Ellen recommends... The Fifth Season - N. K. Jemisin

Ellen recommends... I truly believe N. K. Jemisin is the greatest science fiction & fantasy writer working today, and this trilogy, starting with The Fifth Season, is her masterpiece. Taking place in a world where extreme weather events, known as 'seasons', last for years at a time, and certain people with special abilities are an oppressed minority, Jemisin builds a stunningly imagined world that feels complete and wholly original. In the tradition of Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia E. Butler, she weaves big ideas about feminism and colonialism into a brilliant story. She's one of these authors that makes you re-evaluate what the genre can do and I can't recommend this book enough.

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

It starts with a great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, 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.