The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Let's start with the end of the world, why don't we? Get it over with and move on to more interesting things.

The Stillness is a world - possibly ours in the future, maybe an alternate Earth - where catastrophic earthquakes can swallow civilisations and bring humans to the brink of extinction. Orogenes, those with the ability to control the shaking are feared and reviled - but tolerated as long as they protect society. Essun is one of these orogenes. Until now, she's kept her head down but now her son is dead, her daughter has gone missing and she will rip the Earth apart to get her back.

The Fifth Season is a dark adult fantasy that gripped me from the first page and didn't let me go until I finished it, heartbroken, three days later. I cannot put into words how much I loved this book. It's beautifully written and seamless and clever and heartbreaking. It's a story about the end of the world, about a mother's guilt and sacrifice, about revenge and prejudice and the tiny sparks of hope that keep people going.

There are so many reasons why I'm gushing about The Fifth Season. The diverse characters, the imaginative world-building, a plot that twists and turns, the way it holds a mirror up to the uncomfortable realities of our society... If I had to pick one, however, it would have to be the world-building. I studied geology at university and so I got a little kick every time N.K. Jemisin made reference to plate tectonics and mineralogy.

If you love fantasy, read this book. It's dark, it's original and it holds a mirror to reflect the uncomfortable realities of our society. N.K. Jemisin has won the Hugo Award two years running for a reason.

Read On: Obviously, I downloaded The Obelisk Gate, the next in the series, as soon as I finished reading this book. Another highly rated book by the same author is The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms which is high up on my to-read pile.