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The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, 1)
At the end of the world, a woman must hide her secret power and find her kidnapped daughter in this "intricate and extraordinary" Hugo Award winning novel of power, oppression, and revolution. (The New York Times)
This is the way the world ends. . .for the last time.
It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester.
This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.
Read the first book in the critically acclaimed, three-time Hugo award-winning trilogy by NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin.
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Community Reviews
Objectively, this is a real good start to what I have heard is a great fantasy trilogy. This was a difficult book for me to rate because I think my personal rating of the book (7 ⭐️) and what I can recognize as the rating objectively great components of the book (9 ⭐️) would lead to different ratings.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book but man were there many times when I read something and thought “what the actual fuck” or I was caught unawares by something abrupt and uncomfy. This book is intentionally written to make you uncomfortable and questioning. There is a lot of bigotry, “othering”, and dehumanization talk and wrestling with those themes in this book. But the way it is implemented into the story is key to the journey of a lot of characters and understanding the world and different choices. It has a point. It teaches you things and makes you - and the characters - confront things you’d rather not.
There were also times where I genuinely laughed at some of the things characters said. Sometimes in a “what the fuck where did that come from” kind of way. Or from my own funny brain and kindle comments lol.
The prologue is the most disorienting and confusing thing to read. The writing is a very specific style and very cryptic “let’s start at the end” in the prologue. You definitely need to adjust to the style and also make it past the prologue. The story is written in second person POV so be ready for that. It is also non-linear and fragmented in a lot of ways, but also organized and stitched together in a way that does end up making sense at the end in a satisfying way. Trust the process lol
Ultimately, I can recognize this was a really well written book and the start to a good fantasy trilogy. The world building is unique and the magic system is as well. I loved how visceral orogeny felt. But I just didn’t get that into it while reading it, and most characters I didn’t really care about, which ultimately has lead to the rating disparity for me 🤷🏻♀️
DNF....Chapter 6 and still its just not for me. This is a book with an imaginary world and trying to figure out the different factions and the many main characters just got to exhausting and complicated. Sorry just not for me.
2.75 - this narration was all over the place. i could barely follow it which could be on me but the second person narration really took me out of the story. there was so much the author tried to include in the story and i donât think it worked. it was just a confusing narration and i didnât enjoy it. itâs not bad writing per say, but definitely not for me. this was a slog to get through.
This book was written well, however, itâs not my genre. I read it because it was recommended, but it wasnât for me.
The Fifth Season falls into a category that for me, is very difficult to rate. It is greatly overhyped (as of 2024), it seems very unpolished and rushed at times, but it still is a very good book.
The book starts rather poorly. The writing style -although interesting- leaves much to be desired. Especially when it comes from an experienced author in a celebrated book. It gets better as it goes on, but at some point it may look like the start of the book was written from a different person. If you see it as an experiment though, you may like it.
The world building is impressive. It makes you want to know more about the world and the power system. Also, the fight scenes are easy to follow and do not drag too much. The characters are a bit bad though. Most of them are more villains than heroes and by the end I did not care too much about what happens to them.
Also, what is this with all the fantasy books that NEED to have twists? Any experienced reader can see some of the twists around 100 pages before they happen...
In any way, I could not stop reading it. I wanted to reach the end and see what happens and i did not get bored in any part of the book. But since the characters are so underwhelming, I don't think I will ever read the sequels.
tl:dr worth your time. Not worth the awards though...
The book starts rather poorly. The writing style -although interesting- leaves much to be desired. Especially when it comes from an experienced author in a celebrated book. It gets better as it goes on, but at some point it may look like the start of the book was written from a different person. If you see it as an experiment though, you may like it.
The world building is impressive. It makes you want to know more about the world and the power system. Also, the fight scenes are easy to follow and do not drag too much. The characters are a bit bad though. Most of them are more villains than heroes and by the end I did not care too much about what happens to them.
Also, what is this with all the fantasy books that NEED to have twists? Any experienced reader can see some of the twists around 100 pages before they happen...
In any way, I could not stop reading it. I wanted to reach the end and see what happens and i did not get bored in any part of the book. But since the characters are so underwhelming, I don't think I will ever read the sequels.
tl:dr worth your time. Not worth the awards though...
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