N.K. Jemisin’s Hugo-winning novel “The Fifth Season” is one of the most daring and revolutionary fantasy novels of the last decade. Not only does it stun with its worldbuilding and writing, its characters are as complex and groundbreaking as the Stillness itself, no pun intended. 

I often find myself struggling with award winning novels due to the weight of expectations and the disappointment when they inevitably don’t meet my standards. However, Jemisin’s novel stuck out to me as being incredibly special with a lot of time put into it. I think “The Fifth Season” is in its own league due to the sheer amount of planning and attention to detail that it requires. It has a layered, unpredictable plot with little regard for the convention of time. Chapters often jump decades into the future or go back in time. Even when I couldn’t tell what was happening, but I knew the plot was leading somewhere big, which kept me intrigued.

Defying conventional narrative structures, “The Fifth Season” begins at the end of the world. The post-apocalyptic story takes place on a continent ironically called the Stillness, since the continent is anything but still. In the novel, the Earth is constantly trying to destroy civilization with natural disasters caused by seismic activity, and has succeeded many times in the past. Nonetheless, the people of the Stillness survive, and, even though empires crumble and humanity reaches the brink of extinction, people remain. There are also the Orogenes: a group of people possessing the ability to manipulate the earth and its kinetic and potential energy. 

The novel follows three main characters. The first is Essun, a mother who has lost her son and is on a mission to save her daughter, no matter the cost. Secondly, Damaya is a young girl burdened with abilities that lead her to become ostracized from society. Finally, Syenite is a government-employed Orogene sent on a cover mission under the tutelage of an insane mentor. Throughout the novel, these plot lines converge in devastating and innovative ways.

Immediately, something I will say about “The Fifth Season” is that it rewards its readers for their patience. At the beginning of the novel, the reader is thrown into an ocean of new terminology, relationships, worldbuilding and history without a lifeboat. This was overwhelming for me and led to a slow start where I questioned whether I should keep reading. Additionally, Jemisin places a lot of trust in the reader’s deductive skills and will not hold your hand through most of the novel. I found this refreshing, as authors will often overexplain or be blunt in their writing so as to not alienate their readers, but it is not everyone’s cup of tea. Once I acclimatized to the book’s unique layout, I became fully immersed with the characters and plot.

I was thoroughly impressed with Jemisin’s thorough and imaginative world building. She throws out the old Eurocentric medieval fantasy cliches and the worn-out apocalyptic tropes to create something original. The Stillness is like no other world you’ve read about. It displays the struggle of an oppressed group of people in a world that both needs and resents them.

The novel is told partly in second-person. While, to some, this may be a turn-off, I enjoyed its sharpness and non-linear storytelling. I found the second-person point of view immersive and flexible. Additionally, I felt the second-person served an important role in the story – one which is only revealed to the reader at the end. Without spoiling it, I think you will find the ending well worth the adjustment to the new point of view. 

Since the ending is told at the beginning, the book is told in book-end structure or reverse chronology. While reading, I noticed that the story doesn’t so much unfold as merely reveal itself. I found this narrative structure to be particularly satisfying. Although jumping into the book at the beginning is difficult, for me, the ending compensates for the initial confusion. There are twists, heartbreaks and reveals that make the long traversal through the Stillness all the more worth it. 

I would recommend this novel to most people who love the fantasy/science fiction genre. However, even if you are less familiar with the genre, I would still highly recommend it. As the first book written by a Black author to win the prestigious Hugo Award, it is clear from the beginning that “The Fifth Season” is a story that has something important to say. The novel is so exciting and different from other books, it will appeal to both seasoned fantasy readers and newcomers. 

Rating: 5/5