Holy SHIT GUYS. I love dystopian novels, and this is top notch stuff.

This book absolutely does not hold you hand. You get thrown into the world with little to no context or description outside the bare minimum. So the first part of this book feels like a hurdle trying to acquaint yourself. The second person writing also gives this very interesting and immersive storytelling aspect, but can also initially make it difficult to connect to the story. The world in The Fifth Season, though, is so perfectly crafted that I kept forgetting I was reading fantasy. I found myself trying to figure out what events could lead to the Fifth Season's world, forgetting that it's a totally made up, magical future. So much of the "magic" is rooted in real science, that it made the magic feel possible.

While reading, I felt myself becoming frustrated as I grasped at strings to try and understand where the story was going. This is a book that I heartily recommend to just TRUST THE PROCESS. Jemisin will give you information, history, and lore when needed and no sooner. The story came together in a beautiful and shocking way. I immediately reread the first couple chapters once I finished because of how masterfully the first page connects to the very last.

This book primarily establishes the world and dives into complex character studies, it's fabulously unique and I absolutely cannot wait to read the other books in the series!