★★★ (of 5)

• Full Title: The Fifth Season
• Author: N.K. Jemisin
• Year: 2015 (mine was 2015 trade paperback)
• Pages: 449*
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publisher: Orbit
• ISBN 978-0-316-22929-6 (trade paperback)
• Wikipedia page
• Author’s Wikipedia page

(* not counting appendices, acknowledgements, “meet the author”, or sneak peak of another book)

 

Summary

The Fifth Season won the 2016 Hugo for Best Novel, and in an unprecedented sweep, its sequels (The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky) won the Best Novel Hugos in 2017 and 2018. (Three other authors have won three best-novel Hugos, but only Jemisin won her three consecutively; she is also the only author ever to win for each of the three books in a trilogy.)

Taking place on a planet with a single massive continent, The Fifth Season features humanoid beings called “orogenes” who can sense and cause (or prevent) earthquakes and other seismological events, and a handful of other powerful types. The narrative follows various characters in their journeys across the continent. (Can’t say much else here without it being considered a spoiler.)

I think it could safely be called “epic fantasy”, but it’s also a coming-of-age story and an adventure novel.

 

Commentary

I think I understand why it won the Hugo (though I haven’t read the other 2016 contenders): Fifth Season has depth and power, competently differentiated characters, seems unique (though I haven’t read enough fantasy to say for sure), and the world-building is amazing. Jemisin did more than slap non-standard names on cities and characters and throw in some earthquake magic; it’s clear that long histories have been considered and created behind these pages. Descriptions of people and places were sharp enough for me to visualize the goings-on — without getting in the way.

 

What I Expected But Didn’t See

Because I’d read a few reviews prior to reading the book, I had expected a few negatives that turned out to not be there (or at least I didn’t see them).

(1) Many reviewers disparagingly called this a “YA” novel; at no point while reading did I get that impression — though I don’t read enough YA novels to know what’s supposed to be so different about them. It seemed as “grown up” as any of the adult novels I’ve read (and more so than most). (2) A good friend said it was overbearing with “progressive social tropes and buzz-words”; I also didn’t see this at all (perhaps I didn’t know what to look for because my social bubble is almost entirely conservative?). (3) Several reviewers opined that Jemisin spent too much time describing characters’ appearances, so I was braced for this... But then didn’t see it. Rarely was more than a sentence spent on describing any person’s appearance; often just a phrase or two in passing — just enough for me to differentiate their appearance from other people. And in several cases, it was relevant to the plot. These were always basic descriptions like hair color/type, skin color, and body type. (4) I had also expected mostly exposition (which I’m often okay with and sometimes enjoy), but instead found exposition as rare as in most other novels.

 

Points Off For...

Still, there were a couple of huge things that kept me from fully enjoying this book (keeping in mind that my point system is entirely subjective and relates only to my enjoyment). I was warned about these in other reviews.

I had to take off a full point for a third of the book being in second-person (“you” being one of the main characters), in combination with the present tense verbs — which I’m aware is all the rage right now but man it’s irritating, because how can you be telling me this story about something that happened, if it’s happening NOW? For both, I had to employ a similar mental tactic I use when reading overly British writing, wherein my brain begins actively translating all the things it doesn’t recognize into American English (“biscuit” to cookie or cracker, for example). It slows me down, but it allows me to continue. In this one, I found myself (a dozen times per page) translating “you” to “her”, and also changing any related verb conjugations to match the new subject. A book will never get five stars from me with these kinds of shenanigans.

Half a point came off for introducing too many questions that didn’t get answered. I kept seeing page numbers getting closer to the end and started to realize she wasn’t going to have enough space to lay it all out. It’s always disappointing to have a list of questions posed early in the book, but then reach the end to find so many questions remain.

Another half-point is lost due to the non-chronological order of the storytelling, which was entirely pointless here. As a friend said: “Had the author chosen to tell a cohesive narrative in a linear fashion, I would have likely found the novel more immersive.” I realize it’s bleeping common, but usually there is some reason for it (I know movies do it to build tension or grab interest in the early moments). In this case there really wasn’t a reason. (Trying to avoid a spoiler here, but...) The narrative basically follows three threads throughout, and it’s clear from the beginning that the three threads didn’t take place at the same time — they couldn’t have — and fairly clear how the threads are related to each other. Recommendation: write this in order, starting with Damaya’s story, move to Syenite’s, and end with Essun’s. I would have enjoyed that order tons more.

 

Conclusion

Parts of this were so good that I couldn’t put it down. I was glad to learn the story has been optioned for a visual retelling (as a TV series on TNT, so I might never get to see it), because so much is visual here. But part of it was so intentionally distracting and confoundingly frustrating that it left me with that same feeling I used to get when watching an athlete perform beautifully but then they do something incredibly unhelpful like pass to an empty spot or run the wrong direction or commit a completely unnecessary foul/penalty. They still finish the game, and might even win, but the overall experience for the spectator is tainted by the unforced errors.

Though I can’t stand the modern trilogy model of simply failing to finish a first book so the ending can be in the third one, there was enough here for me that I will try the second book in this trilogy when I get a chance.

 

 

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