A review by izzalice
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

How do I even go about reviewing this masterpiece? The Fifth Season is a brilliant blend of speculative/sci-fi/fantasy/dystopian fiction that explores a land called the Stillness where devastating natural disasters and apocalyptic catastrophes are the norm, caused by Father Earth enacting revenge on people called Orogenes- who have earth manipulating abilities- for taking his only son. We start the tale with a mother discovering the murder of her son and the kidnapping of her daughter and so begins a journey across a breaking land to find her. I could give more of a summary than this but I honestly think, aside from content warnings which I’d advise looking into, it’s best to go into this book pretty blind. 

The narrative style of The Fifth Season is so layered and interesting. The story is told in a combination of second person, third person and an omniscient narrator. The irony of praising worldbuilding in a book about a world falling apart is not lost on me but wow Jemisin has such an incredible gift in creating a simultaneously stunning and terrifying landscape. I’ll give you the same warning I received before starting this book- you’ve got to trust the process, you’ll probably feel quite lost in parts but the payoff is absolutely worth it. 

There are countless aspects to love in this book- fresh storytelling, intriguing magic systems, a protagonist that I grew to care so much about, and a gripping narrative that nearly made me throw the book a few times- that I feel no amount of my words can do justice and I cannot believe that this had been sat on my shelf for as long as it had. I finished The Fifth Season and immediately started the sequel!