The Fifth Season is different—it stirs a whirlwind of emotions and evokes numerous associations with the society we live in today.
Book Review: The Fifth Season
- Author: N. K. Jemisin
- Series: The Broken Earth
- Publisher: Orbit
- First published: August 4, 2015
- Format: 468 pages, Paperback
- ASIN: B0DLSQXX9N
- Language: English
Plot
N. K. Jemisin transports us to a harsh world that has faced destruction far too many times. The land is shaken by earthquakes and torn apart by volcanic activity, yet people have learned to survive in this unforgiving environment. Death is the Fifth Season—it has taken many forms over the years. The Breathless Season, when toxic gas eruptions led to mass asphyxiations for 120 years. The Season of Teeth, when an earthquake triggered a supervolcanic eruption that caught the population unprepared—resulting in cannibalism and mass death.
In this world, known as the Stillness, two types of people exist: the stills and the orogenes. The first are ordinary people without supernatural abilities, while the second possess a gift—a curse—that allows them to manipulate seismic and volcanic activity. An untrained orogene is a mortal danger, which is why children who show signs of this ability are often killed on the spot. A few are “lucky” enough to be taken in by the Guardians and turned into weapons of the Fulcrum.
The story follows the lives of three heroines:
- Essun is a woman with the ability to control the Earth’s energies, a power known as orogeny. She loses her son in a tragic way, and her daughter is taken away by her husband for unknown reasons. Essun embarks on a journey to find her daughter and avenge her son’s death.
- Damaya is a young girl betrayed by her parents and sent away to train in controlling her orogenic abilities. Her story vividly portrays the discrimination and fate of orogenes.
- Syenite is a trained orogene working for the government structure known as the Fulcrum. She is sent on a mission with the most powerful orogene of her generation, Alabaster, who holds ten rings (a symbol of skill in orogeny). During their journey, Syenite uncovers long-hidden secrets about their society and horrifying truths about the lives of orogenes.
What Did N. K. Jemisin Achieve?
This is not just an award-winning sci-fi novel—it’s a story that makes you think and recognize striking parallels with our own world. And I don’t just mean the way Earth retaliates against human exploitation. I’m talking about prejudice and even racism.
This book is raw, brutally honest, and unflinchingly tackles painful themes. It reveals a society that is ruthless, efficient, and merciless in its quest for survival. It values usefulness, and anyone who doesn’t fit the mold is cast aside.
Orogenes possess great power, yet society fears and despises them—while simultaneously depending on their abilities to survive. Jemisin presents a system built on lies and rewritten history to maintain control. She depicts methods of abuse and brainwashing from childhood to instill obedience. An orogene’s duty is to submit and fulfill their designated role. Behind the mask of training and supposed freedom, Jemisin shows how orogenes are turned into weapons.
But she doesn’t stop there.
The population of the Stillness is diverse—skin color, hair, distinguishing features… But Jemisin delves even deeper into these differences by exploring human sexuality. She discusses love and family relationships beyond the conventional framework.
Verdict
Give The Fifth Season a chance. This is the first book in N. K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth trilogy, and in my opinion, it requires patience to fully appreciate. It took me some time to get used to the book’s structure and truly grasp the essence of its world. By the end, I was left with many unanswered questions—and even more new ones.
Still, I came to the conclusion that The Fifth Season is an excellent start to a trilogy. It’s a provocative and original blend of fantasy and sci-fi that delivers an emotional punch and captivates with its characters’ journeys. The book has won numerous awards, and in my opinion, they are well deserved.
I give it a full 5 stars.
This is the way the world ends. Again.
Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze — the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization’s bedrock for a thousand years — collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman’s vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.
Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She’ll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.
