The Fifth Season The Broken Earth: Book 1

This book is so so painful, even more painful when you put the pieces together and you can’t do anything but watch the whole thing play out. It’s beautifully written and it feels so real.

At the 20% mark I thought I wasn’t smart enough for this book, it got to the 60% mark and I still felt that way, but there’s something so unmistakably human that keeps you going despite that.

I only put 3.5* as it took me quite a while to enter this book, like when struggling to find the house key in a purse too full by - 10C. I am not hooked as I am sometimes right from the start in a scifi/Fantasy story. The feeling I have here is less feverish or passionate, there a bit more distance, with the characters or the story.

However. …things are getting seriously intriguing later on and it seems like this time the book is more story driven than a balance story/character development FOR NOW. I will continue with the 2d part.

the relationship between alabaster and syenite is sooooo important to me I love them sm.

this is literally perfect such an easy yet complex read, the characters are perfect the world building is perfect, not much actually happens but idgaf.

I couldn’t fully buy into the lore of this fantasy - a volatile world with shifting tectonic plates that can be “sessed” and controlled by a handful of special people. The world existed clearly in the author’s mind but I just didn’t feel like I could get into it. Bit too much modern love for my taste too.

this is a beautiful but haunting story told in a really great way. the three povs/voices you hear this story from are great and at some points so chilling. really well written and done fantasy/sci-fi book.

i will say that the "twist" is pretty obvious, but i think that might have been the authors intention

A simply phenomenal book I knew I was going to five this boom five stars from about 2/3 of the way through and you will too. Not only is this book written very specifically and intelligently but it also builds a completely believable and fulfilling world. There have been very few books I've wanted to immediately read the sequel to, but I do with this. Unfortunately I promised I'd read another with someone else. If you have no idea what book to read, just read this one. You won't be disappointed. Its got great twists, its written in a very clever way and it really is a "page turner".

—slova se nejspíš dostaví později

—později:

já si vždy říkala, že sci-fi není pro mě, nebavilo mě to a nechápala jsem, co na tom někoho baví. k fantasy jsem si naopak našla cestu tím, že jsem jako první fantasy četla ty, který byly queer. což je tahle taky (a taky je mimo heteronormativní a nuceně monogamní škatulky pro vztahy!)

no a s touhle knihou jsem zjistilx, že k sci-fi pro mě taky vede cesta.

nešlo o sci-fi jako celek, co mě nebavilo. nebavili mě ti bílí týpci, co psali o věcech úplně mimo tenhle svět a povedlo se jim u toho furt bejt bílocentrický.

all i needed was n.k. jemisin and freaking afrofuturism!!

tahle kniha byla tak nádherná, myslím, že to nepůjde pořádně popsat. jemisin píše tak poutavě, umí skvěle navnadit atmosféru vrámci krátkých odstavců i celých kapitol. POV z druhé osoby pro mě byla novinka a strašně mě to bavilo. prvotní zmatení z novýho světa, který používá jiná slova pro popis věcí, je u fantasy už klasika, ale potom se vše vždy ujasní. a když se něco neujasní, tak je to naschvál.

páté roční období je kniha o systematickém útlaku. a nejenom, je to syrový, hluboký, autorka ukazuje, jak je útlak nechutně zakořeněný v sytému, v těch, kteří ho vedou, kteří z něj benefitují a taky v těch, které to utlačuje. protože i když z sytému útlaku utečete někam pryč, berete si ho sebou, stojí to tak moc se odnaučit se vidět, tak jak nás to učili. a často to neodejde. jemisin dává čtenářstvu a světu zrcadlo — je na nás jestli chceme předstírat, že jde pouze o nějaké výmysly v nereálném světě anebo jestli se skrz to zrcadlo na sebe podíváme, rozbijeme ho na cucky a budem se snažit vybudovat něco novýho.

nejde pouze o sci-fi a fantasy dystopii. jde o tenhle posraný svět!

simplesmente a maior fantasia que já li na minha vida nunca li nada igual, nada tão bem escrito, tão lindo é o tipo de livro que faz a gente se apaixonar pela literatura de novo essa autora é simplesmente GENIAL, é de outro mundo a capacidade dela de criar esse universo que é tão diferente de todos os livros de fantasia que eu já vi e que ainda assim tem uma conexão tão forte com a sociedade que a gente vive. serio. lindo quero ler tudo que ela já escreveu <3

A powerful fantasy novel about colonized people of color deprogramming and fighting for self-determination.

I was so confused at the start but by the end…WOW

worth every moment with it. i feel

sick.

bruh this book is so good

Loved it, nice and miserable. But not dull with it! I think I enjoyed it all the more because I read 66 pages of Babel by R.F Kuang before starting this and I want that time back very much. Laid eyes on this and that warm feeling that you get when you realise a book has decent prose and is guaranteed to hold your attention flowed through me. I think it's called relief? I want to read the sequel, but I'm already distracted by Gloriana by Michael Moorcock, and I must push through the last bit of LOTR

Sind die ersten 100 bis 150 Seiten schwierig zu lesen? Absolut. Hatte ich Probleme mit der Perspektive der 2. Person Singular? Ganz genau. Aber dieses Buch verdient so viel Sterne, weil es sich komplett von der breiten Masse abhebt. Ja gut, ich stell mich bei Sci-Fi und Fantasy gerne hinten an, aber das liegt meistens daran, dass sehr oft einfach dieselben Tropes und Klischees erfüllt werden. The Fifth Season ist ein Mix aus Fantasy und Sci-Fi, queer, präsentiert eine alternative Gesellschaft, und schafft es eine Welt zu erschaffen, die komplettes Neuland ist. Warum die ersten paar Seiten so schwer sind zu lesen? Weil mein Hirn sich tatsächlich mal anstrengend musste, um sich die Welt und Charaktere vorzustellen. Bin richtig gespannt wie es hier weitergeht.

I just did not enjoy it. It did not go the way I thought it would. I liked the first half better than the second half. I won't be reading the rest of the books in the series. I did not care for any of the characters. I really only initially liked the part about the mother dealing with extreme grief. After a bit, I just hated the rest. I don't like the way it ended. And maybe I just didn't get it, but I don't think the story flowed very well. As if some parts of the story were written on sticky notes and they just HAD to be included (pirates?? Really??).

First thing first, this was a damn good book. I can’t wait to read the rest. It was like a post apocalyptic time but in a fantasy way. I felt enjoyed, sad, furious and most of times curious while I’m reading. 3 strong women in different ages and 3 strong stories will make them meet in the middle make them one. The first one is Damaya who is delicate but knows how to deal with the plots. The second one is Essun who is a mother of two and can do anything for them. And the last one Syenite who is fierce and cares her own freedom more than anything. Their life will cross in an unexpected way and nothing will remain same... Jemisin create a world with whole package including own jargon and that impressed me a lot. I loved the protagonists as much as side characters Baster, Hoa, Binof they all are unique in their own way. My only criticism of this book is the gap between chapters. After halfway through the book, I had a hard time keeping up with the changes in the lives of the characters in each new chapter.

3.5 It was surprising to say the least

This book is everything I love about science fiction/fantasy. I'm not just referring to the fantastic (!) world-building and rich characterization, but also what it infers and asks and challenges as a whole. Is humanity just a social construct? What are the consequences of viewing human beings as a biological construct versus a social body? What is a world, and is it worthwhile to preserve the Earth as a larger, physical entity if it comes at the cost of the smaller, pluralistic cultures within? Seriously just so, so good.

I finished this and immediately bought the rest of the series. The film industry better not touch this one.

the concept is so good & it definitely deserves the praise it gets for doing something that’s never been done before but the writing is so clunky? unrefined? i didn’t enjoy it as much as i expected it to, though i have hope for the rest of the series :]

Very unique system of power and politics. Thoroughly enjoyed the character development and laying out of the world!

As much as I enjoy fantasy, a lot of the books I've read have had similar underlying themes or ideas in them. They aren't always cookie cutter. But when they are, at least I enjoy cookies. The Fifth Season didn't feel like that to me. The book has equal parts post apocalypse as it does fantasy. I'm sure there are other post apocalyptic fantasy novels but this was a first for me. The characters felt very unique. Their perspectives were not ones I've typically come to expect from a fantasy. On top of that, the "magic" felt original as well. Some folks are connected to the Earth, so much so that they can control it. That often ends up causing chaos in the world. My favourite part of the book was how the three storylines converged in the end. By the time it happened, you may have been expecting it, but it was still entertaining for me. I'm becoming more interested in the way people move through phases of their lives. Jemisin did a great job weaving that into her story. It's always entertaining when different threads are weaved together to make one coherent storyline. If you like fantasy or post apocalypse (leaning more on fantasy), I'd recommend The Fifth Season! Originally written for my blog: https://anthonymorris.dev/books/the-f...

QUICK LAST-MINUTE LOG RN FOR READING CHALLENGE BUT OH MAN IT'S SO GOOD -- Worldbuilding plot twists sharp writing queer people trans people polyamory complex relationships lots of mystery and suspense and tension cool fights and adventures!!! The amount of detail, I can't even imagine the planning and genius. Really sticks in your mind after the last page (and then the first few again shh!). Immediately on to the next one!

** spoiler alert ** Good for a YA book. Interesting lore, good structure, inconsistent worldbuilding, portentous/glib tone, painful slang. Lore: the Earth hates us, which is why there is so much suffering. Includes a (true) evolutionary gradient: Earth our father knew He would need clever life, so He used the Seasons to shape us out of animals: clever hands for making things and clever minds for solving problems and clever tongues for working together and clever sessapinae to warn us of danger. The people became what Father Earth needed, and then more than He needed. Then we turned on Him, and He has burned with hatred for us ever since. She later ruins this interesting cosmogony by clubbing you over the head with a message (that the lethal climate shock Seasons started after people polluted the world too much). The world is a blend of GoT survivalist folk religion and apocalyptically cyclical climate, X-Men despised chaos mages, Battlestar breeding body horror, Earthsea folk magic and wu wei, and superstitious racism. It mostly works. Structure: Three quite different focal characters, later shown to be the same person over time. I didn't spot the first unification coming, and it was satisfying. She leaves the big Soylent Green reveal until page 108; until then you're left wondering if all the grey objectification is justified by the terrible security risk. She's pretty glib about the two communities outside the Empire, full of earthquake witches who are shown regularly freezing or nuking things when even mildly irked. The utopian pirate community is also heavily rose-tinted - sure, they do kill people in order to take their stuff in a time of terrible scarcity... but hey they're really sexually liberated and not racist at all. Inconsistent: High Fantasy (subsisting commune agrarians, feudalism, omnipotent wizards) which also boasts C20th science, somehow. An in-universe history book describes one catastrophe as: "aerosolizing sufficient steam and particulate matter to trigger acidic rain and sky occlusion over the Somidlats..." They have penicillin without an industrial revolution, electric lights before steam. Ordinary C15th cannon are an experimental wunderweapon to them. More: most births have some risk (<1%) of being a giant nuclear volcano generator, but the Evil Empire does nothing to control reproduction, and has the parents administer very insecure self-regulation. Pretentious portentousness: There passes a time of happiness in your life, which I will not describe to you. It is unimportant. Perhaps you think it wrong that I dwell so much on the horrors, the pain, but pain is what shapes us, after all. We are creatures born of heat and pressure and grinding, ceaseless movement. To be still is to be... not. Of a character which until about 10 pages earlier had been a despised / tolerated frenemy: now your eyes are drawn away from the horror that remains of your mentor, your lover, your friend... I forgive Ada Palmer this style. But 1) she's not that bad; 2) she's aping the sentimentalist C18th, and 3) she has far greater philosophical sense. Glib: it turns out that the comm is called Meov, and the man who has stepped forward is Harlas, their headman. Also they're pirates. Syenite mispronounces vulgar words, inadvertently making them more vulgar, and makes instant friends of half the crew by doing so. "lol, applause!" Bad slang: "rogga", "comm", "orogeny" (every time, I thought "erogenous?"), really bad interjections (' "Evil, eating Earth", you whisper'; 'for shit's sake, she stilled a rusting volcano made by a broken obelisk'). The occasional good bit of slang (like "grits" for the young rock mages) is smothered in exposition: that's what she is now, an unimportant bit of rock ready to be polished into usefulness.... Better writers (Atwood or Le Guin or Banks) leave it up to you. Everything is spelled out here. The book gets roundly worse in the second half, with two chapters (16 and 17) full of hollow plot devices and applause lights (Damaya only explores the Main building so she can drive the plot forward when the hollow character Binof arrives, immediately afterwards). Also arguably Innon, there to be objectified and let Jemisin write 'good sex' scenes. Lots of Representation: polyamory, transgenderism, a dozen skin colours. Of course, fantasy doesn't represent anything, so strictly speaking that's a misnomer. It doesn't matter what the ethnic demographics of your lava-world are, relative to ours; you can have as much or as little typical sexuality etc as you like, any colour can be a minority, as long as it makes sense in that world. Do the choices of identities fit Jemisin's world? Is Tonkee's transgenderism, among feudalism, a personal idiosyncrasy? A hormone thing? A magic thing? We're given no reason for any of the identities she introduces to celebrate. But it mostly doesn't get in the way. Jemisin fumbles the "in a corrupt world, lawful complicity or violent revolution?" angle. At least in this instalment, there's little acknowledgment that killing an entire city because a handful of people in its government committed atrocities isn't on: 'He's not crazy at all, and he never has been' "what right do worlds built on oppression and genocide have to exist?", asks one reviewer. Well, 'worlds' (institutions) don't have rights, people do: and people have a right to not suffer harm, e.g. the harm of having a great big earthquake dropped on you.