The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin Review
Where to even begin? I started this review in many ways, and none seemed to do The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin justice. How do I speak to something that is so far beyond my abilities as a writer? The world-building alone had me scraping my jaw off the floor from page one, not to mention character development. That on its own is worthy of an essay on innovative thinking.
The Fifth Season is the first book in the Broken Earth series. The story follows three women, Damaya, Essun, and Syenite, as they navigate life in the Stillness. In this world, volcanic upheavals create Fifth Seasons, extended winters lasting for at least six months. Within the Silence are a host of people displaying various traits that allow them to survive; strongbacks are known for their physical prowess, adapting them for manual labor while ashblow hair can be used to filter volcanic ash and smoke. Chief among these traits is the ability to control the volatile magma chambers beneath the planet’s surface. These individuals, known as rogas (derogatory) or orogens (less degrading), are feared, hated, and tolerated depending on their training. This training is inflected and provided by the Fulcrum, a governmental organization created to harness the power of orogens.
There is an art to world-building. A few books come to mind when I think of world-building done well: The Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. These books take the reader to a new land to experience new cultures. N.K. Jemisin does this, but in a way that blew my mind. Jemisin doesn’t just introduce readers to a new world. She thrusts them into a foreign land with strange parlance, alien customs, magic, and mysteries. Where some authors flog their readers with exposition or place a noob in the mix that stands in for the reader, Jemisin takes a different approach.
Jemisin’s world-building is otherworldly. The Silence is alien but familiar. Slang terms are informed by the plant’s instability. I was reminded of the television series Serenity and Battlestar Galactica (two of my favorite Sci-fi shows), where the viewer is introduced to a slice of the culture through idiomatic expressions. Jemisin doesn’t explain these expressions because she doesn’t have to be. Context clues are enough. That’s how Jemisin’s narrative unfolds. There will be no hand-holding, so pay attention as you read. It’s the only way to navigate The Fifth Season. Well, almost.
Jemisin introduces readers to a rich history in The Fifth Season. Time is broken into Seasons. Each Season derives its name from the effects it has on the planet’s ecosystems. For example, an eruption of Mount Yrga caused widespread mercury contamination known as The Heavy Metal Season. When I say “almost” concerning hand-holding, I’m referring to Appendix A and B at the back of The Fifth Season, containing a catalog of Fifth Seasons and a glossary. I bought the e-book, which means I missed this detail until the end of the book (I find browsing e-books uncomfortable and clumsy, so I don’t do it). Would it have made some of the descriptions easier to grasp? Absolutely. Would I have understood what seasons are way earlier? You bet. Did not have it until the end hinder me at all? Heck no. Either way, Jemisin is a top-notch writer, and I can’t even imagine penning something remotely as detailed as this book. I can’t wait to read the rest of this series. It is amazing.
If you like books that break conventions, challenge you as a reader, and take you places you hadn’t fathomed existed, read this book. Read it. What are you waiting for? Go read it.
