From the Bookshelf of The Sword and Laser…

The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)

N.K. Jemisin

Start date: April 1, 2016

Finish date: April 30, 2016

Why we're reading this: It tied in the March Madness poll, and has been deemed the "Alternative pick" by Veronica…more
[close] It tied in the March Madness poll, and has been deemed the "Alternative pick" by Veronica

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Mar 06, 2016 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sword-and-laser, read2016, sci-fi-fantasy, hugo-winners-or-nominees, nebula-winners-or-nominees

I checked the book out of the library when it was nominated for the Nebula Award, after letting the review copy I had expire. Now it's the April 2016 for Sword and Laser, so I felt even more impetus to read it.

This is a novel you must spend some time with, not just dip in and out of. I started out reading it in small parts and only really started to understand it once I committed to it on vacation.

The world in this novel is incredibly unique. It is our world, but far into the future. Apocalypses I checked the book out of the library when it was nominated for the Nebula Award, after letting the review copy I had expire. Now it's the April 2016 for Sword and Laser, so I felt even more impetus to read it.

This is a novel you must spend some time with, not just dip in and out of. I started out reading it in small parts and only really started to understand it once I committed to it on vacation.

The world in this novel is incredibly unique. It is our world, but far into the future. Apocalypses come on a regular basis, in the sense that most people living in the world die. But not everything dies. Some old structures live, some people have survived, and some documentation on how to survive a season makes it through. These fragments are memorized by the children in societies taking it seriously, and are threaded throughout the novel as well.

The stories of three women start to become the primary narratives, and Jemisin alternates between them like clockwork. One is a young girl sent off for training after being discovered to be an Orogene, a human with peculiar powers, able to help control the seismic activity of an unstable earth. But untrained, the Orogenes are destructive and feared. Over all they are treated as slaves. Another is a woman who is forced into mating with a man in an authority role, because of her abilities (or just because she is breedable). Last is a mother whose son has just been killed by his father, because he started displaying the same traits. She is moving through a rapidly crumbling world when she encounters a "boy" - who is actually not a boy at all but a creature who eats rocks.

Have I confused you yet? I did spend quite a bit of time confused. Not because the author isn't clear but because the world is so familiar yet broken (as the series states!), time appears linear but may not be, and the end of the world seems to be inevitable no matter what any of the characters do. The journeys the three women take allow the reader to see more of this fascinating world, and new connections are made just as this novel comes to a close. I have no idea what will happen next!

This is one of the few novels that has shown up in my dreams, and that is some strong imagery. Compared to the other novels on the Nebula list, I'd probably root for this one to win because of it's complexity and originality. ...more

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Apr 04, 2016 Jlawrence rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sword-and-laser

Astounding: characterization, world-building, writing, and a completely absorbing tale to boot. Excited to read more in the series.

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Aug 30, 2017 Brittany rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sciencefiction

Fascinating and engrossing. Well-built world, well-written plot, fully fleshed-out characters. Jemisin weaves mysteries through the text and helps the reader solve them. An intriguing read. I'll be interested to read the sequel! ...more

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Dec 29, 2015 Deirdre rated it really liked it

very interesting with unique ideas.

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Jun 13, 2022 Caitlin rated it really liked it

4.5 stars

Avoid spoilers!

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Jul 04, 2019 Kelly Sedinger rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019-reads, science-fiction, fantasy

My real rating would be 4.5 stars, and the only reason I didn't round up to 5 was because I wanted to leave room for the next two books in the trilogy. This is an amazing book. Its quality is cumulative; it starts off being just "pretty good" but at some point, and I'm not exactly sure when, it became amazing. Or maybe it was amazing all along and I just needed to get through enough of it for Jemisin's plan and skill to become clear.

Her world is a fascinating one, a vast continent prone to extre ...more

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