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A review by coldbrewedpages
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
5.0
I'm still not sure that anything I can write here can adequately unpack, dissect, and discuss the brilliance that was The Fifth Season, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I finished reading it a couple of days ago, and I don't think that I will stop thinking about it for a long, long time.
If there's ever a book that combines phenomenal world building, poignant character development and characters, and untouchable commentary that spans systems of oppression, racism, power imbalances, and climate decline, it's The Fifth Season. N.K. Jeminisin is a veritable powerhouse of a writer. Her prose is as tight and beautiful as her story is mesmerizing. It's gritty. It's dark. But in terms of how well a fantasy can take something that is truly as dark as systematic oppression and slavery and adequately handle its complexities and nuances, that grittiness and darkness is every bit earned and used to its fullest potential. Parts of this book made me put it down, because for as unique and utterly alien the world of the Stillness is, it is so harrowingly real that it's hard not to act viscerally when reading. This wasn't to The Fifth Season's detriment; I think the point was to react, and to react deeply.
Syenite and Alabaster are easily two of my favorite characters in any fiction, hands down. They are wonderfully complex, interesting people. Their relationship is something that I don't think I've seen done half as well elsewhere. When I think of dynamic characters, N.K. Jemisin's have settled at the top as some of the best.
Final Thoughts? This book belongs on everyone's bookshelves. Between the amazing and often daring writing, the world building, the characters, and the themes, The Fifth Season is above and beyond anything I ever expected when I started reading it. Add on to that how seamless queerness and polyamory were included and you've got the perfect book. Easiest five stars I've ever given.
If there's ever a book that combines phenomenal world building, poignant character development and characters, and untouchable commentary that spans systems of oppression, racism, power imbalances, and climate decline, it's The Fifth Season. N.K. Jeminisin is a veritable powerhouse of a writer. Her prose is as tight and beautiful as her story is mesmerizing. It's gritty. It's dark. But in terms of how well a fantasy can take something that is truly as dark as systematic oppression and slavery and adequately handle its complexities and nuances, that grittiness and darkness is every bit earned and used to its fullest potential. Parts of this book made me put it down, because for as unique and utterly alien the world of the Stillness is, it is so harrowingly real that it's hard not to act viscerally when reading. This wasn't to The Fifth Season's detriment; I think the point was to react, and to react deeply.
Syenite and Alabaster are easily two of my favorite characters in any fiction, hands down. They are wonderfully complex, interesting people. Their relationship is something that I don't think I've seen done half as well elsewhere. When I think of dynamic characters, N.K. Jemisin's have settled at the top as some of the best.
Final Thoughts? This book belongs on everyone's bookshelves. Between the amazing and often daring writing, the world building, the characters, and the themes, The Fifth Season is above and beyond anything I ever expected when I started reading it. Add on to that how seamless queerness and polyamory were included and you've got the perfect book. Easiest five stars I've ever given.