I didn’t know much about The Fifth Season before picking it up. In fact, I don’t think I even read the synopsis. My favorite BookTuber, Peruse Project, raved about it in one of her Reading Vlogs, so that was all the convincing I needed. I started to read.

And five years later, I finished it.

Five years? Really?

Of course not. But the slow start really threw me for a loop. When I saw “One of the most celebrated new voices in epic fantasy” on Goodreads, I thought I just found my next favorite series. And it was looking that way early on. In just a matter of a few pages, the world ends, a son is murdered, a daughter is kidnapped, and some kind of alien being is birthed from a rock. But then everything de-escalated from there. Did I choose to ignore the many reviews that complained about the same thing? Yup. But to be fair, the pace picked back up eventually. And then slowed back down…then picked up… You’re seeing my pain-in-the-ass problem here, right?

We get it. What else?

The world-building is spot on. I’m a fan of completely original magic systems, and Jemisin delivers in this category. The history of this planet is riddled with devastating earthquakes, catastrophic tsunamis, acid rain, basically anything that can wipe out hundreds of thousands of humans in an instant. Our protagonist is an orogene—someone who can “feel” or manipulate the Earth. They have the power to stop one of these disasters from happening. The problem? They can also cause one, as easily as snapping a finger, which is why they try to keep themselves hidden. If caught, they are either killed (mainly out of fear) or sent to the Fulcrum, where orogenes are taught to safely use their powers and then forever serve the Guardians.

Sounds intriguing.

That’s because it is. Jemisin takes the “throw readers into the deep end” approach, so if you don’t understand the terminology or historical references used throughout, just flip to the Appendix in the back (which I frustratingly didn’t realize was there until finishing). Other than that, I loved following the perspectives of three strong female characters. You don’t come across that very often.

Did you say three?

YUP. I know that’s weird to those of you who read the synopsis, which only talks about a vengeful mother traversing a dying land in search of her daughter. What it doesn’t tell you is that you’ll also follow the stories of Damaya and Syenite. Damaya is a young girl who is taken from a shit family and sent to the Fulcrum, where her curiosity and ability to lay low help her discover a few secrets—and get her into a lot of trouble. Syenite is a spunky four-ringer (the number of rings you wear shows your level of skill) who is on a mission with the ten-ringer (the highest you can go; very rare), Alabaster. Now that I’ve finished the book, I understand why they wouldn’t be mentioned in an official synopsis, but you should be aware because it makes the plot more interesting.

So where does the “but” come in…

I’m just lost in so many loose ends. Each of the three women travels with side characters that leave me with more questions than not. Sure, you got to leave the reader wanting more for the rest of the series, but every time I thought I would learn more about someone’s story, the chapter would end and I’d be left hanging. It’s one thing to excitedly anticipate what’s next, it’s something else entirely trying to keep track of which plotlines and characters still need more elaborating. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not confusing per se; it’s just annoying that Jemisin left literally everything for the next book.

Worth a read?

Yeah. I’ll give the second one a go (and not just because I have to). There’s a solid cliffhanger in the end, and I had a nice aha! moment near the middle (<– I realize the vagueness in this statement, but it’s necessary).

Too lazy to check Goodreads? I got you:

Title: The Fifth Season
Author: N.K. Jemisin
Series: The Broken Earth #1
Pages: 498 (ebook)
Publish Date: August 4, 2014

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