The Fifth Season, the first in a fantasy series titled The Broken Earth by N.K. Jemisin, has remarkable writing and intriguing characters. It is the sort of book you will re-read, the sort you will think about well after you are finished, the sort that will leave a mark.
Also reviewed by Rob Bedford in 2015.
The story is told from three viewpoints: Damaya, a child learning what she is; Syenite, a young woman navigating the treacherous politics of her order; and Essun, a middle-age woman avenging her murdered child. Each of their plot lines are intricately woven while the author reveals a remarkable world of orogenes (those with the magical ability to literally move mountains), stone eaters (a strange species that meddles with the affairs of humans), and stills (those who can only sess, or feel, the world around them, but not manipulate it).
In the land of Stillness, the world is broken. There is winter, spring, summer and fall, but also a fifth season; a season during which the world is broken asunder, lava and ash belch forth and the people on its surface die, with only a few surviving.
And this world is old. It has been broken many times. Ancient civilizations have risen only to be buried by the next fifth season. The current civilization, the Stanzed, have survived more than one these devastating seasons. They have stone lore to guide them through, teach them how to protect themselves and survive when food and water may be scarce. More importantly, the stone lore teaches what to do with orogenes, or roggas, those special people with the ability to move earth and kill everyone around them.
But there are more terrible remnants from a different age. Obelisks hover in the sky like lost space ships. No one really knows what they are or what they do. They are simply there and slowly it is revealed that these great stone edifices in the sky may be more dangerous than anyone had ever thought.
Our heroines find themselves on a path that will take them through situations that will leave the most hardened of us weeping, and to a place where they may just discover why their world is broken.
Ms. Jemisin alternates between the three point-of-view characters deftly. However, be forewarned, not only does the author employ different viewpoint characters to tell the story (and those may prove superficial), she also employs the second-person voice for one of those. It is a deliberate choice, of course, and one that is immediately intriguing, though some may find it off-putting. But just keep reading. The narrator is obtrusive at first, but she soon takes a back seat to the story and the world building (though by the end of the book, just who that narrator is will become another tantalizing mystery).
One of Ms. Jemisin’s strengths is the detailed and other-worldly places she creates. The world in The Fifth Season is no exception. This book contains a level of world-building and a mix of magic, culture, and geology that is both intricate and surreal. While the scientist in me (I have a background in ecology, geography and geology) balked at the lack of adherence to basic physics, I was impressed by the way Ms. Jemisin mixed in real world geologic features into this story. The world isn’t just the backdrop for the drama her characters endure. It is a dangerous and fickle character in its own right, and those who manipulate her will ultimately pay the price.
I read Ms. Jemisin’s Dreamblood series (review here and here). And in those books, I was captured by her unique characters. It was no different in The Fifth Season. This is another of this author’s strengths. Her characters are full, real people. Capable of heart-wrenching mistakes and terrifying accomplishments. She puts them in situations none of us would ever want to be in, and we follow them along commiserating with them and hoping against all odds they will come out alive.
While I was disappointed with the cliff-hanger ending (and a reveal that we all pretty much see coming about half-way through the book), this is an amazing story. Reading The Fifth Season for the world-building alone is worth it. But Damaya, Syenite, and Essun will capture your heart. You’ll read to find out how they survive the next season. And how they will fix it.
Highly recommended.
The Fifth Season is the winner of the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The second book in this series, The Obelisk Gate, is now available from Orbit.
The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth #1) by N.K. Jemisin
Kindle Edition
Published August 2015
N.E. White, September, 2016.
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