The Fifth Season

This book is difficult for me to sum up without feeling as if I'm not doing the story any justice. The Fifth Season introduces us to a world that is always on the brink of destruction, represented by its "Seasons." The only thing standing between the people and total destruction in this season are Orogenes, people gifted/cursed with the ability to connect to the earth. You'd think people with such powered would be revered. They're not. They're despised, only valued for the help they can give people. Otherwise, they're hunted down or sent to a school that uses them to thwart catastrophes. This book follows three Orogenes--a child taken from her family, a young woman paired with an experienced Orogene, and a rogue Orogene mourning the loss of her son after he's killed by his father. And this is the end of the world for the last time.

Admittedly, I wasn't quite pulled in until I was a few chapters in, but once I fell into the story, I could not stop reading/listening to it. Jemisin has grown tremendously as a writer. Robin Miles was the perfect choice for this story and really pulled many emotions from me with her charged narration. This is not an easy read/listen. It's gritty, it's rough, it's emotional. Violence and casual disregard of others' well-being are just a fact of life in this story. She gives agency and identity to people who aren't often portrayed in literature. Sexuality is presented on a spectrum that goes beyond our heteronormative. This world is both progressive and conservative. I'm continuously impressed with how Jemisin presents her ideas about the human condition in a fantasy setting with excellent world-building, but this world also felt familiar for all its differences. There were things about it that felt as if one time maybe this place was something like our own world with its use of electricity and running water. It touched me on a profound level, and I haven't stopped thinking about this story or revisiting its pages much like I did when I read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.