The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, 1)

I have edited this review after finishing the series. I started off wondering if I would finish this book; there were some things I initially perceived as flaws, but turned out to be strokes of pure genius. I'll explain later. I liked Jemison's previous work in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and the subsequent novels in that series. The Dreamblood books were more of a miss for me my first read through, but after having gone back through them again, I appreciate them more and they were wonderful stories as well. Going into this book, I had mixed expectations. As it turns out, the book, despite my initial misgivings, is excellent. The story is wonderfully written and fleshed out, with a thought-provoking setting and interesting characters. The treatment of orogenes (i.e. magic users) is somewhat reminiscent of the Dragon Age video games, although it definitely has its own twists; the similarities are in how orogenes are controlled and feared by their society. I found myself eagerly anticipating my nightly reading times to sink into this world. I do have a minor quibble with some of the language the author developed for her world. Jemisin has developed a sort of jargon for her world that I found to be unrealistic. It's hard to describe exactly why it didn't work for me; it just felt cheesy in that way that sci-fi lingo can become cheesy. For example, northern latititudes and southern latititudes are referred to as nomidlats and somidlats or something like that. The word 'rust' is often a swear word, which just sounded lame when reading through it: "rusting hell!" See what I mean? Communities are called 'comms.' Every facet of the society depicted in The Fifth Season is centered around long term survival after periods of extreme environmental adversity, but I could never make sense of why they would have lost other vocabulary to describe settlements; why does it have to be "comms" to describe any hamlet, village, town? That simply didn't seem very realistic. The characters in the novel certainly use advanced vocabulary in all other respects. I got to where I could overlook this stuff, but initially it a little harder for me to suspend disbelief throughout the read. Another thing that bothered me was one character's points-of-view being written in the 2nd person. This character's chapters are the only ones that are like this, so it is jarring to read several chapters in the 3rd person to then suddenly be thrust into a chapter that literally sounds as if someone is telling what YOU are doing/seeing/thinking/saying etc. Initially, I thought it was simply incorrect to use the 2nd person. After having completed the series, it was genius and there is no other way this story could have been told as effectively. It will bother you. It will make you feel like the Author is trying too hard to make you feel her characters' feelings. In the end, you'll bask in sheer amazement about the courage it took to do it, and how fantastically well it works. It was the above two flaws that had me debating putting the book down and moving on to something else. I am happy I didn't, it's a pretty darn good book. There is another problem with the book that needs to be discussed. This is a world where forced breeding occurs between people in order to ensure the survival of the human species. I commend Jemisin for including homosexual and transsexual characters in this book. She treats them as any other sort of character. At first I didn't think anything of it, but there is a drawback to that approach. I understand that Jemisin wanted to write these characters in an inclusive way. I just think that the world they lived in would never have allowed it. In a society where producing offspring is critical for the survival of the species, I found it incongruous that homosexuality would be so liberally accepted; not because of my own views on the topic, which are quire liberal, but because of the context of the world I was reading about in this book. In this world, people who might not produce offspring might be viewed as with suspicion or as a threat. In our world, persecution of homosexuals has most often arisen in areas where resources are scarce and survival is difficult. I think both the impact and the immersion would have been helped if the society was hostile to them, and then their worth was shown over time by their absolute critical importance to the continued existence of the human species. The story, however, is so amazingly good that these minor gripes do not detract from its telling in any significant way. I loved this story, and the series itself is the best I've ever read.

There are moments when you pick up a book and you’re immediately captured, in awe with the world building, engrossed by the story and the characters and unable to imagine how you ever lived without ever getting to know the characters before you on the printed page. I call that moment ‘the click’, that magical moment when the story comes together and you are at the authors beck and call, devouring every word on the page like some thirsty traveler in the desert devouring water from a refreshing stream. Before penning this review, I wasn’t sure what to really say about N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season, that has not already been said before. I mean Jemisin is already recognized as one of the rising stars in the Fantasy genre, infusing diversity and innovation in her work, turning the norms of the franchise on their head with every book. And this was before she won the Hugo. If only we all could be so lucky. That being said, I’ll try and I'll start by saying I thoroughly enjoyed The Fifth Season. I mean who wouldn’t like a novel who’s novel begins with the sentence, “Lets start with the end of the World”, a sentence that immediately had me hooked. End of the world, you can’t start with stakes higher than that for crying out loud. That being said, welcome to the Land known as the Stillness, a world that is anything but. You see this world is marked by seasons, cataclysmic geological events where the Earth in its anger tries to wipe out all human life on the planet for some unknown transgression. The magic of this world is also tied heavily to the Earth as well, orogeny it’s called, the ability of certain people orogenes to sense and manipulate tectonic activity, drawing their power from their environment to quiet quakes and manipulating other geological events such as closing volcanoes, clearing reefs etc. Naturally one would thing that such beings of power in a world of geological uncertainty would be worshiped our even revered but NK Jemisin flips this idea on its head and places orogenes in a position of discrimination and oppression. These individuals are feared for their abilities, labeled as a curse on the planet by Father Earth, slaughtered for their powers. Think more X-men rather than say Avengers, feared rather than loved for their powers. As such Orogenes are rounded up and taken to a school known as the Fulcrum where they can learn to use their abilities, ostensibly for their own protection but primarily so they can be controlled and used as weapons for the Totalitarian state that governs the majority of the Stillness. Orogenes are considered less than human feared and mistreated as such, while also policed by the mysterious Guardians who have the amazing ability to negate their powers. The beauty of this story lies not only in the characters N.K. Jemisin creates but the themes she intricately weaves throughout the story. True this is a story about life on a hellish world with seasonal apocalypses, but it is also a deeply personal story, a story about family, the nature of both love and identity in the shadow of racial and cultural oppression. The idea of history itself being used as a weapon against the oppressed, a tool to justify the rightness of those in power is explored in the novel, juxtaposed against the idea that the truth if only known would set the world free, if only it were known. There is a strong undercurrent in the novel that Orogeny and orogenes in particular, if they were just allowed to live their lives, love whom they will and take a more active and dynamic role in society that all of humanity would be better off and perhaps even find a way to thrive on this planet who’s desperately trying to kill everyone. It is instead racial discrimination, fear of the other and human nature that keeps this from happening. I ’m not sure a better allegory could be written for our deeply troubled times where isms of all kind divide us in the real world. Likewise, the story is told through three different narratives which is normal for a fantasy work, but all three narratives come together beautifully. I won’t ruin it for you, but when these narratives come together its magical. One of the narratives is also written in 2nd person POV which was a wonderful surprise and Jemisin pulls it off beautifully. For years to come, her use of 2nd person will be a wonderful example of how to work with this tough, seldom used perspective. That she pulled this off speaks volumes of Jemisin’s talent, pulling this experimental POV off, yet still telling her story, melding seemingly disparate perspectives from the narratives together without a hitch. Bravo. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the beauty of Jemisin’s prose and style, conversational, taut yet full of purpose with each word. Jemisin’s prose is loaded with meaning, showing rather than telling, the characters interacting and taking cues from each other in the way one would in everyday life. In other words, not everything is spelled out to the reader, you like the character have to read between the lines to catch everything that’s implied on the page. Some may find this annoying, but I found the lack of handholding in some parts to be the true mark of the mature author, trusting their audience while also adding to the wonder of the world she’s created. In short, I loved The Fifth Season. It’s a fantasy novel that destroys common fantasy tropes but still tells a story that is rich, deep and more importantly feels like it has something to say. The book won the Hugo, so I’m not sure what more needs to be said to convince you that this is one you need to read. Run don’t walk to this book.

I've been hearing for a while now about N.K. Jemisin's writing, with most recommendations orbiting around her novel The Fifth Season, the first volume in a (blessedly already completed) trilogy named "The Broken Earth." And with an itch to get back into reading fantasy lately, I was hoping that The Fifth Season would rekindle my love for a genre that has been letting me down a bit lately. Man, did it ever work, because I loved this book a lot. From the rich worldbuilding to the compelling characters, from the focus on marginalized and damaged protagonists to the thematic richness of its ideas, The Fifth Season gripped me early and never let go. It doesn't hurt that The Fifth Season has such a bold, unusual structure. Unfolding across three stories that we alternate between, the story opens with its boldest narration structure: a second-person voice that places the reader in the position of Essun, a woman whose husband has murdered her son and run away with their daughter in tow. That this murder becomes almost understandable in the world Jemisin has created doesn't make the crime any less horrifying, or the emotions any less powerful, and Jemisin's unusual second-person narration has a way of making the book hit home in a way that's hard to pin down. Of course, it also doesn't hurt that this story begins with the ending of the world - the unleashing of another Fifth Season across the globe: a catastrophe that may wipe out all life on The Stillness, a mass continent wracked by constant tremors and instability. (Jemisin's small but subtle implications that this is not fantasy, but distant science-fiction set in a far-off future, make the world all the more fascinating.) This is a quest for justice set against the collapse of society, and that makes it all the more haunting to watch unfold. That would be enough story for most authors. But Jemisin mixes in two other stories, each set in what appears to be a time before this apocalypse has been unleashed. In one, we meet a young girl named Damaya, whose magical powers - known as "orogeny" in the novel - lead her parents to give her to a man who can keep her safe. It's the flip side of what happened to Essun's son; in the world of The Stillness, orogenes - who can both control and unleash the destructive powers of the earth - are both needed and feared, and often killed as soon as their powers begin to manifest in uncontrollable ways. That Jemisin so neatly intertwines power and control, safety and destruction, makes for compelling reading; that we become so invested in Damaya's survival, training, and learning who she is makes the story all the richer. And then there's Syenite, a grown orogene sent on a mission with Alabaster, one of the most powerful male orogenes alive, both to train and to provide him a chance to procreate. It's this relationship that's most fascinating and complex in the book; with the mixture of Alabaster's anger and rage at the ways in which he's forced to use his powers, Syen's desire to prove herself and establish who she is, and the way this third of the novel finds Jemisin diving into the nuance of her world and peeling away the simple rules that Damaya is learning, it's by far the most complex part of the book, and maybe the most satisfying. Any of these three stories could be a great book on their own, but Jemisin's gift for interweaving them is what makes them truly fascinating, as each story comments on the others in small ways and enriches the text we're reading, giving the reader more information than the characters and allowing us to see what's going on beyond the surface. Add to that Jemisin's desire to focus on diverse, complex characters beyond the basic archetypes (I can't think offhand of a fantasy novel that's more diverse in terms of gender and race, much less one that incorporates those aspects so well), and you have a knockout voice in fantasy that's giving me a fresh love for the genre that means so much to me. It won't be long until I'm jumping into volume two, and I really can't wait to get there.

This book hits many different cords in a single stroke. The attention to detail, the world building, the character development all sing in perfect harmony to create this enthralling story that you have to force yourself to put down. Like most books I read (and then thoroughly enjoy), it starts slow. The oddity in narrative perspective was difficult to bend to but I implore you to keep reading. Everything clicks into place and it becomes a thoroughly engrossing novel. One of the best I’ve read in a very long time.

On another planet there’s a continent called The Stillness in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way, because it’s a highly seismologically active place. Every so often, that activity leads to what is referred to as a Fifth Season, when an earthquake or volcanic eruption creates society-destroying chaos. Over time, civilizations have risen and collapsed, with some Fifth Seasons relatively short-lived and some that kill off all but a few isolated bands who restart the world. There are a group of people in this world called orogenes, born with the ability to connect to the earth’s energy in ways both helpful (stilling earthquakes before they even happen) and destructive (triggering those same quakes, or even just striking out against threats). Those without their powers hate and fear them, and have channeled that fear into the creation of a training center called the Fulcrum where orogenes can be controlled, taught to use their skills for the good of the greater society. This book tells the story of three women in that world: Damaya, a young girl whose family has discovered that she is an orogene and have rejected her, sending her away to the Fulcrum, where she struggles to connect with her peers even as she excels in her training, Syenite, a young adult working her way up the heirarchy in the Fulcrum, who is sent on a mission with Alabaster, one of the center’s most accomplished products, and Essun, a middle-aged woman whose personal world is destroyed on the same day as the wider world: her husband has discovered that she and their children are orogenes and has killed their son, while fleeing with their daughter. At the same time, an orogene has triggered a massive earthquake that sets off a Fifth Season, making Essun’s quest to find her daughter ever-more fraught with peril. I don’t tend to gravitate towards sci-fi/fantasy that spends a lot of time on world building: I can’t “see” scenes play out inside my head when I’m reading so the pleasures of that sort of thing are largely lost on me. But N.K. Jemison balances her intricate world-building with the kind of strong character development that many of these sorts of stories lack, giving me reason to care about all of the details. Each of the women’s stories is compelling, exploring what it means to be “other” and how to interact with an outside world that both needs and resents you. It also explores the power of story itself: the folklore that has been passed down through the years about how to survive a Fifth Season and how people respond to it, the framing of orogenes as inherently dangerous through tales told to children, and how easy it can be to make up a story for yourself in ways that paper over uncomfortable realities. In a bit of a stylistic flourish that she completely earns with her talent, Essun’s chapters are narrated in the second person, something that can be tricky to pull off but works here. Another thing Jemison does that feels refreshing in this genre is incorporate diversity in a way that feels completely natural: The Stillness is home to people of various ethnic backgrounds and has its own racial hierarchies, and people are not always just cisgender and heterosexual. While I was always engaged with it when reading it, the book is a bit on the intellectual side and it was the sort of thing that I didn’t find myself compulsively driven to pick up. That being said, though, this was a very good book and I intend to continue with this series and recommend it!

Over the nearly 40 years I've been writing book reviews (on and off, but mostly on these days), an author has never ticked me off. Ever. I've been unhappy with any number of novels I've read, but I've never been upset with a writer up until now (By the way before all of you get yourself into a potential tizzy over that statement and may be reading into it, please keep reading the review. Please.). N.K. Jemisin has succeeded in ticking me off. Why? Oh, a couple of reasons. First (and this statement comes with me not yet having finished reading SEVENEVES, but I'm not even halfway through that beast and I think I can make the following statement with much certainty), I think that for the first time in all the years that I've voted for the Hugos, I will be placing a book that's not clearly science fiction in the top spot on my ballot. To be fair, it's not clear this book is fantasy either, so maybe I'm cheating with that statement a bit. In fact, come to think of it, I'm looking at the top two spots on my ballot not being clear cut science fiction, but I digress. The second reason is that as THE FIFTH SEASON is the first book in a series that may not be science fiction, I'm anxiously awaiting book two. The last thing I need is yet another series in which to get behind. I mean really: Cixin Liu, John Scalzi, Mira Grant, Charles Stross, and (yes, I know but you all know how I am by now) Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson all have books out that I'm waiting to read. Oh, I forgot Lois McMaster Bujold. So now I add Jemisin to the list. She's in good company. The thing about reviewing this book is that it's, well, *difficult* to review this book without giving away too much - but I'll try anyway. The story takes place on a planet that has one very large continent, the Stillness. The continent is unstable in that there is an abundance of faults which cause earthquakes, or shakes as they are called, to happen frequently. Periodically, a major disaster occurs which sends the planet into what is called a "season", which is difficult to describe other than they send the planet and its inhabitants into a long period of suffering of one form or another. There is a class of people called orogenes, who have the ability to control the power of the earth and stone and other things. They are powerful people, who if not trained can cause severe damage all around them. Thus, training is held in the Fulcrum, where orogenes learn to use and focus their power. Orogenes are generally shunned because of what they can do; they frighten people. There is another class of folks called the Guardians, who watch over, guide, and in fact can control orogenes. An orogene never says "no" to his or her Guardian. They are supposed to be protectors, but they do frighten the orogenes. The story follows the timelines of three female characters: the young Damaya, who is taken from the family that shuns her because she is an orogene by a Guardian to the Fulcrum for her education; Syenite, a "four ringer" (think of the rings as levels in your favorite role playing game) who goes on an assignment with ten ringer (the maximum you can be) Alabaster whose baby she is ordered to have in an attempt to generate another high powered orogene; and Essun, a mysterious woman who is trying to find her husband who has stolen their daughter and run away after killing their son. Each of them discover things about themselves and the world they live in that disturbs them, and their stories converge in a way that is surprising and, I think, satisfying. In addition to Jemisin allowing her characters to go on a journey of discovery via terrific storytelling and characterization, she allows the reader to go on a similar journey of discovery about the Stillness and the planet it exists on. As the story develops, it's very clear that the society we are reading about at one point was advanced to some degree; there is talk of electricity and concrete roads, for example. There is, in fact, evidence of technology all through the story, including the mechanism by which the orogenes use their power and how the Guardians are created. There are universities which all types of sciences. And yet, there seems to be evidence of magic; just what are the stone eaters and how do they fit in to the overall story? What are those strange obelisks that the orogenes seem to attract? This is without question one of the best books of 2015, and in my opinion the best novel that is on the Hugo ballot. And if you ever wanted to read a killer sentence that ends a book, read this one. But please, please, please read the rest of the book first, as reading the last sentence without reading the rest of the book will spoil everything (I will admit to having deduced, in an "ah hah" moment, what was implied by the last sentence sometime before I got to it, but the impact was still tremendous). Robin Miles was an absolutely fantastic narrator. While she isn't the best at voicing different characters, her reading style, inserting emotion, inflection, and tonality (that may not make sense here, but I can't think of another word to convey what I'm thinking) were outstanding. I look forward to her reading the next book in the series. That second book? THE OBELISK GATE? Yeah, that will be out at MidAmericon 2 in Kansas City next month. Thanks, Ms. Jemisin. Now I'm even more behind in my reading.

The Fifth Season is a beautifully written apocalyptic fantasy featuring an intricate and inventive magic system and world. It’s also very ambitious from a literary standpoint, but those ambitions aren’t always met. The Fifth Season takes place in a world regularly rent and wrecked by catastrophic earthquakes, creating the titular fifth seasons. It’s a world where the greatness of a society is measured by how many seasons it has survived. It’s a world where people with the ability to control quakes—orogenes—are feared and needed in equal measure (as is usually the way of it—see, bankers). Jemisin throws us into this world with three separate POV characters, with three distinct plot threads, apparently taking place at different times. Those POV characters are Syen, an orogene given an unpleasant assignment; Damaya, a young girl taken to the capital for training after it is discovered she has orogenic ability; and “you,” an older orogene living incognito. The book begins, or near enough, with an immensely powerful orogene cracking the world like an egg, an event that promises to bring a fifth season of untold scale and suffering. Right there are the seeds of much of what makes The Fifth Season great, and where it stumbles. It’s the sort of rich world that shows up in fantasy at its best. It’s a world with a lot of backstory lurking under the surface. Previous fifth seasons are talked of in hushed tones, people follow a lore of how to live through fifth seasons that has reached almost religious significance, and the world is littered with deadciv artifacts and technology. Most notably the massive obelisks that float in the air. The threat of the next fifth season weighs as heavily on the people as the past fifth seasons do. Jemisin is exceptional at making up names to go along with her worldbuilding. Most notably, the PC word, orogene, has a natural aesthetic beauty to it that nicely contrasts with the guttural sound of the corresponding epithet, rogga. Language reflects the world. “Rust” is an epithet where acid rain destroys metal. Orogene novices are “grits,” the “unimportant bit of rock ready to be polished into usefulness, or at least to help grind other, better rocks.” Kirkhusa are “more like big land-bound otters than canines,” and it’s just cool to visualize giant otters that go feral when a season strikes. It’s a big world full of detail. “Syen takes another sip, trying not to grimace at the chalky grit near the bottom of the cup. Safe is nutritious, but it’s not a drink anyone enjoys. It’s made from a plant milk that changes color in the presence of any contaminant, even spit. It’s served to guests and at meetings because, well, it’s safe. A polite gesture that says: I’m not poisoning you. At least, not right now.” “You’ve met geomests. They’re everything people think orogenes are when they’re feeling charitable: arcane, unfathomable, possessed of knowledge no mortal should have, disturbing. No one but a geomest would know so many useless facts, so thoroughly.” “Friends do not exist. The Fulcrum is not a school. Grits are not children. Orogenes are not people. Weapons have no need of friends.” “When there is no earth-power nearby, an orogene can still make the earth move, but only by taking the necessary heart and force and motion from the things around her. Anything that moves or has warmth—campfires, water, the air, even rocks. And, of course, living things.” (Jemisin also has a knack for managing to squeeze wham lines into little paragraphs of worldbuilding.) It’s almost perfect, but not quite. Her labels sometimes miss—“shakes” for earthquakes. It’s hard to place the technological timeframe—there is running water and advanced hydro and geo power, but it seems early modern at best in a lot of other ways. That sort of thing can make a second world seem truly foreign—high praise in my book—but here it looks more like unfinished worldbuilding. It is, as I mentioned, ambitious from a literary standpoint. I suspect that has a lot to do with its critical success. As someone who reads a lot of speculative fiction, I love it when authors are doing something different, but I prize execution above all. Jemisin’s execution isn’t always great—most notably with the decision to write an entire plot thread in second-person—which is why The Fifth Season isn’t as good a book as Uprooted, a less ambitious book that is pretty much perfect in the execution. The Fifth Season is a dark, evocative, richly imagine, and beautifully written story. It’s the first N.K. Jemisin book I’ve read, but it won’t be the last.

Meh.... Maybe.... ? I think this is one of those books that suffers from overhype. You set your expectations so high it just can’t possibly live up to them. So I’m giving it 3 stars with the caveat that it might actually be a 4 Star read. First things first, CONTENT WARNINGS SPOILERS AHEAD: I really hate child abuse, torture, murder, harm, etc. I am a mom. This is really, REALLY hard for me to read. The book opens with a murdered child. Grim- but I thought I could get past it. Later in the book there is a scene with a dead child who was basically tortured his whole life. It was terrible. I really didn’t appreciate that surprise and I’m sort of shocked it hasn’t been mentioned more often. After that it’s pretty smooth sailing but I just really didn’t like it. This definitely impacted my rating. **END SPOILERS** The world building was really good and probably my favorite part of the book. It was sort of reminiscent of The Three Body Problem in that aspect- How would the world be if we had to endure a miniature apocalypse every generation? The characters were okay. I never felt like I got a true sense of them one way or another. I feel this way about all characters who are too serious I think. I like to laugh. I think laughter is necessary to life. I come from a home filled with laughter, sarcasm and just general ball busting. The character with the most “life” was the one who was of course, also the least likeable. So the overly serious main characters, with the exception of little Damaya, of whom there was definitely not enough of, just didn’t laugh enough. They were stiff and too serious, and often felt like cold, emotionally detached, mannequins. Sort of understandable given the world, but then again, laughter is the best medicine isn’t it? The story was okay. Lots of action and yet almost no action. The conclusion was excellent. I will probably continue the series.

Excelente trilogia

Got me engaged in the first chapter. Keeps you interested all the way and the story is outstanding.

Una cavalcata di situazioni al limite, in cui l'Avventura con la A maiuscola va a toccare in profondità la bruttura dell'animo umano. Non è narrativa per le teste vuote, né per chi desidera facili escapismi nel fantastico. Questo è il genere di letteratura speculativa che non ti fa sentire meglio dicendoti che tutto andrà bene, è una tragedia in cui esorcizzare il dolore e il sentimento d'alienazione nei confronti di una società che tradisce le tue aspettative. The Fifth Season è l'esatto opposto del "wish fulfillment" facilone e immaturo, e si capisce bene perché ha vinto il premio Hugo. Chiunque abbia mai letto le storie premiate in passato sa perfettamente quanto fossero feroci e rilevanti per la società del proprio tempo. Questo libro, purtroppo per noi, si riferisce alle prime decadi del 21° secolo senza bisogno di andare a forzare alcun parallelismo. Buona lettura.

The Fifth Season is a beautifully produced paperback in the Stable Act edition. The paper quality is excellent, the font is clear and comfortable to read, and the cover design is elegant. The story introduces a unique and immersive world with rich world-building and intriguing characters, making it an engaging read from the start. This edition feels premium and well-made, and it’s a great way to begin the trilogy.

Um dos elementos mais importantes e fascinantes de livros e filmes de ficção-científica e fantasia é a construção de um mundo próprio. Pode ser bem parecido com o nosso, mas pode também ser o nosso de maneira cifrada – nesse sentido, é capaz que seja ainda mais semelhante àquele em que vivemos. É um elemento básico para a narrativa, mas não fácil de atingir, pois é preciso coerência e coesão internas, tudo estar muito bem armado para que o leitor acredite naquele mundo. Não são muitos escritores e escritoras que conseguem tal feito à perfeição. Em seu THE FIFTH SEASON, a norte-americana N. K. Jemisin faz isso de maneira insuperável, é brilhante. Ergue um mundo com pontos de contato com o nosso, cria geografia, fauna, flora e habitantes – para, ao mesmo tempo, destruir esse mundo. Ela pode se dar a esse luxo. A terra onde a trama se passa é chamada Stillness (há até um mapa no começo do livro) – o nome é irônico, pois o que mais há nesse lugar é um fluxo de transformações, nem sempre positivas. De tempos em tempos, o lugar enfrenta apocalipses das mais variadas magnitudes, e há até um apêndice no final do romance recontando cronologicamente cada uma dessas destruições. Dessa forma, a realidade da civilização e das pessoas do lugar é efêmera, não é possível fazer grandes planos pois o lugar onde mora vai ser varrido do mapa a qualquer momento. Gerações vivem debaixo desse véu da incerteza. Cada um dos desastres é chamado de Season, e o próximo, acredita-se, será o mais devastador, varrendo até a história da História. Dessa forma o passado e presente da protagonista, Essun, professora de uma escola primária, são incertos. Sua vida é marcada pela tragédia, quando marido matou o filho e fugiu com a filha, que também parece ter matado. Essun quer encontrar sua filha, mas também quer vingança, e o poder sobrenatural que ela tem é a sua arma. Jemisin fratura sua trama em três personagens – as outras duas são Syen e Damaya – , cujas histórias se sobrepõem até o momento em que deverão se encontrar. A diversidade de ponto de vistas permite uma visão mais abrangente de Stillness, sua história, pessoas e eventuais destruições. Jemisin escreve com segurança e sem floreios. Sua força está na criação das personagens e desse mundo, tudo englobado numa lógica interna que não engessa o livro, mas traz-lhe coerência. A autora toca em temas difíceis sem fazer de seu romance um panfleto, mas, sim, uma possibilidade de figuração do nosso presente, e especialmente dos afrodescendentes, quando aborda questões como genocídio e eugenia. Há alguns momentos em que The Fifth Season lembra Octavia Butler – especialmente quando se busca uma conexão entre as narrativas de escravidão e a questão racial no presente. The Fifth Season – previsto para ser lançado no Brasil ainda esse ano – é o primeiro romance da trilogia The Broken Earth. E ganhou o Hugo, um dos principais prêmios do gênero, no ano passado. Sua sequência, The Obelisk Gate, levou o mesmo troféu nesse ano, em agosto passado. E o último romance da série, The Stone Sky, lançado há poucos dias, também, por motivos óbvios, já desponta como favorito para a premiação no próximo ano.