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A review by onejadyn
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I don't have words for this book right now. I didn't know anything going in and I'm glad I didn't. I was engaged throughout all the perspectives, and the tone was simultaneously tragic and dry—like every character we read about was just constantly broken in some way, in a way they have long ago decided was normal.
The magic system and the politics around it is incredible and the state of society and the world was just so engaging, you couldn't help but dive right in.
The rest of the review will contain spoilers, where I doubt I'll have many words to justify the way I'm feeling.
THIS ARE SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
So. Damaya, Syen, and Essun. One and the same. I wish I could say I saw it coming. Perhaps I could've been so clever as to figure it out when it was mentioned that Syenite was not Falcum born. Or when it was revealed that Essun too has been trained in the Falcum. But I missed it. Right up until Damaya announced her new name, and Essun recognised the woman she traveled with.
And wow. In the space of few pages, I feel like I've spent a lifetime with this character. I'm mourning for Corundum more than I expected. Syenite loved him but she wasn't the doting perfect storybook mother that we typically see when a woman pours everything into protecting her child — and it didn't matter. There was a grim reality, a pain, that came when Syenite killed Corundum. When Essun found her son.
I feel like I shouldn't have loved this book. Speaking of the idea only vaguely interests me — a girl trained from a young age in a harsh school to use her powerful abilities for what is considered the good of the society. And yet I fell to pieces for this book, because no summary can capture how real and hurt and separated and cold these characters are.
It's a life of pain that isn't captured through tears and screaming, but careful withdrawal and calm. And yes, when someone breaks then—you pay attention.
I loved this book. I cried when Syenite killed Corundum. I can't understand how a summary of Syenite's life (Damaya's, Essun's) mattered so much to me. How these snapshots created a character that I fell so hard with. But it did. And I did.
The magic system and the politics around it is incredible and the state of society and the world was just so engaging, you couldn't help but dive right in.
The rest of the review will contain spoilers, where I doubt I'll have many words to justify the way I'm feeling.
THIS ARE SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
So. Damaya, Syen, and Essun. One and the same. I wish I could say I saw it coming. Perhaps I could've been so clever as to figure it out when it was mentioned that Syenite was not Falcum born. Or when it was revealed that Essun too has been trained in the Falcum. But I missed it. Right up until Damaya announced her new name, and Essun recognised the woman she traveled with.
And wow. In the space of few pages, I feel like I've spent a lifetime with this character. I'm mourning for Corundum more than I expected. Syenite loved him but she wasn't the doting perfect storybook mother that we typically see when a woman pours everything into protecting her child — and it didn't matter. There was a grim reality, a pain, that came when Syenite killed Corundum. When Essun found her son.
I feel like I shouldn't have loved this book. Speaking of the idea only vaguely interests me — a girl trained from a young age in a harsh school to use her powerful abilities for what is considered the good of the society. And yet I fell to pieces for this book, because no summary can capture how real and hurt and separated and cold these characters are.
It's a life of pain that isn't captured through tears and screaming, but careful withdrawal and calm. And yes, when someone breaks then—you pay attention.
I loved this book. I cried when Syenite killed Corundum. I can't understand how a summary of Syenite's life (Damaya's, Essun's) mattered so much to me. How these snapshots created a character that I fell so hard with. But it did. And I did.