{"id":5230,"date":"2020-07-08T05:00:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T12:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5230"},"modified":"2020-07-03T18:39:11","modified_gmt":"2020-07-04T01:39:11","slug":"mark-reads-the-fifth-season-chapter-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2020\/07\/mark-reads-the-fifth-season-chapter-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Fifth Season’: Chapter 13"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the thirteen chapter of The Fifth Season<\/i>, Essun chases down her husband with the help of Hoa and Tonkee. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Broken Earth<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You may be a monster, but you are also great.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What a way to open this chapter, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fascinated by who is considered a monster within this universe and how Jemisin has crafted this hierarchy. There are clearly multiple systems at work here: class and wealth, race and geographical location; gender and reproductive ability and identity; orogenic power. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all mixed up in a thoughtful, detailed depiction of a complicated society. Essun exists in a place where many of these structures harm her; some, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s learned to work around. (And now I have a bunch of questions about the Fulcrum that I never thought to ask before. Why wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Essun ever part of the Fulcrum? Why doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t she talk about it all that much? In this chapter, she says that the Fulcrum is dead; is that<\/i> why she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been living in Tirimo for the last ten years? Oh my god, has all of this gone over my head the whole fucking book?????) I see her as a character built for survival in some respects, since she is so skilled at adapting. Look how she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s adapted to the presence of Hoa and Tonkee, given that she set out on the journey to find Jija all alone. She intended to stay that way, but here she is, on a very different journey, and she has adapted.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so pleased, too, that Tonkee is now part of this surreal trip, and it was also a treat to have the text openly confirm that she is a trans woman without exotifying her or misgendering her, either. Which does make me wonder how gender identity works in the Stillness? We had a casual mention of a trans boy in Damaya\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s POV, and there seems to be none of the cis discomfort that I would expect. There are potions to help with hormone therapy, too, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m assuming that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what the potion is towards the end of the chapter? But was that something easily sold or made, or is there an underground market for it? Some of these questions might be answered in the text later, but look, I LOVE TALKING WORLDBUILDING. Especially in this book! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been so satisfying to see how all these different aspects link up together, you know?<\/p>\n

There is certainly a wealth of information in this chapter that helps me get a better sense of the Stillness both as a whole and of some of the smaller parts. It was nice seeing how Tonkee lived, since in the previous Essun chapter, Jemisin gave an overview of how the commless survived in the Stillness. It was also rewarding to see that specifically<\/i>, to get a view of her home in a vesicle, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the ancient fallen-in remains of a solidified lava bubble.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d WHICH IS SO COOL. It also made me want to know if Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theory was correct: Was Tonkee once a geomest at the top university in the Stillness? What happened to her?<\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a momentum to this chapter, though, and Jemisin does keep us too long in any single moment. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not long before Tonkee, Hoa, and Essun are on the road, headed for Jija. During this trip, the evidence of the end is everywhere<\/i>, and lord, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so disturbing. Like I said in the Notes below, I also couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore the fact that there was a lot of talk about wearing masks and the anonymity they provide? COOL, COOL, JUST FULL OF EXISTENTIAL DREAD, COOL.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But that conversation with the Equatorials\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 whew, it was so revealing! Jemisin grounds us in a place we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen mostly through clothing<\/i>, which is fucking brilliant. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a counter to the homogeneity that the ash and the masks provided, but why<\/i>?<\/p>\n

You notice how they look at you when you walk up: a sweep of the eyes, an inspection of your wrists or neck or ankles, a frown as you are found wanting. The impractical cloth has one very practical use: It is the marker of a new tribe in the process of being born. A tribe to which you do not belong.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not a problem. Yet.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The end of the world affects people differently. How they behave in the wake of it depends on where they come from. What they value<\/i>. Yet despite that, one thing I got out of this text: the earth doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care about any of this. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter how well-off this woman was, or who she knew, or what power she had. As the ash descended on that comm, people died all the same. It was still an immense trauma. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very likely that many of these survivors aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to survive what comes next.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I say that like I know what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coming next. I FUCKING DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know! This journey is written with a grit and a poetry that enchants me, but I must admit I am deeply, deeply nervous. Like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 every word feels like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dripping in dread. It certainly did not help that Hoa, at the end of this chapter, had to admit that he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figure out exactly where Nassun is because there is a massive gathering of orogenes<\/i>. Which doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even acknowledge the fact that Hoa STILL hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t said what he is or how he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s able to sense where they are. Why are the orogenes gathering in one place? If Jija hates them so much that he murdered his son for being one, why the fuck would he go where there are TONS of them? How is all of this connected to that moment in the prologue where this Season began? (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what caused all this? The stone eater?)\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At least this chapter wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as intense as the others! I shall enjoy this brief foray as I prepare for the next chapter to ruin my life.<\/p>\n

NOTES<\/b><\/p>\n