The Fifth Season

Executive Summary: Dark, yet somehow not bleak. This book is in easily in contention for one of my favorite reads of the year. Not to be missed.

Audio book: This was first time listening to a book narrated by Robin Miles. She does a fine job, and is a good fit for the story. She speaks clearly and was easy to hear.

I put her into the above average category, such that while she didn't really add to the story to make this a must listen she doesn't get in the way of the story either, such that listening to this book is a good option in my opinion, but not a must listen.

Full Review
This is now the third book of Ms. Jemisin I've gotten from a daily deal. I never got around to trying either of her previous two series, but after enjoying this one so much, they have definitely moved up in my queue.

All of my friends were raving about this book earlier this year, but if not for a daily deal, I might have overlooked it. I'm glad I didn't.

It will be hard to put into words exactly why I loved this book so much without massive spoilers to the plot. Suffice to say, this book was excellently written.

The book starts off rather dark and that gave me pause, yet somehow Ms. Jemisin sucked me into the narrative so completely that I was never really bothered by it. It's not all bleakness either. Much like life there are ups and downs, albeit maybe more downs than many people experience in a lifetime.

The stories of Damaya, Syenite, and Essun were all engaging, and intermixed in a perfect way that while you hated to step away from one story, you were always just as happy to return to another.

The world building is really fascinating to me too. I have a lot of questions lingering at the end, that I hope will be addressed in the later volumes. The magic is unique and interesting. That's getting harder and harder these days. Normally I like well explained and structured magic systems the best. In this case however the mystery of the magic system and sense of discovery as the book goes on worked really well for me.

This book is full of social commentary, that may turn some people away who just want a “fun” story. It's their loss. I think Ms. Jemisin does a great job of exploring issues relevant to our own world while telling an incredibly engaging and entertaining story. In fact some of the things were so well done, that I didn't notice them at first, or didn't really give the much thought until after stopping for the day.

This review doesn't do this excellent book justice. I rarely give books five stars though, so that should hopefully give some idea.

This is a refreshing book in an oversaturated fantasy market. I hope the next two can live up to bar set by this one. In the meantime I might have to make some time to check out some of Ms. Jemisin's previous work, especially since I own the first book of each of her last two series.