The Fifth Season by Nora Keita Jemisin is a book I am having trouble to really write a review on. I have to be careful not to spoil some things. The world is a future earth that has been plagued by earthquakes & eruptions due to what is considered an angry father earth. It seems humans, a long time ago, angered the earth and are now hit with population reducing effects occasionally. This has caused civilization to be built around this concept. After seeing that Jemisin teaches a masterclass on worldbuilding and how to construct new realities with believable cultures, characters, and magic I had to read what made her highly valued in this area. She is definitely one of the best I have ever read in this respect. Everything seems fluid and believable that this is how humans would come to adapt and survive in such a world.
The world building is top notch, lets discuss characters. The main PoVs took me some time to really get invested in. My favorite was Syenite. I felt like her PoV had the best perspective to help us understand how this world was built. It gave me a good lay of the land we are dealing with. I also connected with her personality the most. After you read this book that may seem like an odd statement to some, but I stand by it. It also took me more than half the book to get really vested into what was happening in this society in terms of caring about what the characters did next. Before I was just kind of following them along and studying the world they described and how they felt about it. By the end though my curiosity was piqued enough I will go onto the next book soon.
The magic system is based on what many would call earth magic. A world plagued by the earths crust it makes sense the magic system developed with being able to manipulate the earth, especially in calming it to help society or use it to attack. Of course, the ruling powers also have a way to control and counter magic as well through Guardians. These people creep me out and it becomes more apparent why as the story unfolds. This kind of climate has made the world a darker place with heavy prejudices that lead to enslavement and murder of those that can wield this magic, they are called Orogenes. They essentially seem like they are seen as a step beneath regular humans aka still as they are sometimes referred to. It’s a toxic relationship either way.
I don’t think it goes without saying that a world plagued by natural disasters is going to have many issues; Resources will be less, planning ahead crucial, structured communities, and worry of impending doom. The big issue are humans with the ability to manipulate this environment will be treated differently. In this story, not very well at all by even the lowest caste of “regular” human. That is something that is apparent early on. There is some tough death and mistreatment one has to deal with in reading this book. There is also a kind of caste system. This includes men and women being labeled as breeders or paired to breed for the betterment of mankind according to some. Either for appearances, robustness, magic, etc. It is basically genetic manipulation in creating better humans in the eyes of the people in charge. This is just how society operates.
There is a lot to take in when learning about this world. Even after book 1 there are many more questions I have along many categories and what the full endgame will be for these characters. The main message given to a main protagonist leaves me perplexed about what is in store for book two. I will say the good thing about this series is the strong female characters, sexuality is viewed as natural, the living culture you get immersed in, & the great writing. I can see why people rave about this book. I enjoyed it very much, especially the second half. Even if I end up not connecting with the entire trilogy as a whole, I will be reading more Jemisin in the future.
SPOILER SECTION
I actually am not going to say much in this. I did plan on reading the trilogy straight though, but after a second child’s death I decided on a break. I will say how Jemisin was able to make one person feel like three different PoVs was quite masterful in that people change a lot as they grow. I am enjoying some of the Syenite personality start to come out of Essun near the end. I also think its quite tricky to make us not notice the celestial bodies above until Alabaster mentions the moon. There is some well-crafted writing in making this story.
My biggest question though is WTF are the stone eaters and are they eating Orogenes that have turned to stone? Is this a symbiotic relationship? What is the purpose? So many questions. I’m also more curious to how Guardians are created. There is some idea given, but the overall process seems to need more exploring. I don’t like it when they are around of course. CREEP ME OUT. I also did not see the Tonkee reveal coming. Its hard to blindside me completely, but it happened. Clever.
I honestly have no idea where this story is going or what I even want to happen. This world is so complex and, well, broken to say the least. Essun seems like she has some trials ahead of her and it was quite frustrating that her daughter is still no where to be found. I will take a short break from this series as I settle down from everything that happened and look forward to book two.