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

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

4.0

This first book was really hard for me to get into. Jemisin throws you right into the world and all the layers of lore and history that come with it. It's also a book that deals with some very heavy themes of oppression, abuse, and grief. I found it emotionally easier (safer?) to engage with Syenite's story, though by the end, I appreciated the fragmented storylines and felt like they added up to more than the sum of their parts. 

Things that stick with me: 

• Alabaster taking Syenite to see the node maintainer, the weight of knowledge and all of its implications, the real life analogies. 
• The exceptionalism of the fulcrum and the clash with the bureaucrat in Allia who still sees Syen and Alabaster as less-than-human no matter how polished, accomplished, or useful they make themselves.
• The brief respite of Meov and Syen's unconventional family in Alabaster, Innon, Coru, and the islanders.
• The Earth as a powerful agent of its own that gives and takes, but only as much as is fair.
• No history is ever inevitable, maps always extend beyond their printed borders, there are always other ways to live.