The Fifth Season cover art

The Fifth Season

The Broken Earth, Book 1

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The Fifth Season

By: N. K. Jemisin
Narrated by: Robin Miles
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About this listen

Winner of the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Novel
Book 1 in the double Hugo-Award-winning trilogy
A New York Times Notable Book
Shortlisted for the World Fantasy, Nebula, Kitschies, Audie and Locus Awards
The inaugural Wired.com book club pick

This is the way the world ends...for the last time.

It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world, spewing ash that blots out the sun.

It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter.

It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester.

This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.

The Broken Earth trilogy is complete - beginning with The Fifth Season, continuing in The Obelisk Gate (Winner of the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel) and concluding with The Stone Sky (Shortlisted for the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novel).

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2015 N. K. Jemisin (P)2015 Hachette Audio Fantasy Fiction

Critic Reviews

Heartbreaking, wholly unexpected, and technically virtuosic, THE FIFTH SEASON is a tour-de-force. I felt every shock--and the book is packed with them--in my marrow. It's no exaggeration to say that Jemisin expands the range of what great fantasy can be (Brian Staveley)
All stars
Most relevant
Absurdly incredible. I'm speechless. And the narrator was a dream. Best book. All the reviews are true and it's so worth it.

Incredible

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I chose this because it had excellent reviews but I just could not get into this book. I really tried my hardest and it does have potential, but I feel that this is best actually read rather than listened to as it is a whole new world with all these different names for different species which are hard to keep track of when listening to. I felt like I needed to keep flicking back a page so I could understand what was going on. Perhaps good for binge listening, but I found it too hard to follow.

Not for me sadly!

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The Fifth Season was everything. As beautiful as it is sorrowful.
Thanks N. K. Jemisin.

Wonderful. Alien but just within grasp.

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The narration by Robin Miles is fantastic and is probably the reason I got through this novel.

Overall, I found this book to be incredibly frustrating. There was so much potential in this story with these characters but for me it just seems to somehow miss the mark.

While there is definitely some pacing issues, you can make a journey feel long and tiring without resorting to pages of pointless story, I don't think it was this that stopped me becoming immersed. I think what put me off the most is the lack of chemistry between the characters.

To me this seemed to be technically a good book but one that lacked heart. It maybe that this is a novel that needs to be read instead of listened to.

Frustrated by what this novel could have been

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Thoroughly enjoyed this story with its twists and turns. Well read with a pleasant voice

Engaging book

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Really enjoyable, well written, fantastic characters and an immersive and complex world. The reader is absolutely first class too.

You will not regret adding this one.

Believe the other reviews

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This story is superb. I am very pleased this is only book1. Narration is beautiful.

Bloody Fantastic!

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this is a fantastic story that requires attention and it draws you in and you will find it hard to pause

awesome

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This novel is way outside my genre comfort zone of psychological thrillers, crime, mystery and historical fiction. I've never been a fan of fantasy, well sign me up! - I was blown away by the fifth season. So imaginative, well paced and brilliantly narrated. I enjoyed every minute. Can't wait to get stuck into the second book, I'm off to download now!

Vivid and enchanting

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I had this in hard copy & had perhaps 4 false starts, then two on audible. So glad I persevered! The writing style is quite unique and that takes a little adjustment. The narration by Robin Miles completely solved this for me, she excellently distinguished the different characters and was a delight to listen to. The glossary pdf was integral as the initial chapters challenge you with a baffling array of new language & world building; but once you're in you get swept along. I have since read the following two novels and feel this is a very well rounded series that takes it's time to unfold it's mysteries.

Got into it eventually & loved it

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