The Fifth Season Book Review
Major Spoilers are included in this book review. Please read with caution.
In N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season, there was a lot of exposition told through three POVs—Damaya, Synete, and Essun—in addition to two glossaries at the end of the novel to recap all the information we learned in the novel. Also, there was an unknown fourth narrator—an entertaining and twisted one—too telling the women’s perspectives, but saying more would spoil the entire book. But, Jemisin already did this by telling us the world ends in the Prologue. Yes, there is mystery in this novel packed with exposition.
Three POVs are in this story: Damaya, Synete, and Essun. Their stories overlapped in a creative manner with how oppression and cultural conflict functions in the Stillness. Essun is the main character out of three, given the second-person perspective. The other two—Damaya and Synete—are told in third-person limited. Essun has the mystery themed—personal—storyline that has her chasing her husband for killing their son and kidnapping their daughter.
The fourth unknown narrator has a twisted sense of humor that seeps into the writing throughout the novel. The plot twist involving this person had me reading fast until the end. Male characters are very disturbed people. It was brilliant.
The story also has brilliant characterization, humor, and fantastic world-building. It takes place in a world called the Stillness, a supercontinent that is constantly going through the Apocalypse. The Seasons are what they’re called.
The world-building and setting could’ve easily led to exposition dump overload—and sometimes it did just that—but Jemisin packed enough fun to balance it out best she could. The most interesting part was what she didn’t explain; the obelisks and their connection to the Stillness and POV characters. I chalked it off to “sequel talk” because the second book is called Obelisk Gate.
Honestly, the excitement Jemisin writes into the novel kept me reading. That, and it was a Writers Group selection. Motivation to read is the key. The main reason I decided to pick up this novel. Hopefully, we pick the second book in the trilogy as our next selection. We shall see.
Onto the negatives: I had a major issue with the book choosing not to resolve Essun’s search for her husband and daughter. I believe Jemisin wanted to save that arc for her sequel, but it bothered me that I finished the book pretty happy, but the character arc wasn’t finished. It also made me leave the book without all the necessary answers. A true negative vibe I got from putting the book down. Also, the exposition was distracting at times—something I mentioned earlier in the book review as a positive. The narrator’s self-awareness helped at times.
Overall, I enjoyed the intricate world-building, magic system, class system, and how they created a Dystopia setting for the POV characters to explore. On to the sequel!