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

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Trigger warnings: racism, torture, child abuse, domestic abuse, death of child, sexual assault and child sexual assault, confinement, slavery, murder, gore, emotional abuse, sexual content

A biting allegory for the atlantic slave trade and the treatment of enslaved folk, representation of generational trauma and the pain of choices made to protect and survive, and so much more. 

It's a three part timeline following three characters in different eras of this world leading up to the catastrophic natural disaster that will lead to the next seasonal change that occurs in this universe. Each character is living an entirely different life: a child getting recruited into an academy to train her powers, a trainee going on her first mission, and a women with powers who was in hiding and is now in search of her kidnapped child.

I had no idea where anything was headed nor what the goal of the book was outside of survival. In that way I suppose this is a dystopic apocalypse survival book as well as a fantasy. Every new detail revealed was a depressing shock to the system as I read yet everything that led me to say, well what the hell else did I expect that's the dire reality of this world and the real world tragedies it's referencing.

I look forward to the next two books with trepidation.

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