Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Fifth Season

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

87 reviews

cozylifewithabby's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.5

This book was amazing. I don't even know what to say.

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liferhi_inspired's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

📝 1st, 2nd, 3rd Person POV, Check CW/Triggers

The Broken Earth series is complex but simply brilliant, I couldn’t put it down. The story starts off with several POV and as the series progresses, you begin to understand how the stories intertwine. These individual stories really help progress the story and keep it moving at a great space. The magic system within this story is truly unique, it’s elemental magic like I’ve never seen before.

One thing that I absolutely love is the use of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Person POV, this isn’t something I’ve seen done well often. Each of these POV was chosen for a very distinct reason, which you’ll discover as the series progresses.

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valent1ne's review against another edition

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4.5

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genny's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Best book I've read so far in 2022! I agree with reviews saying it's best to go into this knowing as little as possible. Worldbuilding, atmosphere, character development, even the science behind the magic...amazing, all of it. Do be aware of the content warnings.

I admit I was intimated by the writing style at first, thinking "am I smart enough to get this?"...but it's quite accessible once you've gotten used to it. Jemisin doesn't really explain any of the lore, you just gradually pick it up as you go (there's an appendix, but as always, I never bother). It didn't feel "info-dumpy". I appreciated this, actually! Like she wasn't holding my hand through it, but gave me enough context to understand. This is in stark contrast to Brandon Sanderson's writing style in Warbreaker (I'm only comparing because I finished that right before this one) wherein he plainly explains the magic system like the mechanics of a video game. So: patience is needed, but it'll pay off.

The use of second-person POV in Essun's chapters was a perfect choice! It adds so much to the story, in my opinion. Damaya's chapters were my favorite. I'm proud to say that I figured out the plot twist before I hit the halfway mark, ha. I'm sure other readers figured it out even faster than I did, but I'm usually late to pick up on clues, so I felt insanely validated. 😆 The reveal of

the narrator

, though? I didn't see that coming and it gave me goosebumps, geez. Everything came together beautifully. I am so glad I gave this book a chance!

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in7's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging 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? Yes

5.0

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neni's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.25

I had high expections for this book since everyone and their mothers seem to reccomend it highly.

I must say, I knew it had dark themes, but I wasn’t prepared for just how dark and how pervasive the whole thing was. I think that’s what took down the enjoyment factor a bit for me, I get that life is hard in this universe, but I kinda hate when authors make us care for the main characters and then put them through nothing but pain and suffering for the whole book. I mean, can’t they be at least a little bit happy? lmao I totally recognize that’s a personal taste thing and not exactly a fault with the book. Maybe if I had read it at a different time in my life I would have felt another way, but I couldn’t help but get a little bit depressed everytime I read a new chapter.

Other than that though, this book was pretty much impeccable.

The writing style was beautiful and engaging, and somehow managed to create an incredibly emotional environment and deliver powerful feelings without being super flowery or descriptive, which I found impressive. It was to the point, but impactful? Quite unique from what I’ve been reading and a weirdly appropriate choice in a book thats about stone wielders.

On that note, I think the greatest strength of the book is definitely the worldbuilding. The magic system (if it can even be described as magic, some cool natural phenomenon turned technology out of a sci-fi novel would be just as accurate to describe it) is superb in its complexity and originality. All of the rules and the way their powers work around them are fascinating to read about.

The way the author organized the plot and the pacing was stellar as well. She did that super satisfying thing that authors do where the book starts with a bunch of different threads and timelines that seem disconnected but that get progressively closer to each other and it all comes to a head as this “everything is connected” climax. Pretty cool

The character’s as well were nicely fleshed out. But again, thinking about them makes me sad lol

Overall, a great read for fantasy and sci-fi fans alike. Was a tiny bit too sad and depressing for me to find extremely enjoyable, but still I don’t regret reading it.

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