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The Fifth Season
- The Broken Earth, Book 1
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Series: The Broken Earth, Book 1
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Classics
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Publisher's Summary
This is the way the world ends. For the last time.
A season of endings has begun.
It starts with the great, red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun.
It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter.
It starts with betrayal,and long dormant wounds rising up to fester.
This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the Earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.
A new fantasy trilogy by Hugo, Nebula & World Fantasy Award-nominated author N. K. Jemisin.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
5 Genre-Bending Series That Showcase Fantasy’s Great Diversity
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What listeners say about The Fifth Season
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Blythe
- 2018-05-03
Fascinating world
This book won the 2016 Hugo Award, and is the first in a trilogy (all now published, if you dislike cliffhangers - although the endings aren't really nail-biting cliffhangers, just lots of unresolved questions and stories).
This first book starts out telling three different stories: Essun, a middle aged woman who has just discovered her son has been murdered and her daughter is missing; Damaya, a young girl whose parents have locked her in a barn and are selling her to someone she thinks may be a child slaver; and Syenite, a young woman studying to be an Orogene and about to go on her first official mission. All three have in common the ability of Orogeny, which is the main form of magic in this world: the ability some people have to manipulate heat and life force into geological activity. Untrained orogenes can cause earthquakes and worse when hurt or angry, and are feared by non-orogenes.
The world itself is racked by natural disasters, and regularly suffers from "Seasons", lengthy periods of time (years long) where natural disasters make survival a challenge for all life forms and violent cataclysms may reshape the world. Tsunamis likely wipe out all coastal cities during Seasons, many people starve or turn to cannibalism to survive, wildlife hibernates or adopts other odd defense mechanisms, etc. This is not a friendly world, and the people's relationship with the world reflects this. They talk about how father earth is angry with them, though he once loved them, but exactly why it changed is lost in myth. In fact, the world clearly could once have been something very similar to our earth before human influence triggered climate change and natural disasters - hence the series title I assume (I haven't read the end of the trilogy yet, so I don't know if any more details about the history will be revealed).
Anyway, interesting setting, great characters, and although they start entirely separately, over time you slowly begin to piece together how they are related to each other until you finally start to see the bigger picture by the end of this book. I enjoyed the characters a lot, and the world is very unique and well described. However, I had a really hard time getting into the book at first. I can't put my finger on why but I just didn't find her writing gripping my attention the way some other authors do. Maybe just the complexity of the world and characters? At any rate it was still a good book and I picked up the sequel and plan to finish the trilogy for sure
10 people found this helpful
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- Melissa
- 2019-08-24
Not for me
First, let me start off by saying this book is right up my alley. I absolutely love Hugo award winners. I really wanted to like this book, especially knowing it was part of a trilogy - who doesn't love stumbling on a new series? Sadly it was a struggle to finish. I'm a huge fan of marginalized representation (race, gender, economic status, relationship status, etc) and I was really impressed by characters relationships to one another; however, I never related to any of the characters, their struggles, or the story. I never once felt that tingle of excitement where I was drawn in. I can objectively see why people love this, but unfortunately I found the whole thing very dry. In the words of Amy Poehler, "Good for you, not for me."
7 people found this helpful
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- Melissa
- 2019-07-06
"What the rust?"
I generally find fantasy and science fiction books very hard to listen to. The names are confusing, the ideas are convoluded, and the lexicons are hard to grasp. But somehow N. K. Jemison has built something real, tangible, and heartbreaking. The Fifth Season is a haunting tale of an oppressive society on the verge of collapse. The story follows three different points of view that build a world from ideas to manifestations.
Robin Miles delivers fantastic narration on top of the already great experience. If you pick this up, you're in for a wild ride of fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, and one of the most human experiences I've ever witnessed in it's genre.
7 people found this helpful
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- Arya81
- 2019-10-16
Not for me
I had to turn it off, I couldn't get in to the story and the reader put me to sleep.
6 people found this helpful
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- Michael
- 2019-01-12
Wierd romance fantasy novel.
Every character was annoyingly pretentious. Ends on a good cliffhanger though. Won't continue the series
4 people found this helpful
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- A.B.
- 2018-09-13
Perfect for those who love philosophical spec-fic
N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season is speculative fiction at its most masterful. Jemisin has built a world and mythology to give us new perspective on our own, and she has populated it with complex characters who keep us engaged, sometimes enraged, and hopeful. For all the challenges she throws at her characters in the darkness endemic to her world and ours, there is a humane center to her work, a sense of possibility and care in a world often been powered by exploitation. Jemisin also created a natural vocabulary—I imagine "sess" may find its way into English the way "grok" has done. ("I didn't really grok it until I sessed what she was doing.") Narrator Robin Miles is a talented performer who voiced every role with sensitivity and brought each scene to life. #Audible1
4 people found this helpful
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- Zenon Berg
- 2018-10-27
Mayhaps I'm unrefined?
Narrated quite well, and the characters sand alone. There were also very interesting subplots, but overall, I'm uninspired. Explicit language seemed totally unnecessary, and the universe seemed lacking :-( Then again, I may just be unrefined....
2 people found this helpful
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- peace seeking lady
- 2018-01-26
Very tedious but great story
Again great story line poor narration difficult to listen for hours and hours with the story line lost too often.
5 people found this helpful
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- Elsa Linton
- 2020-03-26
Confusing story back and forth.
I found the order of the storyline very hard to follow had to go back several times to understand.
1 person found this helpful
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- Jon Dickinson
- 2020-01-12
great
excellent, original and mesmerizing. a must for any fantasy reader that is looking for something new and different.
1 person found this helpful
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- Steve Groves
- 2020-02-10
The Nay-Sayers are Wrong.
Okay, so, I ALMOST didn’t use my credit for the month on this book. Some of the negative reviews were scathing, and I try not to pick up books unless they come recommended by people or sources I trust.
This trilogy won THREE Hugo awards, (I’ve never met a Hugo winner I didn’t Love...) So I ignored the nay-sayers.
THANK GOD!
I haven’t enjoyed a book this much since the first time I read Dune.
The sequels will be the first time I spend money for books beyond the free credits.
Guys, this book is wonderful.
The characters are beautiful, tragic, and desperately human. The setting is refreshingly new. The plot is...
...you get the point.
I hope you decide to ignore the negative reviews and give it a chance. Savor it. Take it slow, and PAY ATTENTION. The author is masterful in her storytelling.
That’s the strongest review I can give, but I wish I could give more.
-Steve
276 people found this helpful
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- Rob Prindle
- 2019-06-04
Bizarre and stunningly boring at the same time.
The entire book is populated by characters without humor or anything like perspective. There was absolutely nothing to care about. Like so many current writers this author discarded anything like humanity in favor of literary embellishments.
90 people found this helpful
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- W.
- 2018-11-07
Usually a Huge award is a great indicator
I have in fact, volunteered for four different WorldCons where the Hugo's are given. I tried so hard to like these books, but I just cannot. I understand the originality of how they're written and recognize that the author has a brilliant grasp on how to paint a picture with words, but I just don't like it.
To quote a song by one of my favorite bands: "Different isn't better, it's just different..."
Had I not purchased the first two books in this series together, I wouldn't have bought the second one. I certainly will not be buying the third. My thought after not really caring for the first was: Maybe the story will flush out in the second... Sadly no. Not for me.
52 people found this helpful
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- Paul Griswold
- 2019-05-04
No idea why anyone would give this a positive
When I saw well over 12k positive reviews I figured I'd give this book a shot. I tried to stick with it, but it is so crass, so poorly worded, and so unnecessarily gratuitous that I am returning it.
I finally gave in when the narrator read a line which was something like, "she had just finished her morning f**k". Seriously, how on earth does this book have that many positive reviews? It reads like it was written by a high-school sophomore who is trying to spice up their book by throwing in a lot of unnecessary vulgarities under the guise of artistic writing.
What a giant waste of time.
33 people found this helpful
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- John Barnett
- 2018-11-04
Heavy on the World Building, Light on Plot
This is clearly a book written by someone with an amazing imagination. It pokes and prods with questions about the world we currently reside in by creating, with immense detail, a new world full of love and history. That alone is enough for some people. I might just be one of those crazy folks that hopes a novel also tells a story. I was game for about 5+ hours of world building, hoping that something resembling a story would begin next chapter. Nope. It's just a collection of details describing a world I initially was curious about, then was bored with, and finally labored to just finish.
181 people found this helpful
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- Joe
- 2018-11-04
Not good enough to be interested in the next book.
Interesting way to tell a story, but between the difficulties in rectifying the timeline, understanding the world, and having to struggle to become interested in the main characters, I am satisfied with letting the story rest where this book finishes.
47 people found this helpful
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- DavidtheVoice
- 2018-05-23
Mostly Boring With a Little Touch of Interesting
I'll start with the good. This book has a really interesting magic system and has just enough mystery to keep you somewhat interested. The writing is quite solid too, though I find her style to be a bit annoying but that's a personal preference.
The biggest flaw that this book has is that it is boring and that's quite a big sin for a book especially one in fantasy/sci-fi. It takes a good third to halfway through the book for anything interesting to happen and then it is sporadic thereafter. It was quite a struggle for me to finish this book and that's not something I want in a book I listen to for pleasure.
I personally found most of the characters to be pretty flat and boring and they all seemed somewhat similar. I know this is against the popular opinion but I just didn't think the characterization was very good. I also thought the "twist" was pretty telegraphed and I had guessed it long before I was given confirmation.
This book actually won the Hugo (and so did it's sequel) and I honestly can't understand why it was given such a prestigious award. It's an okay book, but I can't really recommend it to anyone that doesn't want to work really hard to push themselves to listen to it. My best guess for why it won the Hugo, and this is completely my personal opinion, is that it hits a lot of group identities. All the people in the book are black, it has gays, transgendered people, and a class of people that aren't treated much better than slaves. Some of this actually feels forced in my opinion, but it wouldn't be the first time an award was given for something because the voters agreed with the political views of the creator.
14 people found this helpful
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- Fantasy
- 2015-12-01
ORIGINAL AND MOVING, EXCELLENT!
An intriguing concept and story. It wanders far and then comes back to tie up loose ends. Very well performed and beautifully -- poetically -- written. Robin Miles is one of those great narrators who becomes the book so that you don't notice her at all because she is the characters, she is the story. I will be very happy to recommend this one to everyone who likes speculative fiction and very interested to read the next episodes!
The description is a bit deceptive. It sound depressing, but it isn't, not at all. There is magic ... of a kind. Not traditional magic or traditional magicians. No elves, wizards, or other standard fantasy elements. This is the first book I've read in quite a while that has not been derivative of someone else's foundation story. A breath of fresh air after a long run of Tolkien wannabe tales.
It is set in a time outside of time. It could as easily be before now or anytime in the future. You will have to decide for yourself. The author doesn't tell you. Lots of hints, but nothing specific enough to use as evidence. I suspect more will be revealed in subsequent books.
It's also, in its own way, rather sexy. Non-traditionally sexy -- so if you are one of the "traditional family values" crowd, this is probably not for you.
483 people found this helpful
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- Dubi
- 2016-06-09
Rusted Ruminations
Three threads tell the intertwined story of Orogeny, a form of magic in N.K. Jemisin's vision of Earth that allows control of seismic, volcanic, and other geologic events, and the social and political structures built around this critical skill in a world wracked by earthquakes, eruptions, and tsunamis.
One thread follows a girl with orogenic power as she is taken from her village to the big city to learn how to control her skill. Another follows a young woman at the height of her powers as she is sent on a mission. The third follows an aging orogene trying to track down her husband after he kills their son and kidnaps their daughter.
Jemisin builds her world through the process of developing character, slowly and patiently, in a manner strongly reminiscent of similar stories of environmental disaster by Hugh Howey (Wool, Sand) and Paolo Bacigalupi (Windup Girl, Ship Breaker), as well as John Scalzi's Human Division (minus the action sequences).
The writing is impeccable, the characters are well-developed, the metaphors are subtle, nuanced, thought provoking -- just take the word orogeny that Jemisin coined, which sounds exactly like erogeny, which suggests origins or aboriginals, which seems like it could be an etymological construct that means golden people, all relevant to the themes she tackles.
And yet... the pace is glacial, nothing much happens, and much of what does happen is the height of implausibility, not properly explained by Jemisin or her characters. The big reveal -- the primary reason to keep reading -- is telegraphed about halfway through. And the segue to the next entry in the series (yet to be written), though not quite as obvious, becomes easy to predict over the last few hours.
Hours... there's the rub. This would have been a knockout at 8-9 hours. At nearly double that length, it drags on and on for long stretches. Edit, edit, edit! That's what they tell my kids at school. That's what my editor tells me. That's my advice to Jemisin. Concise and precise, those are the primary Elements of Style. But what do I know? Everyone else loves this book.
The one thing I love is the thread that's told in the second person. That is really hard to pull off, especially risky to even attempt it after Bright Lights Big City laid claim to that conceit forevermore. But Jemisin does attempt it and succeeds masterfully. Even better, it seems to me to be a point of view that works particularly well in audio. The best aspect of this book by far.
421 people found this helpful
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- Midwestbonsai
- 2016-02-22
incredibly well written and complex
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin is the first in a trilogy called The Broken Earth. This is a story about three women, Essun, Damaya, and Syenite. They live on a continent called The Stillness. Ironically, this land, and probably the entire planet, is overrun with unpredictable seismic activity that throws the physical world into turmoil. When this seismic activity is cataclysmic, or a season occurs, people die or band together in an attempt to survive. Societal hierarchy is arranged with Orogenes at the bottom. Orogenes are people who have the ability to control seismic activity, which can make them assets in attempting to survive or calm an earthquake, or it can make them dangerous. They are feared and so kept under oppressive control. Each of these main characters is an Orogene of varying ages in the same world living in different times relative to the occurrence of the latest season. However, each Orogene must contend with the changing circumstances in their lives as they attempt to accept who they are as individuals in a society that fears and hates them.
This is an incredibly well written and complex novel and I really enjoyed it. The world building and characters are just fantastic. The premise of the novel driving the post-apocalyptic nature of the story is well thought out and presented. It also ties in seamlessly with the hierarchical society structure that is central to the story line. There is a diverse set of characters and each character and the communities that they live in are vivid and pull the reader in almost immediately. The details help to bring the characters to life and to also hone in the humanity of each of them. Each has strengths and weaknesses. The story jumps between the points of view of each of the three main characters. One quirk of the novel is that one of the points of view is in second person. It was a little challenging to get used to, as I rarely hear it, but it worked. There are also interludes between chapters giving some information about the world, which are useful. The end is a bit of cliffhanger and for me it was also a bit confusing. But it does get the mind working on what might be happening. I’m really excited about the next novel in the trilogy. The story is really great, and it’s been a challenge to convey that without giving away significant plot points.
The narration by Robin Miles was also great. She was able to capture the voice and accents of each of the characters well. The production quality was good as well. I would recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy novels with complex and well developed world building and a story about a population of people living under oppression while simultaneously and inherently having a lot of power.
Audiobook was purchased for review by ABR.
Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog
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185 people found this helpful