This book was a dance with liking and disliking the writing.
This is the first Jemisin book I've read and her writing style is apparently not to my tastes. After finishing much of the painful writing makes sense why it was approached but this led to me actively disliking the book. See others 1 and 2 star reviews to get a summary of issues.
The main character of the book wavers between myself not caring and actively disliking reading about her and being engaged then going to marginally engaged. I'd put more discussion about this here but due to spoilers I'll refrain.
The world is full. However it felt like pulling teeth pulling bits and pieces out. I think it is fairly coherent and being a science fiction book through obfuscating it like a fantasy distracted from the book.
The focus on characters appearance became tedious quickly. Going on for several sentences about how to determine which part of the world a passing stranger is from with whom there is no interaction became a common place event and felt like word padding.
I have no ruled out reading the second in this series but I am hesitant to commit to it.
As for this book being Hugo / Nebula nominee I can see how people could think it might deserve such. However I did not find the writing or plot or story to be a driving it into my list of great books. I also can not say it didn't deserve it. I think this should sum up my final feel, it is complicated and mixed. But my final reaction is more relief I finished it after nearly marking is DNF at 10% and not enjoyment. That is truly one of the most condemning summaries I can give a book. It wasn't bad enough to not finish but I'm glad it is over.
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There is an art to smiling in a way that others will believe. It is always important to include the eyes; otherwise, people will know you hate them.Highlighted by 2,659 Kindle readers- Then she wonders why a part of her is trying to find value in degradation.Highlighted by 1,987 Kindle readers
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I highly suggest you read The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin!
Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2018
I highly suggest you read The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin!There’s so much in the book that I would love to scream about, but I don’t wanna give away too many spoilers. Most importantly, it really is an amazing and fantastic book that you should have read already. If not, now’s your chance! Go and get it today!One of the most interesting and potent eye-catching elements of The Fifth Season is N.K. Jemisin’s use of perspective throughout the novel. Some chapters use second person when describing what Essun does, i.e. “you did this” “you did that”. Other chapters use third person when describing Damaya and Syenite’s experiences. Also, ever-present is a sort of third person omnipresent narrator who presses their own opinion and point of view on everything that is happening.These three different narratives (for Essun, Damaya, and Syenite) move through different points of time. Also, these different narratives gradually give away details of the world and begin to build up the tension underneath the surface of the novel.In the first chapter, Essun’s child is dead and she needs to chase down her husband who took off with her daughter. Damaya is a young girl just discovered to be an orogene (those people who can control energy from the ground and temperature) by her parents. She hides in the roof of a barn but is taken Schaffa (a guardian, those who attempt to train and control orogenes). Syenite is an orogene who is at the fulcrum (a place run by guardians and where orogenes are trained to learn to control their powers). In the end, these three narratives weave and wind together and finish in a masterpiece where your only want is to reread the entire novel to catch everything you didn’t catch the first time.The Fifth Season would have seriously taken a lot of effort just to conceive and write down. There are great ideas out there, but N.K. Jemisin’s put her words down on paper and just makes The Fifth Season into something quite beautiful.Sometimes the narrator forces their ideas into your head, but it’s no problem. It’s good to get different perspectives once in a while. I really love what N.K. Jemisin did with her book and highly suggest you read it straight away! You certainly get hooked and want to read all the books in N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth series.This was such a popular book. It won the Hugo award in 2016, and was nominated for a Nebula Award. Not to mention the other two books in N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth series also won the Hugo award for 2017 and 2018 respectively. This book was huge so I needed to get in and start reading it. I really loved everything about the book – except the ending which seemed to suggest that I need to read the next two books. Not that I’m complaining! hahaN.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth series starts off with this book and it’s a fantastic start. The world that N.K. Jemisin builds in The Fifth Season is really detailed and authentic. We don’t get all the details of the world, but I assume she’s keeping it all for the next two novels. Talking about this novel though, we can see a lot of inclusion for minorities and LGBTQ+ characters as well as themes. They are not just stereotypes but wholly taking part in the novel and feel like real people you can meet on the street.It really is great that we can have a more inclusive science fiction community, especially since N.K. Jemisin won triple Hugo Awards for her recent novels.--- Reviewed by FLY INTO BOOKS (dot) com
Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2018
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Cathy Hill
Incredible imagination and depth
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As slow as continental drift, if you get my drift.
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A fully imagined world of casual cruelty and hope
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