{"id":5232,"date":"2020-07-13T05:00:07","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T12:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5232"},"modified":"2020-07-06T14:09:14","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T21:09:14","slug":"mark-reads-the-fifth-season-chapter-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2020\/07\/mark-reads-the-fifth-season-chapter-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Fifth Season’: Chapter 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifteenth chapter of The Fifth Season<\/i>, Essun arrives at an impossible place. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Broken Earth<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For talk of grief<\/b><\/p>\n

I got to talk about this at length while reading the Discworld<\/i> books in publication order, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m pleased I now get to revisit this for N.K. Jemisin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work: Wow, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a treat to watch a writer grow. I say this while fully acknowledging how much I loved her trilogy that I did for Mark Reads all those years ago. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just so damn fulfilling to see how she leveled-up her craft in practically every way here. The structure of this novel fascinates me with its three points of view and how they each seem to weave around one another. I love that worldbuilding matters so much to the story, that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not here merely to add depth and texture, but to affect the story on a bone-deep level. And don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even get me started (just kidding, PLEASE DO) about what this text looks like on a sentence level. That final sentence in chapter fifteen? I have perished<\/i>.<\/p>\n

But lets back up to that worldbuilding comment I made, because this chapter completely proves why all the talk of comms and how they function and look matters so, so much. In both Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Syenite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parts, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen comm after comm. Each of them\u00e2\u20ac\u201das referenced in chapter fifteen\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhas a specific style. It reflects that comm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s values and their societal structure. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s related to the geography of its location, too. And while comms may vary wildly from location to location, this idea seems to be standard across the Stillness: Each comm has a unity that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s expressed visually:<\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a reason most comms pick a style and stick to it: Uniformity sends a visual message. It warns potential attackers that the comm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s members are equally unified in purpose and the willingness to defend themselves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I feel like this is related to one of my favorite speculative fiction narrative techniques, which we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen numerous times in this book. Jemisin establishes the standard, and then a character faces an impossibility that should not exist within that standard. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S ONE OF THE VERY BEST THINGS. You can see it all over Syenite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story, for example. Half the shit Alabaster does fits this technique.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here, though, Jemisin does this to build dread, though it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the sole<\/i> means by which tension is created. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an emotional aspect, too: Essun is now at the comm where Hoa said that Jija and Nassun were at. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a terrible hope at play here. Is this where Essun would find her daughter? Would she find her alive<\/i>? What would a confrontation with Jija look like? So, as the reader, I was on edge for multiple reasons. As soon as those orogene women stepped out of the doorway, I needed to know like fifty things at once, and Jemisin had me right where she wanted me. Ugh, I just love the way that she uses the reader\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s desire as a tension-builder, too!!! We all know this comm is weird as fuck; we know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absolutely ridiculous that there appears to be a whole comm full of orogenes outside the Fulcrum; we know that Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey will either be a reunion or a tragedy, but we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know which. All these threads are coming together, and I just wanted Jemisin to tug them all at once, to give me the information I needed<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I did not expect the thread about stone eaters to be pulled.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what Hoa and the red-haired person are, right? Diamond teeth? Glossy skin? A stillness that is statuesque? They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re stone eaters, right? Why would stone eaters react as Hoa and this other eater do? That perplexes me! Granted, I know very, very little about stone eaters, and I assumed that\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be friendly? Because there aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t many stone eaters around? But these two clearly DESPISE one another!!! Except\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 oh god, what if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wrong??? What if neither<\/i> of them are stone eaters, but are something else? I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T FIGURE THIS OUT, YOU\u00e2\u20ac\u2122RE ALL PROBABLY LAUGHING AT ME.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand that whole thing, I feel fairly comfortable guessing\u00e2\u20ac\u201dnot stating with absolute certainty\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat this comm is basically an attempt at an Fulcrum-less orogene society. What happens when orogenes work with<\/i> one another, rather than working for<\/i> someone else? What sort of collective power do they have? Shit, do any of these orogenes know how to do that whole parallel scaling thing that Alabaster was capable of? (Is? Was? I still can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell if that storyline is a simultaneous thing or if it happened long before Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s timeline.) I am also guessing that this is why the anti-orogene slur is now being utilized as a use name, something that Tonkee and Essun had never seen before. I feel like this is Jemisin addressing the concept of slur reclamation and how a group can take a word or a term and reverse the power dynamic by claiming it as their own. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s understandable, then, why Essun would be so scandalized upon hearing it. To her, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a terrible, violent word, the single most awful thing that she and her kind can be called.<\/p>\n

That being said, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to see a parallel between Syenite and Essun here. One thing I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m loving about Syen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story is how Alabaster has gotten her to challenge the thinking that she was brainwashed with by the Fulcrum. If this comm really is a Fulcrum-less group of orogenes, then I imagine that they challenge the status quo in about a million ways. Is that why Ykka radiates a confidence that intimidated Essun? What kind of confidence could Essun find in an environment like that?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard for me not to say something like that and then think about Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s near-breakdown after Ykka says that she never saw anyone like Jija or Nassun come through the comm. So much of that inner monologue was heartbreaking because of how quickly Essun believed the worst of herself. Which was, for the record, exactly what most of the Stillness feels towards orogenes. It was a vicious expression of internalized hatred, and it came to the surface so quickly during this moment of despair. It was so fucking sad<\/i>, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. So\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 did Ykka recognize it for what it was? Did she once feel the same way about herself? I know she helped Essun for a very logistical reason, as I imagine Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s orogeny was about to flare out and potential cause a disaster. So yes, there may not have been compassion in Ykka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voice, but was it in her actions<\/i>? Again: I need to know so many things!!! LIKE THIS:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let me put it this way,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You can keep doing what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve obviously been doing, trying to be as avalanche-subtle as your kind ever gets, or I can start telling everyone what all of you are really<\/i> up to.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hi???? Hello???? What the fuck is that??? Is this related to Syenite finding that stone eater in the obelisk? Why am I completely at the mercy of this book???<\/p>\n

But you move to follow her, because neither myths nor mysteries can hold a candle to the most infinitesimal spark of hope.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This might be my favorite sentence in the book. Just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gorgeous. Gut-wrenching. It summarizes Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s characterization so fucking well, since\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been driving her this entire time? A Season is upon the Stillness, one that will probably last a thousand years, and yet. AND YET. Here she is, two months into a hellish, strange journey, all because she has that spark of hope that Nassun is alive.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Incredible, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I love this book so much.<\/p>\n

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