quelle point c'est devenu une banalité pour nous. Ceci m'as beaucoup fait réfléchir en lisant le livre. Un autre point que j'ai également beaucoup apprécier est la manier dont les LGBTQA+ sont aperçu. J'ai beaucoup apprécie le faite que ça ne choque personne et que c'est tout a fait normale qu'il y a des homosexuelles, des hétérosexuelles et des transgenre. Du à la thématique plus compliqué et les sujets abordé je conseillerai seulement ce livre à partir de 16 ans.

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