Just as Black History Month was beginning, I finished one of the best science fiction books I’ve read in years. The book in question, The Fifth Season, was written by African-American author N. K. Jemisin and stars a mother searching for her daughter amid a world-ending catastrophe. The Fifth Season won the Hugo Award for Best Novel (one of the most prestigious awards for fantasy and science fiction writing) in 2016, and its sequels, The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky, won the Hugo in 2017 and 2018. The novel opens on a world that has been ravaged by civilization-ending natural disasters for millennia. And just as one of these apocalypses has struck, Essun finds her son lying dead in their home at the hands of his father. Her husband has also kidnapped their daughter, and Essun will go to the ends of the earth to find her.
The beating heart of Jemisin’s novel is Essun and the other characters, whose lives we see in intimate detail. We are in their heads for trials and tribulations, and they are as real and believable as your best friend. The world is also fully realized, with realistic political relationships, as well as a magic system with rules that are satisfyingly, consistently followed. One of the only stumbling points for the book is that the intricate plot can be confusing, since unfamiliar terms are not explained at first and the author trusts the reader to pay attention and learn from context clues. Sensitive readers may also find the novel too dark or distressing, but Jemisin’s ideas, world-building, and character building are exceptional. Honestly, I couldn’t put The Fifth Season down – it is a unique, fitting novel for Black History Month or any other time of the year.
Review by Shannon Wood
Adult Services Librarian
Nordonia Hills Branch Library
