The Fifth Season Review (Book 1 of the Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jeminsin)

Since I started scrolling through BookTok for fantasy books to read about two years ago, I have heard nothing but rave reviews about this book. After all, it was the 2016 winner of the Hugo Awards and also the only fantasy novel to make The New York Times’s best 100 books of the 21st century. (Although I get the feeling that the people in charge of creating that list were not big fantasy readers, but I digress.)

Despite all the hype, I was intimidated to read it as I heard it is not beginner-friendly and that it’s also quite grim, taking place in a post-apocalyptic world. And so although it has been on my TBR all this time, it was only a few days ago I finally decided to pick it up.

To sum it up my thoughts in one word: Wow. To sum them up in more articulate words, read my detailed The Fifth Season Review below! (I may talk about some parts of the book but will do my best to keep spoilers to a minimum!)

Disclaimer: The below contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase after clicking on one, I may earn a commission. Full disclosure here.

Overview

4.5 Star Rating

Book One of The Inheritance Trilogy

Subgenre – Dystopian science fantasy, grimdark

Read if you like

• Unique world-building

• Kindle Unlimited

• Gritty, dark storylines

• Brilliant story-telling with a unique style

Pass if you don’t like

• Some disturbing scenes with depictions/suggestions of abuse and murder

• Dark themes

• Present tense narration (I don’t know why, but for some people this is a “book ick”)

• Jumping into the deep end with world-building (more on this below.)

Plot

On the continent known as the Stillness, the Fifth Season is known to strike every few hundred years or so, which is when the planet’s seismic activity causes huge changes to the planet, leading to an extended “season” of time of harsh living conditions with extreme weather and scarce resources.

In this setting, we meet Essun, a woman living in a small village who comes home to find her young son has been murdered and her daughter kidnapped by her husband – this right after an enormous rift has opened in the earth, causing ashfall and – essentially – the start of the Fifth Season. She pursues her husband and daughter as civilization begins to break down around her, meeting some interesting characters along the way.

There are also two other storylines – one following Dayama, a young girl who has just been discovered to be an orogenist, who is is able to tap into the power to both calm and quell Earthquakes, but these are feared and hated by society. She gets shipped off to an for people like herself, where she will be trained to use her powers while being kept under tight control.

The third storyline involves Syenite, a “four-ringer” orogenist sent on a mission to a coastside town with fellow orogenist, Alabaster. They can’t stand each other but have been forced to work together as well as try to produce a child together.

The plot is easily the strongest part of this book, weaving the three plotlines together in a very unique and surprising way. The pacing and various plot points are masterfully done, proven by the fact that I read the whole book in under three days.

But I will warn you, it is dark and there are some pretty disturbing parts in it. For that reason, this is usually not the kind of book I read and I am hesitating to read the rest of the series because of that. I will finish the series eventually but I will probably spread the remaining books (The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky) out over the next several months, in between my usual fantasy fare.

Themes and Motifs

One of the reasons The Fifth Season has earned such acclaim is that it is chock-full of themes that touch on real-world problems, from the depiction of history and identity to the injustice of oppression and prejudice.

Of course, such topics are found in many fantasy books, but Jeminsin does not pull her punches in this book. You will feel uncomfortable at times when you read this and that is not an accident. But it will give you a lot to think about!

Identity and the importance of names comes up a lot in this book. Each person is born into a caste of sorts that determines their surname within their comm (community).

There is also more to the importance of the character’s names throughout the book but I’m trying to keep this review spoiler free so I won’t say more about that! But it does paint a picture about how a name can influence not only how other people feel about you, but how you feel about yourself.

Another major theme of the book is the concept of freedom. Each of the characters strives for it, and even though each of their circumstances are different, they all feel like prisoners in one way or another. There is a moment where, when the choice between death and enslavement is presented, the character chooses death. It’s a devastating moment that underscores the atrocity of slavery.

World-Building

Jeminsin’s world is a grim one, taking place on a supercontinent known as the Stillness. Whether or not it is planet Earth in the distance, a post-apocolyptic future or another planet altogether I am not certain, but I think it may be the former since they do refer to “Earth” a lot.

I’m not going to lie, I was pretty confused for the first part of the book. Jeminsin doesn’t hold your hand through the world-building. The caste system, communities, and orogenes “magic system” as I suppose you would call it, are a lot to take in. There is a glossary of terms at the back of the book you can reference, but I was reading the ebook and didn’t know it was there until I got to the end!

I would suggest referencing it as you go as it will likely improve the reading experience.

The Orogene ability is a fascinating concept, although by the end of the book, there is still a lot you won’t understand about it. (Assuming our questions get answered in the next two books, though!) But basically, orogenes can draw power from the Earth and use it to quell or excite seismic activity. To do this, they create a “torus” around them, which is a donut-like circle that absorbs the energy from anything in it. Should a person get trapped in the torus, they get “iced” and die instantly.

It’s a very well-thought-out and clever system, but it takes some time to wrap your head around what is happening because in lieu of info dumps, you’re just sort of taken along for the ride. (Again, the glossary in the back can help here!)

Characters

Aside from the trio of POVs from Essun, Dayama, and Synite, we are also introduced to a number of other characters, like Alabaster, the ten-ringer orogene who appears to be half-crazy, Hoa, a mysterious child who accompanies Essu on her journey across Stillness, and Innon, a “feral” orogene living free as a pirate.

My feelings about the characters and character development in this book are mixed. On one hand, I did care about them. And yet somehow, I didn’t quite feel connected to him. It is very much a plot-driven story and I feel like we didn’t get a lot of time to see the different sides of the characters. Then again, maybe that is the point, since everyone in the book is in survival mode all the time.

Writing Style

Jeminsin makes some interesting creative choices with the narration style that make it a bit polarizing for some people. It’s told in present tense throughout – which some people love and other people hate. Even more unusual is that two of the three perspectives are told in the third person while the third – Essun’s – is told in the second person.

The second person narrative is such an unusual choice and I have read maybe two other books in my life that have utilized this perspective. I am assuming there is a reason for it that has yet to be revealed in the latter books but I thought it was an interesting choice. I have read some reviews where people positively hated the narration style but I didn’t mind it at all.

I also respected that Jeminsin was able to portray the dark, gritty world without having to get overly descriptive. It was disturbing enough without being overly gruesome.

Final Thoughts and Rating

There’s no denying The Fifth Season is a highly compelling work of fantasy science literature. Is it something everyone will enjoy? No. (Then again, is there a book that appeals to absolutely everyone? Probably not.)

But if you like books that are full of meaning and make you think critically, The Fifth Season achieves that in spades. Plus you can get the first book on Kindle Unlimited so that’s always a win.

I personally give it 4.5 stars, but I can understand why many people give it five stars and why it won the awards it did. I appreciate and respect its concepts, plot, and writing style. But its heavy themes – while important – are very intense, so I will likely take my time getting around to the second and third books.

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