The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

The Fifth Season (Broken Earth Trilogy, #1)

by N. K. Jemisin

Winner of the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Novel
Book 1 in the double Hugo-Award-winning trilogy

*A New York Times Notable Book*
*Shortlisted for the World Fantasy, Nebula, Kitschies, Audie and Locus Awards*
*The inaugural Wired.com book club pick*

THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS . . . FOR THE LAST TIME.
IT STARTS WITH THE GREAT RED RIFT across the heart of the world, 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.

'Astounding' NPR
'Amazing' Ann Leckie
'Breaks uncharted ground' Library Journal
'Powerful' io9
'Elegiac, complex, and intriguing' Publishers Weekly
'Intricate and extraordinary' New York Times
'Brilliant' Washington Post

The Broken Earth trilogy is complete - beginning with The Fifth Season, continuing in The Obelisk Gate (Winner of the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel) and concluding with The Stone Sky (Shortlisted for the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novel).

Reviewed by nannah on

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I'm so sorry, I must be the only person who didn't like this book. And that's okay, I guess. I couldn't finish it -- DNF around 50%.

The writing? Beautiful. The world building? Beautiful.
I just couldn't ... get into it. I don't know what it was. The 2nd person narrative or the fact the 2nd-person-pov protagonist got less page time than every other pov character or just that I couldn't connect to the characters (other than Hoa)? I don't know.

But what made me stop was when Damaya got to the Fulcrum for her training, and it ended up being like some school setting where every child schemed against one another, and of course, Damaya was the most bullied kid there. Mostly, though, it was when during the bullying, there was talk about gay sex and "breeders". It opens a huge can of worms for me, and I just can't go there; I don't want to know where it goes.

Maybe when I'm in a better place, I'll pick this up again (so no rating, of course).

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 11 July, 2019: Finished reading
  • 11 July, 2019: Reviewed