Audiobook Review – The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, Book 1) by N.K. Jemisin, Narrated by Robin Miles (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Length: 15 hours and 27 minutes
Publisher:‎ Hachette Audio
Release Date: August 04, 2015
ASIN: B012H8111O
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in The Broken Earth trilogy
Source: Borrowed Audiobook from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

“This is the way the world ends. Again.

Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze — the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization’s bedrock for a thousand years — collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman’s vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She’ll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: Previous to reading this book I had also read Jemisin’s Inheritance series (which I liked), her Great Cities duology (which I loved), and I attempted to read her Dreamblood series but I really disliked the “The Killing Moon”…I just thought it was sooo boring. I liked but didn’t love “The Fifth Season”; the way the story is woven together is intriguing and the world-building is fascinating.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was well done. At times it was hard to tell when we switched characters and it would take me a few seconds to figure out that we had. However, it was well narrated and I enjoyed listening to it.

The book switches between three main POVs. We start by listening from Essun’s POV; she is searching for her daughter after her husband brutally murders her son and then takes off with her daughter. Then we switch to Damaya, a young girl who finds out she has earth-shaking powers and is taken from her family for training for training to become an orogene. The final POV is that of Syanite, a ringed orogene who has been sent on a mission with the only ten-tinged male orogene, her side mission is to have a baby with him.

The world here seems to be a future Earth torn by quakes and volcanic activity followed by long winters which destroy life all over the world. These seasons come and go but are always constant and the humans and orogenes are always fighting to survive the natural calamities. I loved the world-building and the way the story was unwound. The story ends up tying together in a fascinating way. You can’t say a ton about the plot without some major spoilers.

This is a fairly deliberate story though, so you do need to stick with it. The first 50-100 pages are fairly confusing as you try to piece together what the heck is going on. Even as secrets are revealed some of it is a bit confusing to follow. There isn’t much action here, this is more the careful unfolding of a very deliberate plot and the mysterious history of this world. There is some adventure and quite a bit of magic. Just be warned, like most of Jemisin’s books, this takes some effort to read and you need to keep your brain turned on while you read it.

My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a strangely compelling read. I loved the complex characters, intricate world-building, and the way the story un-wove and unwound the mysteries of both these characters and the world. Like most of Jemisin’s books, this was not an easy read for me. It took me a long time to get through and I feel like there are still some things I don’t quite understand and am confused about. However, I found this very compelling and do plan to read the next book in the series…I am just going to need some time to digest this book before I do that.