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The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)

N.K. Jemisin

Start date: May 2, 2019

Finish date: May 31, 2019

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What Members Thought

Jul 16, 2020 Vickie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: booksthatmakemegowow, listened-to, audible

This is an amazing book and I am glad that it's just the beginning of what I know will be an amazing series. It is fantasy at its finest and it is storytelling at its most amazing. The world-building is fantastic, the characters are superb.
Jemisin pulls you in a little at a time then springs something. I thought I had a story I'd figured out, but I realllly did not. And I LOVED IT!
This is the perfect story to listen to, not all of books are. It's perfect for narration, like someone sitting aro ...more

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Jan 22, 2016 Gremlin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, sf, book-group, think-galactic, strong-female-characters

This is an epic fantasy (not based in medieval Europe, thankfully) with a fully fleshed out world that readers should immerse themselves in. Do not (like me) cram this book into your skull over a two day period - you might miss out on the richness of the developing characters, the fine writing, and the sneaky hints hidden throughout.

There are so many wonderful things to say about Jemisin’s most recent work. Issues of oppression, ignorance, and power (in many forms) are under constant scrutiny an ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 18, 2018 Heather - hturningpages rated it it was amazing

Shelves: awesome-audiobooks, loved-it, sci-fi, favorites

Rating: 5/5 mysterious obelisks

Format: Audiobook. The narrator's voice is enchanting!

What it's like: The pacing, lyrical storytelling and world building put me in the mind of Name of the Wind, Sword of Truth, or Dune

What I loved: THE WORLD BUILDING.
For real, this book has world building for days. Jemisin does a good job of just barely giving you enough information about this complex world to keep you intrigued without feeling like you're being fed information. The structure of the magic and fan Rating: 5/5 mysterious obelisks

Format: Audiobook. The narrator's voice is enchanting!

What it's like: The pacing, lyrical storytelling and world building put me in the mind of Name of the Wind, Sword of Truth, or Dune

What I loved: THE WORLD BUILDING.
For real, this book has world building for days. Jemisin does a good job of just barely giving you enough information about this complex world to keep you intrigued without feeling like you're being fed information. The structure of the magic and fantasy elements in the story feel so logical, original and real, I was completely immersed in this world while reading it. Since I think this is a really underrated quality, I'm giving it 5 stars!
I really love how she deals out foreshadowing too, it made my heart ache but I loved it! The overall arc of the story was absolutely brilliant as well, without going into too many details, I'll just say it was just as creative and brutal as the all of the details that make up this world!
Lastly, I really appreciate the diversity in gender identity, romantic relationships and sexuality, in this book. I think it just makes sense that our ideas of gender and sexuality will continue to evolve so when this aspect is lacking from sci-fi it never makes sense to me. Also, this book deals with issues of racism (species-ism?), oppression and the pursuit of freedom, which for once didn't feel like a trope, but like real issues in a complex society.

What was meh: I'm actually really struggling to come up with something haha I guess I found some of the points of view more interesting than others, but I can also see why she did what she did to tell this story and I love it. So no meh here!

Who I'd recommend it to: To people who love a slow build, a first book in a saga that is clearly laying a fascinating foundation for great things to come! And to those who love some independent woman badassery, sassy-ultra-powerful-cinnamon rolls, earth magic, and definitely some dark themes.

Favorite quotes:
For all those that have to fight for the respect that everyone else is given without question.

“We aren't human."
"Yes. We. Are." His voice turns fierce. "I don't give a shit what the something-somethingth council of big important farts decreed, or how the geomests classify things, or any of that. That we're not human is just the lie they tell themselves so they don't have to feel bad about how they treat us.”

But human beings, too, are ephemeral things in the planetary scale. The number of things that they do not notice are literally astronomical.

“You’re right,” he says. “I’ve been crazy for years. If you stay with me for long, you will be, too. If you see enough of this, and understand enough of what it all means.” ...more

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Jul 05, 2021 Amanda rated it really liked it

Shelves: dystopian, in-media-res, book-club, fantasy, fiction, format-audible, lgbt-main-characters, poc-secondary-characters, sci-fi, lgbt-secondary-characters

Summer 2021 (July);
July's Library Book Club

Where do I start with this book. I'm incredibly glad that it was a book club book, and finally pushed me over the ledge into reading a Jemisin book after so many years about hear how good, she and this series were. (I had, thus far, only read her short work in the 2019 Hugos, even though hilariously I own like 7 of her books in audio and kindle, which I've collected on sales, because I was pretty sure I would love her based on the reviews of those very ...more

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Sep 24, 2015 Karen D rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, post-apocalyptic

This was really creative, very entertaining. I loved the way the different stories tied in together by the end. I really enjoyed the characters, and thought they were very well-developed.

However, I'm not giving it 5 stars because I thought some key aspects were not particularly well-explained. The definitions in the appendix helped but some were missing. This is part of a series, so I'm not worried about the storylines that remained unfinished, but more about underlying aspects that would expla ...more

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Oct 12, 2017 Natalie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio, plch, 2017

I'm glad I saw this through to the end, I ended up really loving the characters and the story once I was able to tie it all together in my mind. ...more

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