Trade paperback, 449 pages
English language
Published Sept. 10, 2015 by Orbit.
A SEASON OF ENDINGS HAS BEGUN.
IT STARTS WITH THE GREAT RED RIFT across the heart of the world's sole continent, 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 familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.
This description comes from the publisher.
This is not a happy book, it's not a light book, but it is a good book. Hot damn.
This is not a happy book, it's not a light book, but it is a good book. Hot damn.
Wow! It's been a while since I have read a book that "I couldn't put down." Really great story and fascinating world building. It had me hooked from the beginning. I will say that I have a pet peeve for when book series split an overarching story into multiple books, without each book being able to stand solidly on its own. This series kind of falls into that territory so far, but I am excited to pick the rest of the series up.
It started slow. However, once it became clear that the PoV chapters were happening at different times in the timeline, the book came into its own and was fantastic. A series I'll continue listening to.
Mind-blowingly good! Struggled the first 50 pages to keep up since the world was so weird, and intricate. The second person narrative sections were jarring at first too. But wow, the pay off is so worth it. One of the best sci-fi novels that I've read in years. On to book 2 very quickly....
Quite the trip. Took me a bit to get into it, but it helps my attention all the way through. The world building in it is complete, but not so confusing that one can't follow it. Looking forward to the next book.
Excellent world building, compelling and complicated characters, and all too reflective of real world issues. The only complaint I have is that the pacing of the reveals at the end of the book don't quite jive with the information provided earlier(some of the twists are revealed earlier, but the pacing towards the end behaves more like they're last-minute revelations), and the tone is probably a bit bleak for some readers.
DNF. Had some trouble getting into it. May revisit later.
It took about 50 pages for the author's voice to grow on me. Once the story got rolling and I understood the vocabulary more clearly it was a captivating read.
We get a very nice range and scope of perspectives: a gay, disenchanted master orogene and the student assigned to make a baby with him; a secret orogene looking for her child; a trans geologist who helps her; a young girl studying at the center of education for orogenes; a young stone-eater. Plus so many other great supporting characters who populate this environmentally unstable future Earth.
I liked the different settings shown here, too: there's a small rural town in the middle of nowhere, a big city with unique architecture, an island community where orogenes thrive and rule themselves as pirates, an underground city inside a colossal geode. This book is an adventure through so many great scenes, with wonderful …
It took about 50 pages for the author's voice to grow on me. Once the story got rolling and I understood the vocabulary more clearly it was a captivating read.
We get a very nice range and scope of perspectives: a gay, disenchanted master orogene and the student assigned to make a baby with him; a secret orogene looking for her child; a trans geologist who helps her; a young girl studying at the center of education for orogenes; a young stone-eater. Plus so many other great supporting characters who populate this environmentally unstable future Earth.
I liked the different settings shown here, too: there's a small rural town in the middle of nowhere, a big city with unique architecture, an island community where orogenes thrive and rule themselves as pirates, an underground city inside a colossal geode. This book is an adventure through so many great scenes, with wonderful imagery of the dangerous yet beautiful Earth Jemisin has created.
The speculative history/lore of human civilization and how it changed because of humanity's treatment of the Earth was fascinating and so well done. It seamlessly and intelligently blended science fiction and fantasy in a completely new and unique way. Can't wait to read the sequel!
4.25
Superb fantasy book. I enjoyed the world and characters in the book. I also like the fact that the book has a non-cliffhanger end.
I liked it and enjoyed it, but found somehow annoying the pace, the way in which things are explained to the reader (or "never quite explained", more accurately). Everything is stated as if we had to understand it and I didn't get much of it until further on. I'm not saying this is a defect of the book, or the writer, I know it's probably my fault. I got a feeling of impatience many times.
I found really impressive how the coldness of the characters can affect me. They are angry, they are hard, they just hate, and it taught me, or showed me, how it must feel to live in a world that hates you, ignores you, despises you but uses you and never stops trying to change you, constantly, eternally, in a way I had never thought about before. I really loved that about the book although it …
I liked it and enjoyed it, but found somehow annoying the pace, the way in which things are explained to the reader (or "never quite explained", more accurately). Everything is stated as if we had to understand it and I didn't get much of it until further on. I'm not saying this is a defect of the book, or the writer, I know it's probably my fault. I got a feeling of impatience many times.
I found really impressive how the coldness of the characters can affect me. They are angry, they are hard, they just hate, and it taught me, or showed me, how it must feel to live in a world that hates you, ignores you, despises you but uses you and never stops trying to change you, constantly, eternally, in a way I had never thought about before. I really loved that about the book although it made me feel uncomfortable and restless.
I love the environment, the way the world is constructed, and I adore the women protagonist, even though they are in personality so far, far away from me and make me feel weird with myself. Or, who knows, maybe just because of that.
I regret not having picked up Jemisin sooner.
What a book. Such good world building. And good writing to boot.
Best book I've read all year, no contest.
I normally don't read fantasy, preferring science fiction for my escapist literature. But, I will make an exception for a series that manages to win Hugos for all three entries, while also having a subtle underpinning of science under the fantasy. The narrative structure of the stories regarding the three women in The Fifth Season could be a little confusing at the very beginning, but as I got carried along in the stories, and as each section illuminated another, it all became clear. Well, the parts that are meant to be clear became clear anyway. The other mysteries, one assumes, will be revealed in the next books.
Highly recommended, great dialog, and great world-building.
