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A review by ellereadsbookslike
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
~Short Synopsis~
The world is ending...again. Welcome to The Stillness, a broken world familiar with struggles and natural disasters. Orogenes, those who wield the power of the earth as a weapon, are feared but they are also the only ones who can quell the shakes. When Essun, an Orogene masquerading as a school teacher, comes home to find her son has been brutally murdered and her daughter has been kidnapped, she decides to hunt down the culprit...her husband.
~Review~
I didn't really know what to expect with this book as neither the blurb nor the cover give much away. But I was absolutely blown away by this book. Dystopian fantasy is my all time favourite genre and THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT!
The writing style is so unique with some of it being written in 2nd person; which is incredibly hard to pull off but Jemisin does it effortlessly. The world building is slow, only revealing information when it's absolutely necessary. And the plot twists are something else!
I also loved how un-hetronormative it is (I won't go into details as potential spoilers).
This is the kind of book where you should go into it knowing as little as possible and you also need to give it to at least page 50 before it will start to make sense (but that is the case for most high fantasy). Also this is definitely 18+ as there is mature content and some disturbing scenes.
If you're a fan of The Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon then I think you would enjoy this book.
The world is ending...again. Welcome to The Stillness, a broken world familiar with struggles and natural disasters. Orogenes, those who wield the power of the earth as a weapon, are feared but they are also the only ones who can quell the shakes. When Essun, an Orogene masquerading as a school teacher, comes home to find her son has been brutally murdered and her daughter has been kidnapped, she decides to hunt down the culprit...her husband.
~Review~
I didn't really know what to expect with this book as neither the blurb nor the cover give much away. But I was absolutely blown away by this book. Dystopian fantasy is my all time favourite genre and THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT!
The writing style is so unique with some of it being written in 2nd person; which is incredibly hard to pull off but Jemisin does it effortlessly. The world building is slow, only revealing information when it's absolutely necessary. And the plot twists are something else!
I also loved how un-hetronormative it is (I won't go into details as potential spoilers).
This is the kind of book where you should go into it knowing as little as possible and you also need to give it to at least page 50 before it will start to make sense (but that is the case for most high fantasy). Also this is definitely 18+ as there is mature content and some disturbing scenes.
If you're a fan of The Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon then I think you would enjoy this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Vomit
Moderate: Sexual content and Slavery