The Fifth Season

There are a lot of fascinating ideas in this novel. As many reviewers have mentioned, Jemison's world-building is imaginative. I love the idea of the Orogene's superhuman gifts during an age of environmental turmoil. Syenite and Alabaster's friendship/relationship/mentorship was nice. I appreciated the diverse characters and the unusual polyamorous relationship that formed, which I don't often see in a sci-fi fantasy book. I was also glad to see a vital female lead; one where the writer doesn't self-consciously draw attention to that fact.

I didn't love the book. About halfway in, I was increasingly bored and wanted more. Part of it might have been the three-way divided narrative. The chapters with the child Orogene had the most potential to involve me. I would have appreciated more about her relationship with her Guardian. I also wish Jemison had expanded on how that Guardian/Orogene system came to be. It feels less like a fleshed-out story and more like a hazy (but lengthy) tour through this world with the three different Orogenes in different stages of life. I wonder if this would have created a better build up if they had told the story of Damaya (who grew to be Syenite, who changed her name to Essun) in a linear way.

The Orogenes are the most powerful (in terms of “magical power”) and necessary people while simultaneously being the most hated and feared—not to mention slaves to the powerless Stills. This sounds like a great source of tension and conflict for the story; it doesn't live up to its potential. Enslaving the Orogenes is like enslaving a bunch of Firestarters; in King's book, the government fails to control her and she's all alone.

This inconsistency is exemplified in the scene where Orogene Essun is leaving the town of Tirimo to look for her daughter. The town leader allows her to leave but other citizens have learned what she is. They foolishly attack her, and she kills them all with no fuss or muss on her part.

Why would the Orogenes, with this superpower, put up with this treatment, other than (possibly, it's not defined) internalizing the global belief that they are born “evil”? The sheer numbers of the Stills maybe, yet that is not enough. They may not be able to combine their power but they could certainly cooperate together using their intelligence. Part of the job of the author is to make this work, make it believable.

The idea that the Guardians have an affectionate yet contentious relationship with their charges was another potential avenue of conflict not developed. The Guardians are basically slaves as well; once they lose their grip on their abilities they are put down like rabid dogs. There could have been a compelling inner conflict where the Guardians have ambivalent feelings about their role. Instead, they amount to a vague source of menace to the Orogenes.

I would have liked to have seen a little more intensity from the story and characters. (Constant anger is not the same as intensity, nor is it a personality trait.) As it is, I'm not engaged enough to continue the series.