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A review by asoulversation
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
I’ve never read a book and been so confounded throughout. Not at the intricate world building or the clever allegory, but rather at the superb writing. How did she DO that?! I loved it.
A woman’s husband has murdered their son, and he’s now fleeing with their daughter. The post-apocalyptic world they inhabit, a super continent called The Stillness, is not safe, and it’s anything but still. 400 centuries in the future, they’re barely surviving the earthquakes and famines as they enter The Fifth Season, a sort of human-induced climate change, with no sun and water, that now happens spontaneously every now and then and last for a century or two. The story focuses on a girl, a young woman and an older woman. The narration jumps from one to the other and they’re not with each other. This was the most frustrating thing for me because I wanted to get to the part where I find out how these seemingly disparate stories merge. It made the world building feel long, but it was worth it in the end as it all came together. To say anything more about plot is to give too many spoilers. I will say though that themes contained are disaster survival, oppression, identity, history, epistemology, power, prejudice, environmental degradation, motherhood and found family. We also have some pirates, non-humans and the best polyamorous relationship I’ve read to date.
I liked sci-fi and fantasy but was always put off by the limited way white cishet men were able to imagine the world. It always seemed to centre them, and the way they perceive things. Like how all the alien movies are about them attacking us and trying to colonise us. Really? Lol. Turns out Sci-fi and Fantasy written by Black, Indigenous and People of Colour, Queer folks, and Women are better (IMO) because we already live in the space of Other but we are not Other to ourselves.
I read Parable of the Sower at the same time as this, and let me tell you between Octavia Butler and NK Jemisin, I was intoxicated with imaginative brilliance.
A woman’s husband has murdered their son, and he’s now fleeing with their daughter. The post-apocalyptic world they inhabit, a super continent called The Stillness, is not safe, and it’s anything but still. 400 centuries in the future, they’re barely surviving the earthquakes and famines as they enter The Fifth Season, a sort of human-induced climate change, with no sun and water, that now happens spontaneously every now and then and last for a century or two. The story focuses on a girl, a young woman and an older woman. The narration jumps from one to the other and they’re not with each other. This was the most frustrating thing for me because I wanted to get to the part where I find out how these seemingly disparate stories merge. It made the world building feel long, but it was worth it in the end as it all came together. To say anything more about plot is to give too many spoilers. I will say though that themes contained are disaster survival, oppression, identity, history, epistemology, power, prejudice, environmental degradation, motherhood and found family. We also have some pirates, non-humans and the best polyamorous relationship I’ve read to date.
I liked sci-fi and fantasy but was always put off by the limited way white cishet men were able to imagine the world. It always seemed to centre them, and the way they perceive things. Like how all the alien movies are about them attacking us and trying to colonise us. Really? Lol. Turns out Sci-fi and Fantasy written by Black, Indigenous and People of Colour, Queer folks, and Women are better (IMO) because we already live in the space of Other but we are not Other to ourselves.
I read Parable of the Sower at the same time as this, and let me tell you between Octavia Butler and NK Jemisin, I was intoxicated with imaginative brilliance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Child abuse, and Racism