Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've enjoyed all of Jemisin's books thus far, but I often avoid starting series books until the whole series is complete because I hate being left hanging, waiting for the next installment. But "The Fifth Season" was totally worth the suspense. The world of The Stillness - an ironically-named super-continent that suffers frequent, massive environmental catastrophes thanks to its unstable geology - is a captivating setting for the story's three narrators, each of whom is forced to journey across the dangerous, shifting land. In conceiving a society able to do what it takes to survive across multiple devastating periods of disaster and climate change, Jemisin creates a world order that each of her main characters sees through different eyes: one hoping it will offer her refuge, one furious about its demands on her, and one hoping to just avoid its gaze altogether. Even though I enjoy a good Tolkein-esque fantasy, it's so refreshing to read Jemisin's writing, which always takes a fresh departure from the pseudo-medevial-Europe settings so common in the genre. Rather than elves and orcs and plundering armies, Jemisin gives us orogenes (those gifted with the ability to control geological forces), stone-eaters (non-humans who can move through solid rock with their own, mysterious agenda), and a continent that is a greater threat to its people than any army. Whether the strict, caste-driven, xenophobic society that has evolved in response to the environment is a necessary evil or a regime to be overthrown is an argument that will likely span the entire trilogy. "The Fifth Season" could be considered part of the vein of SF/F that addresses environmental and climate change issues (e.g. Nicola Griffith's "Slow River," Paolo Bacigalupe's "The Windup Girl") but in this trilogy, change is inevitable and largely beyond human control. The book builds toward several narrative twists slowly revealed in its final third; I had picked up on enough very subtle hints to suspect some of them, but they still came into focus with a satisfying emotional "click" that made me glad I waited and didn't stumble across any spoilers. I was so captivated by the narrative that I literally woke up in the night wanting to read more (thanks, insomnia! thanks, book light!). Waiting for the next two chapters leaves me feeling as unsettled as the world of The Stillness itself.