Review: The Fifth Season

There's nothing inherently wrong with sticking to the tried and true medieval-inspired, orcs-and-elfs-and-dragons-oh-my, do-it-all magic, fantasy setting; it lets you skip the low-level world-building and move on to the story itself, and makes it very easy for the reader to situate themselves. That said, I love when things are different, and The Fifth Season takes place in a refreshingly original setting, none of the typical fantasy trappings here. The scope of the world feels nicely restricted; the magic system and nature of threats are very focused, and there's not a glut of non-human species inhabiting the world. I love the characters and their interactions. There's some wholesome, heartwarming bits, and lots and lots of horrifying and heartbreaking ones. I can't say that I literally laughed out loud like Discworld or bawled like Malazan, but I still got a few of those raised-hair-rapt-attention moments, hallmarks of books that tickle my fancy.

I can't give many details without spoiling some part of the mystery or experience of discovering the setting, so I'll leave it at this: The Fifth Season is original fantasy done just about perfectly, and I loved it.

Now, spoilers.

I loved the cataclysmic nature of the Stillness; the major threat isn't an evil emperor, or undead plague, or dragons, but the land upheaving itself and disgruntled/out-of-control Orogenes. There are no giant armies facing off, just small clumps of people trying to survive the end of the world. The magic can't be used to summon monsters, heal wounds, mind-control people, or anything else of that nature; it's very very focused, which I found refreshing (again, it's never bad when magic is all-encompassing, but it is nice to have contrast every once and a while). It was a joy to discover the world while reading.

I was very confused for far too long about how Damaya and Syenite could be so unaware of the apocalypse, and it took me until the author made it explicit that they were all the same person. Likewise, I never suspected that the Orogene that ripped apart the equatorials was Alabastar, until he said it. I may be a little dull.