The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth #1) by N. K. Jemisin

Amy       
Lynnie  


fantasy

Funny, we both felt like the only ones who did not like The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (with a 4.32 average rating on Goodreads!)  At least we agree with each other.  :)  Since this book defies description, here is the first line of the book summary on Goodreads: "THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS. FOR THE LAST TIME."

Amy's Review

I had to battle with this book. It starts off so coldly—with stiff narration about a world that is described as if a screen-writer has written the cinematography plans for the movie’s opening scenes. And then, the author plunges the reader into a language that we can’t yet understand—strange words and unusual names and an unclear situation. (Reading on a Kindle, I didn’t notice until I’d finished the novel that there was a Glossary at the end.) It’s like waking up in a foreign country without having the benefit of reading a travel guide. Then, there are chapters written in second person! I do not recall having read any other novels in second person. It’s a bit discomfiting.

The writing at the beginning was difficult and so much is unknown--names, situations, definitions, etc. It made me feel very out of sorts. I felt like an outsider trying to figure out what was going on during the entire novel. I was lulled into a false sense of temporary understanding in the middle. But the ending blew me out of the story as satisfactorily as the ships were blown out of the sea. And then the novel just ended without any resolution. I almost feel used and abused.

I really don’t know what else to say. This is not the first time that I feel like the only person on the planet who does not fully appreciate the greatness that everyone else sees in a fantasy novel. I assume it won’t be the last. But, this one does not compel me to read either any more novels in this series or more by this author. It’s just not my cup of tea. I like to enjoy the reading experience more than I was able to with this one.

Lynnie's Review

I feel like I'm the only person that didn't like this book, but honestly I didn't. I understood where it was going fairly early on, which might have affected how I reacted to it, but the getting there was so slow that there were several times I almost abandoned this book entirely- the only thing that kept me going, honestly, is that I was waiting for another book from the library so I might as well read this one.

Some of the ideas in this book were interesting, but overall I just wasn't interested.