As the devastating fifth season approaches to end the world again, Essun must travel through a desolate, dangerous, dark world to rescue her daughter.
What I liked ✅ interesting themes of power, independence and identity . ✅ excellent world-building and exploration of a seismically active world and the magic which manipulates it . ✅ great plot twists . ✅ explores it's themes without feeling too preachy
What I didn't like ✖ the storytelling is outright confusing at times—three POVs, one of them told in second-person; you basically have to wiki the plot line afterwards to make sense of it . ✖ the writing hurts in places (for example: "Pyramids are the most stable architectural form, and this one is pyramids times five because why not?”) making me painfully aware that I was reading a book; I wasn't immersed in a story . ✖ all the characters are alike in their seriousness—few moments of comedic relief to diffuse the tension —a lack of warmth makes it hard to connect with the character . Rating 4/5 🌟 . Genre: fantasy . Verdict: it is great if you can get past the POVs and weird writing