The Fifth Season: The Broken Earth, Book 1
4.5 | 41,059 ratings
Price: 25.19
Last update: 01-06-2026
Top reviews from the United States
- Joe KarpierzShe's in good company. The thing about reviewing this book is ...Over the nearly 40 years I've been writing book reviews (on and off, but mostly on these days), an author has never ticked me off. Ever. I've been unhappy with any number of novels I've read, but I've never been upset with a writer up until now (By the way before all of you get yourself into a potential tizzy over that statement and may be reading into it, please keep reading the review. Please.).
N.K. Jemisin has succeeded in ticking me off.
Why? Oh, a couple of reasons. First (and this statement comes with me not yet having finished reading SEVENEVES, but I'm not even halfway through that beast and I think I can make the following statement with much certainty), I think that for the first time in all the years that I've voted for the Hugos, I will be placing a book that's not clearly science fiction in the top spot on my ballot. To be fair, it's not clear this book is fantasy either, so maybe I'm cheating with that statement a bit. In fact, come to think of it, I'm looking at the top two spots on my ballot not being clear cut science fiction, but I digress. The second reason is that as THE FIFTH SEASON is the first book in a series that may not be science fiction, I'm anxiously awaiting book two.
The last thing I need is yet another series in which to get behind. I mean really: Cixin Liu, John Scalzi, Mira Grant, Charles Stross, and (yes, I know but you all know how I am by now) Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson all have books out that I'm waiting to read. Oh, I forgot Lois McMaster Bujold. So now I add Jemisin to the list. She's in good company.
The thing about reviewing this book is that it's, well, *difficult* to review this book without giving away too much - but I'll try anyway. The story takes place on a planet that has one very large continent, the Stillness. The continent is unstable in that there is an abundance of faults which cause earthquakes, or shakes as they are called, to happen frequently. Periodically, a major disaster occurs which sends the planet into what is called a "season", which is difficult to describe other than they send the planet and its inhabitants into a long period of suffering of one form or another. There is a class of people called orogenes, who have the ability to control the power of the earth and stone and other things. They are powerful people, who if not trained can cause severe damage all around them. Thus, training is held in the Fulcrum, where orogenes learn to use and focus their power. Orogenes are generally shunned because of what they can do; they frighten people. There is another class of folks called the Guardians, who watch over, guide, and in fact can control orogenes. An orogene never says "no" to his or her Guardian. They are supposed to be protectors, but they do frighten the orogenes.
The story follows the timelines of three female characters: the young Damaya, who is taken from the family that shuns her because she is an orogene by a Guardian to the Fulcrum for her education; Syenite, a "four ringer" (think of the rings as levels in your favorite role playing game) who goes on an assignment with ten ringer (the maximum you can be) Alabaster whose baby she is ordered to have in an attempt to generate another high powered orogene; and Essun, a mysterious woman who is trying to find her husband who has stolen their daughter and run away after killing their son. Each of them discover things about themselves and the world they live in that disturbs them, and their stories converge in a way that is surprising and, I think, satisfying.
In addition to Jemisin allowing her characters to go on a journey of discovery via terrific storytelling and characterization, she allows the reader to go on a similar journey of discovery about the Stillness and the planet it exists on. As the story develops, it's very clear that the society we are reading about at one point was advanced to some degree; there is talk of electricity and concrete roads, for example. There is, in fact, evidence of technology all through the story, including the mechanism by which the orogenes use their power and how the Guardians are created. There are universities which all types of sciences. And yet, there seems to be evidence of magic; just what are the stone eaters and how do they fit in to the overall story? What are those strange obelisks that the orogenes seem to attract?
This is without question one of the best books of 2015, and in my opinion the best novel that is on the Hugo ballot. And if you ever wanted to read a killer sentence that ends a book, read this one. But please, please, please read the rest of the book first, as reading the last sentence without reading the rest of the book will spoil everything (I will admit to having deduced, in an "ah hah" moment, what was implied by the last sentence sometime before I got to it, but the impact was still tremendous).
Robin Miles was an absolutely fantastic narrator. While she isn't the best at voicing different characters, her reading style, inserting emotion, inflection, and tonality (that may not make sense here, but I can't think of another word to convey what I'm thinking) were outstanding. I look forward to her reading the next book in the series.
That second book? THE OBELISK GATE? Yeah, that will be out at MidAmericon 2 in Kansas City next month. Thanks, Ms. Jemisin. Now I'm even more behind in my reading. - The book guyReally good book, run don't walk to read thisThere are moments when you pick up a book and you’re immediately captured, in awe with the world building, engrossed by the story and the characters and unable to imagine how you ever lived without ever getting to know the characters before you on the printed page. I call that moment ‘the click’, that magical moment when the story comes together and you are at the authors beck and call, devouring every word on the page like some thirsty traveler in the desert devouring water from a refreshing stream. Before penning this review, I wasn’t sure what to really say about N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season, that has not already been said before. I mean Jemisin is already recognized as one of the rising stars in the Fantasy genre, infusing diversity and innovation in her work, turning the norms of the franchise on their head with every book. And this was before she won the Hugo. If only we all could be so lucky.
That being said, I’ll try and I'll start by saying I thoroughly enjoyed The Fifth Season. I mean who wouldn’t like a novel who’s novel begins with the sentence, “Lets start with the end of the World”, a sentence that immediately had me hooked. End of the world, you can’t start with stakes higher than that for crying out loud. That being said, welcome to the Land known as the Stillness, a world that is anything but. You see this world is marked by seasons, cataclysmic geological events where the Earth in its anger tries to wipe out all human life on the planet for some unknown transgression. The magic of this world is also tied heavily to the Earth as well, orogeny it’s called, the ability of certain people orogenes to sense and manipulate tectonic activity, drawing their power from their environment to quiet quakes and manipulating other geological events such as closing volcanoes, clearing reefs etc. Naturally one would thing that such beings of power in a world of geological uncertainty would be worshiped our even revered but NK Jemisin flips this idea on its head and places orogenes in a position of discrimination and oppression. These individuals are feared for their abilities, labeled as a curse on the planet by Father Earth, slaughtered for their powers. Think more X-men rather than say Avengers, feared rather than loved for their powers. As such Orogenes are rounded up and taken to a school known as the Fulcrum where they can learn to use their abilities, ostensibly for their own protection but primarily so they can be controlled and used as weapons for the Totalitarian state that governs the majority of the Stillness. Orogenes are considered less than human feared and mistreated as such, while also policed by the mysterious Guardians who have the amazing ability to negate their powers.
The beauty of this story lies not only in the characters N.K. Jemisin creates but the themes she intricately weaves throughout the story. True this is a story about life on a hellish world with seasonal apocalypses, but it is also a deeply personal story, a story about family, the nature of both love and identity in the shadow of racial and cultural oppression. The idea of history itself being used as a weapon against the oppressed, a tool to justify the rightness of those in power is explored in the novel, juxtaposed against the idea that the truth if only known would set the world free, if only it were known. There is a strong undercurrent in the novel that Orogeny and orogenes in particular, if they were just allowed to live their lives, love whom they will and take a more active and dynamic role in society that all of humanity would be better off and perhaps even find a way to thrive on this planet who’s desperately trying to kill everyone. It is instead racial discrimination, fear of the other and human nature that keeps this from happening. I ’m not sure a better allegory could be written for our deeply troubled times where isms of all kind divide us in the real world.
Likewise, the story is told through three different narratives which is normal for a fantasy work, but all three narratives come together beautifully. I won’t ruin it for you, but when these narratives come together its magical. One of the narratives is also written in 2nd person POV which was a wonderful surprise and Jemisin pulls it off beautifully. For years to come, her use of 2nd person will be a wonderful example of how to work with this tough, seldom used perspective. That she pulled this off speaks volumes of Jemisin’s talent, pulling this experimental POV off, yet still telling her story, melding seemingly disparate perspectives from the narratives together without a hitch. Bravo.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the beauty of Jemisin’s prose and style, conversational, taut yet full of purpose with each word. Jemisin’s prose is loaded with meaning, showing rather than telling, the characters interacting and taking cues from each other in the way one would in everyday life. In other words, not everything is spelled out to the reader, you like the character have to read between the lines to catch everything that’s implied on the page. Some may find this annoying, but I found the lack of handholding in some parts to be the true mark of the mature author, trusting their audience while also adding to the wonder of the world she’s created.
In short, I loved The Fifth Season. It’s a fantasy novel that destroys common fantasy tropes but still tells a story that is rich, deep and more importantly feels like it has something to say. The book won the Hugo, so I’m not sure what more needs to be said to convince you that this is one you need to read. Run don’t walk to this book.