The Fifth Season: 200 Word Reviews #10

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin is entirely unique. It is antithetical to every notion of fantasy cliches and tells the story in a format completely new to my experience. And it is a fantastic book for that fact.

The world in The Fifth Season is a broken graveyard of dead and dying civilisations, where overlapping magic systems simultaneously keep the status quo in place and keep the practitioners of that magic in bonds; sub-humans, dangerous creatures with power to be extracted, but never trusted.

The main character is a complex and dynamic woman pushed beyond what anyone should have to endure, and she in turn broadens the boundary of who can be a fantasy lead character.

Jemisin’s prose is effortless and intimate, placing you squarely into the mind of the characters. However, because of this, exposition drops are sparse, leaving the reader to place the incomplete pieces of lore together by themselves for much of the book. I personally enjoyed this process, and felt fine rolling with the magic system despite its complexity and bit-by-bit explanation.

Overall, The Fifth Season is an unmissable read that I highly recommend, but not as a starting point for new fantasy readers.