The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemisin

[goodreads]

Title: The Fifth Season
Author: N.K. Jemisin
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 486 pages
Date read: November, 2017

THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS. AGAIN.

Three terrible things happen in a single day.

Essun, masquerading as an ordinary schoolteacher in a quiet small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Mighty Sanze, the empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years, collapses as its greatest city is destroyed by a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heartland of the world's sole continent, a great red rift has been been torn which spews ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

But this is the Stillness, a land long familiar with struggle, and where orogenes -- those who wield the power of the earth as a weapon -- are feared far more than the long cold night. Essun has remembered herself, and she will have her daughter back.

She does not care if the world falls apart around her. Essun will break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.


Surprisingly boring, considering how many high ratings it has on Goodreads. Also, the writing style really took some getting used to - especially in the chapters where the author decided to break the fourth wall, as well as in the chapters focusing on Essun. In fact, the first few chapters almost made me give up on the book completely, as I cannot stand books written in second character.

Fortunately the chapters focusing on Syenite and Damaya were much better written, and kept me reading when I would otherwise have put the book aside. I found myself really liking those chapters, and being intrigued by what would happen next, and how all the plotlines would tie together (which I'd guessed ahead of time, but was still satisfying).

But unfortuantely, as the old saying goes, the book ends "not with a bang, but a whimper", and I don't see myself reading any of the later books in the series.