The Not a Book Club Club discussion
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The Fifth Season
The Broken Earth
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TFS: Section 1: Prologue + 1 - 7
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There's a lot that I'm loving so far. The earth-breaking magic is really cool. I want to see more of it but also kind of don't because of how destructive it is. I've connected with every character so far. Jemisin is always excellent at that. I really like her choice of writing Essun's POV in second person. It's rare to see but it works so well for Essun. Her grief is so deep and the second person tense manages to make it feel intimate yet distant at the same time. Reading those parts feels like an out-of-body experience.
The relationship between Damaya and Schaffa is quickly becoming terrifying. I found the conversation by the fire after the hand breaking much worse that the actual hand breaking. Damaya knows Schaffa will hurt her whenever he sees fit and that made me catch my breath.
The second person POV for Essun is brilliant. I think without it she'd come across as a relatively unsympathetic character. As an orogene she's terrifying. Imagine living near someone that could go off like a tactical nuclear weapon if she gets a sudden shock? The whole orogene prejudice is horrible, but it doesn't appear unjustified so far. Also, she hasn't shared this information with her husband and she's borne two children who also have the curse. It all seems reckless.But by making it all second person it's all so much more personal. Her decisions are yours. Her grief is yours. And when she goes nuclear at the end of chapter three, the destruction she wreaks is yours too.
I'm also wondering if her husband did kill her son. I don't want to think he did, and I'm wondering what sort of person Essun is that she hasn't allowed another option.
I'm not sure that I believe that Jija killed Uche. Essun says he killed Uche because he discovered that Uche is an orogene but why didn't he kill Nassun too? It doesn't add up.
Finally getting a chance to really get into this and I'm loving it so far. I don't normally like second person POV but it is so perfect for Essun. The way sex is portrayed is um interesting.
I'm loving this, but I'm confused about the three stories' timelines. If it all becomes clear later, I am happy to wait, but did I miss something pertinent in the first section?
It will become clear later.
Excellent. I was on the verge of rereading the first few chapters (no great hardship, that) because I just wasn't sure. Thank you for the reassurance that my reading skills are at least partially intact!
I also like the second person POV of Essun. I agree that it helps us understand her better. I'm pretty much blown away by the world-building in this book. I love the appendix in the back! I've looked up so many things already, and it's helped me understand how the world works. I'd be much more lost without it! I hope at some point we'll see these POV characters intersect with each other.
Oh so there is an appendix? I'm reading this on my kindle so I never noticed. But I don't really feel I need one, either so I guess I'll just check it out when I'm finished (I've read 75% of the book now)Christina wrote: " I hope at some point we'll see these POV characters intersect with each other. "
You most certainly will :)
Yeah, I don't think you need to read it to understand the story, but it gives more detailed information than what is in the book, particularly about the history of the world, that it makes it a richer reading experience. So I'd recommend reading it when you finish the book. I found it extremely interesting.
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I was a bit turned off at the start. It's VERY bleak so far. What with the world ending and all, on and Essun's kid being dead/murdered by his father/her husband for good measure.
Now that I've warmed up to the book, I'm really enjoying it though. I agree with Dara that I like all the characters rather quickly. Well like may be the wrong word for me. I'm interested in all the characters. I'm not entirely sure I like some of them. The first chapter of the next section has been really good though. I can't wait to finish that section so I can jump into that discussion.
The second person thing is really strange. It always takes me awhile to adjust when that comes up. English class was always one of my worst subject, especially spelling and grammar. I wouldn't have known it was second person if Dara/Lindsay hadn't said so, but I could definitely tell it was different from what I'm used to (mostly 3rd and sometimes first I believe).
It's always interesting to see names in print. I can never remember them to begin with, but audio is always 10x worse for me. I would have never guessed it's spelled orogene. The narrator pronounces it like origin.
I was excited to find out the audiobook had a PDF, but it appears it's just the appendix, and not like a glossary (I still think all audiobooks should come with a list of characters, places, etc and any maps/pictures there may be).
I tend to avoid those until I've finished a book in case there is spoilers.
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That's an interesting thought. But apart from the small boy following Essun (I forget his name of course), it doesn't appear that anyone can just sense orogenes though.
So my counter thought to that would be the little boy couldn't control it/had an accident and exposed himself to his father.
The father went a while without knowing his son was an orogene. At least it sounded like that to me, because Essun talked about her son coming to her with his "deep down" earth feelings (or something like that).
So I could totally buy the father being oblivious the daughter is one too. Though assuming he never knew about his wife and kids, I'd suspect he'd become VERY suspicious of both his wife and his daughter after he found out about his son.
However, we learn that you can be "muggle-born" to steal the Harry Potter term. I'm not sure how common that is yet, but we know at least one of the orogene characters came from 2 normal parents.
I'll be curious to see what we discover if/when Essun catching up with them.
No spoiler tags required. Though it would be highly appreciated if you Uncheck Add to my Update Feed to avoid accidentally spoiling this for your goodreads friends.
Please do not discuss events from later chapters. Referring back to events from a previous section/book is fine.
This section covers from Prologue: you are here through 7: you plus one is two.