When you first start reading it, you have no idea about the complexity of the world and the roles the characters will play. And that is what is great about this series. But what the summary doesn’t tell you in any sense is the actual state of the Stillness and the political, discriminatory rift between its citizens. When I read the summary of the first book, I was of course excited by the idea of an apocalyptic fantasy setting and the determination of a mother trying to find her way back to her daughter. Essun does not care what she must suffer as she travels across the face of the earth, so long as she can save her daughter. The Stillness is now in threat of another season of destruction that could last for centuries. The world is ending because Sanze, the empire that has ruled the land of The Stillness for thousands of years has been destroyed, thousands of citizens murdered because of one man’s vengeance.

I have no idea if that makes sense or not, but I am going to stop rambling now and tell you about this remarkable series, which I still loved and thoroughly enjoyed despite any misgivings in my own reading experience.Īll we know of the premise of The Fifth Season is of the end of the world, the death of a son by the hands of his father who has also kidnapped his daughter, and a mother, Essun, desperate to avenge her son’s death and rescue her daughter from the evils of the world. My personal reading experience meant that while I enjoyed this series and found it so invigorating, I can’t say that the series has become one of my all-time favourites. However, there were so many elements to the story that were so complicated and felt to me almost like they were told in riddles that I couldn’t grasp. For the most part, except perhaps for the slow build in the beginning of the first book, The Fifth Season, I was immersed in the story and always wanted to know what would happen next. Though I admire the ideas, the world building, the writing and the uniqueness of the story so much, throughout my reading of this book I found myself meandering. I struggled with it, I found it confusing, super intellectual and often couldn’t quite connect with the characters or the story as much as I wanted to. But I will try.īefore I start attempting to rave about this book and shout at you to read it NOW, I want to note that my reading experience of The Broken Earth wasn’t perfect. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth? I have no clue, largely because my mind is completely bamboozled by this extraordinary, extremely clever and original trilogy to the point that I’m pretty much speechless. How do I begin to talk about a series like N.K.

The broken earth nk jemisin