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A review by eesh25
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
3.0
It took me a while to get into this book. We're kinda thrown right in with stuff being referred to that we don't know yet. And it takes several chapters for the world and the magic system to start making sense. Though this isn't the first book to do that. I just wanted to mention it so you know to be a little patient.
The story follows three women. One is Essun, a middle-aged woman whose husband just murdered their infant son and ran away with their daughter, so she's trying to catch up with them. The other two are Syenite and Damaya. One is a young woman while the other is a young girl. And the book starts with a "season" kicking off. A season is when a part of the earth basically cracks, emitting smoke, lava and ash, and ruins the atmosphere around for a few, or many, years, depending on the big the crack is. Yeah, the world this book is set in is very unstable.
So anyway, we have three storylines to follow. And while none are uninteresting, I preferred Syenite's POV to the other two. I think it's because hers is the storyline that involves exploration and world-building. It's through her that we get a lot of the information we need. Still, I liked the other two as well. Essun's POV was quite sad.
Speaking of, the reason for her husband's action is kind of the main plot of the series. The thing the three protagonists have in common is that they're all Orogenes. Orogenes are people with abilities to control the earth, and they are highly (and I mean highly) discriminated against. Even the ones who aren't killed the moment their orogeny shows have no freedom. A huge part of the novel is about the horrors of how orogenes are treated. And the horrors... they're bad. Not recommended for the faint of heart.
And... yeah, that's what this novel is. We have three storylines to follow, and we slowly see how they relate. We also have a world to explore and learn about. And there are mysteries about what's really going on, but a lot of them don't get resolved since this is only the first book.
I know I'm probably not selling you on the novel. But that's because I didn't find much that pulled me in. There were things that were interesting, characters that I liked, and I did genuinely enjoy the world-building. But I kept waiting for something to happen that would have me invested and eager to read on, and it never did. And no, it had nothing to do with the second-person POV. I know people were bothered that Essun's chapters were in second person, but it was fine for me. Especially since it's later revealed that there's a reason for it.
Honestly, I liked the book but I found it underwhelming. The ending was good—though was the last line supposed to make sense? Because it didn't to me—and I will be reading the sequel. I just hope it'll have a proper plot with characters doing things instead of them wandering around with things happening to them. This one was too much of a set-up book.
The story follows three women. One is Essun, a middle-aged woman whose husband just murdered their infant son and ran away with their daughter, so she's trying to catch up with them. The other two are Syenite and Damaya. One is a young woman while the other is a young girl. And the book starts with a "season" kicking off. A season is when a part of the earth basically cracks, emitting smoke, lava and ash, and ruins the atmosphere around for a few, or many, years, depending on the big the crack is. Yeah, the world this book is set in is very unstable.
So anyway, we have three storylines to follow. And while none are uninteresting, I preferred Syenite's POV to the other two. I think it's because hers is the storyline that involves exploration and world-building. It's through her that we get a lot of the information we need. Still, I liked the other two as well. Essun's POV was quite sad.
Speaking of, the reason for her husband's action is kind of the main plot of the series. The thing the three protagonists have in common is that they're all Orogenes. Orogenes are people with abilities to control the earth, and they are highly (and I mean highly) discriminated against. Even the ones who aren't killed the moment their orogeny shows have no freedom. A huge part of the novel is about the horrors of how orogenes are treated. And the horrors... they're bad. Not recommended for the faint of heart.
And... yeah, that's what this novel is. We have three storylines to follow, and we slowly see how they relate. We also have a world to explore and learn about. And there are mysteries about what's really going on, but a lot of them don't get resolved since this is only the first book.
I know I'm probably not selling you on the novel. But that's because I didn't find much that pulled me in. There were things that were interesting, characters that I liked, and I did genuinely enjoy the world-building. But I kept waiting for something to happen that would have me invested and eager to read on, and it never did. And no, it had nothing to do with the second-person POV. I know people were bothered that Essun's chapters were in second person, but it was fine for me. Especially since it's later revealed that there's a reason for it.
Honestly, I liked the book but I found it underwhelming. The ending was good—though was the last line supposed to make sense? Because it didn't to me—and I will be reading the sequel. I just hope it'll have a proper plot with characters doing things instead of them wandering around with things happening to them. This one was too much of a set-up book.