The Fifth Season: The Broken Earth, Book 1 Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

N. K. Jemisin (Author), Robin Miles (Narrator), Orbit (Publisher)

11,936 ratings

See all formats and editions

Amazon Price

New from

Used from

Kindle Edition

"Please retry"

$12.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

$0.00

Paperback

"Please retry"

$22.15

$15.14

$12.45

Kindle Edition
$12.99 Read with Our Free App
Audiobook
$0.00 Free with your Audible trial
Paperback
$22.15

6 Used from $12.45 11 New from $15.14

The Fifth Season: Booktrack Edition adds an immersive musical soundtrack to your audiobook listening experience!

At the end of the world, a woman must hide her secret power and find her kidnapped daughter in this "intricate and extraordinary" (The New York Times) Hugo Award-winning novel of power, oppression, and revolution.

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

It starts with the 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.

Listen to the first book in the critically acclaimed, three-time Hugo award-winning trilogy by NYT best-selling author N. K. Jemisin.

Booktrack is an immersive format that pairs traditional audiobook narration to complementary music. The tempo and rhythm of the score are in perfect harmony with the action and characters throughout the audiobook. Gently playing in the background, the music never overpowers or distracts from the narration, so listeners can enjoy every minute. When you purchase this Booktrack edition, you receive the exact narration as the traditional audiobook available, with the addition of music throughout.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Listening Length

15 hours and 27 minutes
Author

N. K. Jemisin
Narrator

Robin Miles
Audible release date

Nov. 8 2019
Language

English
Publisher

Orbit
ASIN

B08156T615
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
See all details

1 credit a month good for any title of your choice, yours to keep.
The Plus Catalogue—listen all you want to thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts, and audiobooks.
Access to exclusive member-only sales, as well as 30% off your purchases of any additional titles.
After 30 days Audible is $14.95/month + applicable taxes. Renews automatically.

Learn more about membership

List Price: ~~$42.87~~

You Save: $5.36 (13%)

By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company

People who bought this also bought

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

Jade Legacy
Fonda Lee
2,216
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
Hyperion
Dan Simmons
8,854
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
The Lost Metal: A Mistborn Novel
Brandon Sanderson
5,546
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
The Broken Kingdoms
N. K. Jemisin
1,089
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
The Killing Moon: Dreamblood, Book 1
N. K. Jemisin
957
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial

Books In This Series

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

The Fifth Season: The Broken Earth, Book 1
N. K. Jemisin
11,936
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
The Obelisk Gate
N. K. Jemisin
7,248
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
The Stone Sky (Booktrack Edition)
N. K. Jemisin
7,156
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial

Product details

Listening Length	15 hours and 27 minutes
Author	N. K. Jemisin
Narrator	Robin Miles
Audible.ca Release Date	November 08 2019
Publisher	Orbit
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B08156T615
Best Sellers Rank	#3,968 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #181 in Action & Adventure Fantasy #255 in Literary Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) #322 in Epic Fantasy (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

11,936 global ratings

5 star		62%
4 star		24%
3 star		10%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

How are ratings calculated?

Reviews with images

See all customer images

Top reviews from Canada

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Amazon Customer

Fantastic.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 17, 2022

Verified Purchase

Love the way the author soun this story. Agree with the reviews stating "exquisite and intricate." With all the flawed characters and complex relationships, this was an original and surprising read. Well worth my time.

Helpful

Alfvr

Super complex world building

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 30, 2021

Verified Purchase

I had this book on a pedestal for years and finally the time came to read it. I’m a little conflicted because it took a LONG time to get into. The ideas, the magic, the detail. It’s really an amazing innovative world that Jemisin creates here. Around 300 pages in it struck me that she was writing as if this was just how this world is and it’s on me if I still don’t understand the ways things work there. It was like trying to immerse myself into a fully created universe that is completely outside my own experiences, often unrelatable. Things would happen, the characters would understand and react but the author would be slow to explain and sometimes way after the fact. I don’t know that this writing style worked for me but I stuck with it. All I can say in the end is I’m glad I read it, still not sure I know what’s going on and sooooo glad that at this point the rest of the trilogy has been published. I NEED ANSWERS!

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Simon R. Brown

one challenge

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 25, 2022

Verified Purchase

This book will get in the way of doing the things you should be doing. Utterly
Brilliant and engaging. I guess that is why it wins awards

Helpful

Sylvain Martel

Good, but not great.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 7, 2016

Verified Purchase

Well, I guess I will be a voice of discordance here and say that , while it is well written, and mildly entertaining, I simply don't see anything special in this story.

The shift of POV from third to second person is distracting. I t always takes me 4-5 pages to get back "into" the second person thing. And I'm not sure I like it. I used to read alot of "You are the hero" books back in the days, but this isn't one of them, so it's weird, and it doesn't bring anything more to the story for me. It doesn't feel more personal or such because of it.

It's also a pretty passive reading. meaning that the characters in the book almost do -nothing-. They are only witness of most of what happens. Here and there they do something significant, but mostly by accident. (with one exception at the end) And when, after reading it all, you think about all that happened, you realize that not much happened at all...! I guess this can be explained by the fact that, while the book weight in at 443 pages or so, this is really more like a 200 pages novella, had they used a normal font size and removed all that wasted space between the lines. I think that's my biggest gripe, the book feels like an introduction.

*Spoiler*
And when you finally realize that you are following the story of only one person, well, the story then gets even smaller.
*end spoiler*

What I will give the author is one hell of a talent for writing. It's easy to read, it flows nicely, and while I found nothing extraordinary about the story or the world(I had figured out where they were about 25% into the book), I still am glad I have read this. And that's the whole point of a book, is it not?

3.5 stars and I will most probably read the next one when it comes out.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Vicki Blum

An award-winning book.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 14, 2022

Verified Purchase

The writing was excellent, and the plot engaging and full of surprises. But there was no warmth and love between the characters. I found this very depressing.

Helpful

Czing

Inhospitable world that I LOVED

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 6, 2018

Verified Purchase

For a while now I have been thinking that if I read one more story with an inhospitable world that I will scream in frustration. Maybe it was just that I read a bunch of them in succession that left me feeling that way. Then I read this amazing new take on a world that is darned hard to live on and was blown away. It all meshed into this amazing creation of world and magic that are inextricably linked.

This is an incredible story that in turns made me cry, made me laugh, made me wonder how this unique vision came into being.

It also was so full of masterful tension and triggered such curiosity that I actually had to get up and stretch after reading it for a while. My whole body had slowly tensed up as I read it until I finally realized my shoulders were approaching my ears. That truly impressed me!

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Deborah Carlin

Unique

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 13, 2022

Verified Purchase

A moving tale. Characters are complex. Couldn't put it down. The writing is steeped in Jemisin's life experiences as a psychologist, and as an African American's experience of racism and fight for freedom and equality.

Helpful

Heather Sutherland

So good!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 1, 2022

Verified Purchase

I really loved everything about this book - the characters, the narration, plot, all awesome. I can’t wait to read more.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

P. O'Brien

Nonsense

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 13, 2018

Verified Purchase

I bought this book after looking for a good SF title. This is not SF, it's Fantasy. It's time people classifying books understood the difference. SF scenarios stand by the scientific laws or plausible extrapolations from them. This book has "special" people who can stop earthquakes using their "special" mental powers. If you like that sort of thing, fine. To me it's nonsense and a waste of money and time.

111 people found this helpful

Cathy Hill

Incredible imagination and depth

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

This story displays incredible imagination and emotional depth. It's secondary world fantasy with a setting that feels fresh, detailed and well-drawn. I have read a lot of fantasy, but I've not read a world like this one. It's cool to see how a particular aspect of the environment has so thoroughly impacted society, culture and history. The way that communities operate and the common culture that holds them together is depicted well, but this no homogeneous society. Communities vary depending on size, wealth and status, and the people of the continent come in different shapes, appearances and roles which affect their attitudes and behaviours. The reader is introduced to various pieces of lore and vocabulary from the world without a lot of heavy exposition and this creates depth. By following characters on the fringes of society we get glimpses of what is considered normal, why that doesn't apply to certain people, and how normalcy can change very suddenly.

I don't want to go into plot details, because this is a better read if you don't know a lot going into it, but the story starts with something big and somehow manages to ramp things up. The book switches about, and the narrative structure is very cleverly done, at least I felt quite clever when I figured it out and was impressed with the method. There are sections of the book that are told with an immediacy and intimacy in a style that isn't often used in fiction. It's the kind of thing that seems like it shouldn't work, but the author skilfully uses an unusual writing style to make the reader identify strongly with a character who is going through something brutal. The characters go through a lot of changes and take various emotional blows and the reader feels each keenly meaning that this isn't an easy read but it is a thoroughly engaging one.

The book explores how society controls certain groups of people who are considered to be dangerous through hatred, fear and exploitation of their resources. Some of this is direct and lethal prejudice, but some of it is subtler and secretive, using the skill and resources of people to support a system that hates them. It also shows how the people who are victims of this hatred and exploitation can come to believe what's said about them and buy into their own oppression. It presents alternative ways of living that exist on the edges of, and hidden beneath, mainstream society. There's also exploration of how friendship, family and community can sustain a person and how these change in times of extremity. The story and characters don't stick to the traditional ideas of love, family and gender that exist in the mainstream of our own society, which is refreshing. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fresh, powerful fantasy.

101 people found this helpful

Imyril

Awesome and epic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

I don’t always agree with hype and I don’t consider a Hugo a guarantee I’ll enjoy (or even rate) something. So let me go on record now: I’ll read anything N K Jemisin writes in future on the strength of The Fifth Season. Every accolade it has received is well-deserved; it is staggeringly good in every way.

This novel is a masterclass in world-building – even as it rips its own world apart – layered with compelling characters, central mysteries, a mercilessly clear-sighted take on privilege and prejudice, and a tone that shifts seamlessly from cheeky to eviscerating without skipping a beat.

Is it fantasy? Is it science fiction? It’s a genre-busting apocalypse novel of impossible powers, a shattered moon, forgotten technologies and flushing toilets (until the world ends, at least). I have no idea where you shelve it other than under awesome and epic.

Now excuse me, I have a sequel I need to devour.

57 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Hard work and not the page turner I thought it might be.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 19, 2022

Verified Purchase

First impression:
📚 I was recommended to read this book by a friend, and just having finished the Wheel Of Time series once again (no stranger to a hard slog) I was looking for something fresh in the fantasy genre.
📚 This book does deliver that in its novel world creation and the characters that inhabit and influence it. It is however hard going and jumping from a series that’s a vast page turner with its own drudgery in parts, to a book that never fails to want me to put it down, is a bit disappointing. I am going to persevere but unless this one gets me to care about the characters and what they are going to do next, or maybe stops the world creation from becoming its own cliché, I am not going to progress further into the series.
📚 I am going to lick my wounds and maybe switch back into some science fiction for a while. It is well written but just not for me. The industry plaudits were what tipped me over the edge to buying this book, so never judge a book by its cover as they say.

Thanks for taking the time to read my review, I hope you found it helpful.

11 people found this helpful

Conan The Librarian

Unreadable and Overwrought

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 13, 2021

Verified Purchase

Like many people, I saw the reviews from well-known newspapers etc and bought this. But, OMG....if there was ever a case of style getting in the way of substance, then this is the prime example.
The way it is written makes it painful to read. It's like chewing on raw spinach, interwoven with obvious efforts to telegraph emotions that felt overly orchestrated.
There is a time and place for moments of very strained description and style in a story to help convey perhaps a sense of alienation to the reader. But, this is all there was. Maybe later in the book the narrative finds its way and becomes readable...I will never know as I had to put the book down.
P.S. Have to say that 'professional critics' seem to be increasingly out of touch. They seem to favour books because those books have the right buzz about them, rather than actually being any good. We see the same with movies, but a little less so.
It's a shame because I really did want to like this book, but readability has to be there, you can't expect people to read a novel just because critics think 'it will be good for you' and meets certain political criteria of today.

10 people found this helpful

See all reviews

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers	Amazon Business Everything for your business	Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime	Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands

Warehouse Deals Open-Box Discounts	Whole Foods Market We Believe in Real Food	Amazon Renewed Like-new products you can trust	Blink Smart Security for Every Home

The Fifth Season: The Broken Earth, Book 1 Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Most popular

People who bought this also bought

Related to this topic

Books In This Series

Product details