The Fifth Season is the first book in the Broken Earth trilogy. This is a sci-fi fantasy with intricate world building and incredibly compelling characters. In this world, there is a vast continent called the Stillness. Though it is anything but still. Periodically earthquakes, volcano eruptions, and seismic activity barrage the continent, and survival here is tough. There are people who are called orogenes. They can ease these seismic shocks and can prevent earthquakes and volcanoes from erupting, or they can start one. But they are the most oppressed group in this world. They are used as weapons and tools. They are deemed as dangerous, so they are controlled by the one single ruling government. And they are not even considered as humans by society. The Fulcrum is a training facility where orogenes are trained by the Guardians. The Guardians are responsible for hunting down orogenes. Untrainable orogenes are put to death, and trainable ones are assigned missions to serve the empire. They are used as slaves.

This story has three plot lines, and every one of them is intriguing. The story starts with Essun, a middle-aged woman who comes home to find out that her husband has murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter because her husband found out the children were orogenes like her. This plot line is her quest to find her daughter and kill her husband. But at the time of her journey, a new fifth season begins. The fifth season is a period of apocalyptic events because of excessive seismic activity. Acid rains, plagues, famine, and long periods of darkness engulf the world every few years, but the new fifth season is harsher than any of the ones before, and this season could last centuries and leave no one alive. As the world breaks apart and chaos ensues, Essun is determined to save her daughter at all costs. Her plot line is told from a second-person perspective, which makes the scenes even more suspenseful and intriguing.

The second plot line is about a girl in her early twenties, and she is called Syenite. She is a four-ringer, and she has been assigned to go on a mission by the Fulcrum with a ten-ringer. For the mission, they have to go to a different city far from the capital. The number of rings dictates an orogene’s power level. She has also been assigned the duty of breeding with the powerful ten-ringer called Alabaster, so if their children happen to be powerful, those children could be used as weapons. Her journey turns dark too, as she and Alabastar stumble upon something on their mission that makes the Guardians uneasy.

The third plot line is about a little girl named Damaya. When she accidentally hurts someone, she and everyone around her discover she is an orogene. Her family locks her up in a barn, and a Guardian comes to take her away and to train her in the Fulcrum. Damaya gets a taste of how harsh the realities of being trained in the Fulcrum are and why the orogenes fear the Guardians. She experiences some horrible things at that young age. This plot line is about her training in the facility and growing up.

The world-building here is vivid, detailed, and atmospheric. The magic system is complex. The politics of this world, the history, and lore of this world are interesting. This book has a diverse cast of characters in terms of people of color and sexuality. The author did an amazing job at character building. This is a character-heavy story. And the author managed to make every character fascinating and fleshed out. You’re bound to fall in love with the characters and care deeply for them. The found family trope was done beautifully. The plot is intricate and dark, and the pacing is fantastic, with every chapter finishing with a little cliffhanger. The three plot lines merge together perfectly, and the plot twist at the end will make you pick up the next book immediately. This book laid the groundwork for the rest of the series perfectly.

– Ariana