The Fifth Season by N.K.Jemesin

The Fifth Season 

By N.K.Jemesin 

Rating 5/5 💜💚

Genres : Epic Fantasy, New world

This book is so unexpected and new in its creativity and imagination that I had to re-read some of the early passages to understand what they are referring to. She has created not only a new world that is highly unstable because of the turbulences taking place under the earth but also new sets of people with mysterious powers to quell these disturbances or create new ones and others who are pursuing them either to punish or kill them. Its a highly engrossing and enriching read! 

A girl Damaya is born as an Orogene(rogga) - someone with power to bring earth quakes or quell them. She is given away as a child to be trained at a university called Fulcrum - to use her power consciously without misusing it. She grows into adulthood and is sent on a mission to quell an earth quake with a man alabaster who is much more powerful than her. Their story takes unexpected turns as they go against the fulcrum and in order to save themselves, hide. Some time passes but they are pursued and separated and Damaya/Syenete destroys the island they were staying in to rescue her son from a fate of slavery to the guardians of fulcrum. She finds a normal man,renames herself Essun, begets him two kids who are orogenes like her. He couldn't stand them being what they are - monsters in his opinion - and kills the son, kidnaps the daughter. The story starts us with Essun going in pursuit of the missing daughter and her abducting husband. She is joined by a stone eater, Hoa and another woman from her past Binof but they reach a place of no clue of which direction her family went. Then Alabaster comes back into her life and asks her for a favor ... which stops the narrative for this part of the book. :) 

I loved all the characters - even those that are evil and not positive. Especially the vulnerability and the intense strength of Alabaster, his brokenness and his need for love,affection just got to my soul. I shuddered at what has happened to him in the end..just glad that he survived. :)