Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Fifth Season

Trigger warnings: racism, torture, child abuse, domestic abuse, death of child, sexual assault and child sexual assault, confinement, slavery, murder, gore, emotional abuse, sexual content

A biting allegory for the atlantic slave trade and the treatment of enslaved folk, representation of generational trauma and the pain of choices made to protect and survive, and so much more.

It's a three part timeline following three characters in different eras of this world leading up to the catastrophic natural disaster that will lead to the next seasonal change that occurs in this universe. Each character is living an entirely different life: a child getting recruited into an academy to train her powers, a trainee going on her first mission, and a women with powers who was in hiding and is now in search of her kidnapped child.

I had no idea where anything was headed nor what the goal of the book was outside of survival. In that way I suppose this is a dystopic apocalypse survival book as well as a fantasy. Every new detail revealed was a depressing shock to the system as I read yet everything that led me to say, well what the hell else did I expect that's the dire reality of this world and the real world tragedies it's referencing.

I look forward to the next two books with trepidation.

Content Warnings

seemz's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark 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

Content Warnings

romiress's review

Go to review page

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

My feelings are a bit mixed - I enjoyed the book, but don't actually like the author's writing style. I think the multiple perspectives all worked.

Content Warnings

monaluffy's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

WOW! This series are so goooood! Read it if you can! The "magic" system is so cool, the characters are diverse and AWESOME.

Look for the TW!!

Content Warnings

neni's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

kbkbkbkbkb's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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

4.75

Content Warnings

shieldbearer's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

A masterpiece of worldbuilding and character study.

Content Warnings

More...