Several months ago, N.K. Jemisin, much-loved (and totally awesome and smart) author of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (REVIEW) and The Killing Moon (REVIEW), announced that her next novel was going to be, “a postapocalyptic epic fantasy trilogy, set in a world of seismic magic users and enigmatic nonhumans called stone-eaters.”
That novel has been revealed, along with the gorgeous cover, by The Mary Sue, as The Fifth Season. Jemisin describes The Fifth Season:
The Fifth Season is set in a world which has suffered frequent, repeated Extinction Level Events for millions of years, and all life (and magic) in this world has adapted to it. Hundreds of years might pass between these events — easy, plentiful years in which great cities rise, and people have the leisure for art and science and rapid advancement — but then, again and again, the cities fall. The world is littered with the detritus of these times of plenty, and this cover hints at them: past ages of decadence, now decaying; stone that endures beneath flaking gilt.
The Fifth Season is set for release by Orbit Books in August 2014, which, right now, feels like an eternity to wait for what will, if her other books are any indication, be one of 2014’s best fantasies.
I’ve loved everything else that Jemisin has written. No reason to think that I won’t like this, too. I can’t wait to be able to read it!
I love the cover and am looking forward to the release.
Is it a standalone or the first book of a series?
However, the concept (post-apocalyptic world, seismic magic, etc) is great. Cover: Some Middle-American (Aztek?) atmosphere.
It’s the first book in a trilogy.
[…] this week, N.K. Jemisin revealed the cover and synopsis for her next novel, The Fifth Season. Since first debuting as a novelist with The Hundred Thousand […]
[…] The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin: Although I have never managed to completely and utterly love Jemisin’s books, I seriously appreciate her voice and writing ability. And I find myself very intrigued by this “postapocalyptic epic fantasy trilogy” (source). […]