I saw the author Of The Fifth Season at Book
Riot Live last year on a panel talking about world- building. The panel was
called "writing what you don't know" and Ms. Jemisin shared the stage
with Margaret Atwood. My reading this novel was the result of having attended
that panel and being thoroughly enthralled with what Ms. Jemisin had to say
about authenticity, researching the real world even if you're making things up,
and her own experience reading characters that influenced the way she wrote
when she was starting out.
First off, the dedication in this book is lovely. It reads: “For all those that have to fight for
the respect that everyone else is given without question.” BOOM! You know
there's going to be some heavy moral/ political/ humanity shit happening in
this book. And, yes, there is.
"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."
