The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemisin

⭐ 10.0/10

(Originally written by hoodie_logi)

I'm honestly at a loss for words for how to describe this book. My interest was piqued when I read that each one of the books in this trilogy received the Hugo award, making it the first book series EVER to do that. And let me tell you, I'm not sure I have ever read such a hauntingly, beautiful book. It deserves and earns all the love and praise it has received.

This book is heavily involved with the critique and exploration of systemic racism and impending climate doom. The story focuses on a group of people called orogenes. It is an ability one is born with and allows them to draw power from the earth around them and use it to manipulate the earth around them in response. They have the ability to quell earthquakes, raise mountains and much more. However, when untrained, Orogenes are extremely dangerous, and when they draw too much power, the immediate area surrounding them freezes and proves fatal to anything and everything caught in their path. For that reason, they are heavily hated and feared by "The Stills", essentially this worlds muggles. The only two options Stills have when they meet an Orogene is to kill them, or report them to the government. Life as an Orogene is either one spent in complete secrecy, scared of being killed just for the way you were born, or one spent as a slave to the government, sworn to complete obedience for the usefulness of Orogeny in the greater world.

On top of that, the world, every few centuries experiences cataclysmic events known as the fifth season, which nearly wipe out all of humanity each time they happen. Some last five years, other last centuries. Because of this, humanities only goal is survival, technological advancement is nearly impossible.

This book was able to showcase how systemic racism can effect individuals inflicted by it in ways that I have never encountered in a work of fiction before. The subtext is insane, and every major revelation is worked through the lens of the characters and the emotions they feel through it. Jemisin is a masterful writer and has fleshed out a world unlike anything I've ever encountered.

Seriously, I say this a lot, but this one I mean it. Read this book. But do it when you're ready. It's dark, bleak, beautiful and can be really tough to get through at times. But it was so worth it. I can't wait to see where the rest of the series goes.