This book is extraordinary. It has won a lot of awards and it deserves them all. First, we are introduced to the continent. It is inhabited primarily by humans, who call the land The stillness because it is never still. It is shaken by earthquakes, pounded by tsunamis and storms, prone to volcanoes which spew ash and toxic gases, acid rains, droughts, floods, crop failures. The first four seasons are spring, summer, autumn and winter and the fifth season is death. Cities and empires measure their prowess by how many of these deadly seasons they have endured. Only after we have met the land do we begin to meet some of its inhabitants- Essun, a woman who's son has just been murdered; Damaya, a child who has been cast out by her family; and Syenite, a trained oregene from the infamous Fulcrum. Oregenes are people with the power to sense the earth's shifting to the most minute degree and re-direct these movements to suit their own will. An untrained oregene sucks energy from their surrounding, often killing everything and everyone in a wide radius. Hence, oregenes are hated and feared, even though their powers when focused are the only thing that prevent even larger catastrophes. N.K. Jemisin plays with big themes- power, privilege, prejudice, natural disasters- in a way that feels both deeply familiar and completely remade in this new and unforgettable world.