In Stillness, Earth is never still. Tsunamis are frequent events, and almost all of the humankind has been wiped out by volcanoes, earthquakes and other seismic activity multiple times in history.<br/><br/>Luckily, some people are able to calm the quakes and control the earth. Unfortunately, these orogenes need warmth and movement to do it, and sometimes warmth and movement means people. And controlling the earth is only good as long as the people doing the controlling are themselves kept in control. Old Sanzed Empire found a way, and that's how it's survived thousands of years while other civilizations stumble and fall.<br/><br/>Being feared, hated and supernaturally powerful makes an orogene a natural main character for the book, and that's exactly what we get. The Fifth Season follows three stories of orogeny: two before the end of the world, and one after.<br/><br/>... Oh yes. Just to get it out of the way, N.K. Jemisin starts the story by destroying the world.<br/><br/>And what a world it is. It's reminiscent of our Earth, but some things are a little off - apart from the obvious fact of orogeny, of course. It might be far future where constant cataclysms have wreaked havoc on culture: people are living in stone age, and because stone is what's often killing them, that's what they focus on. On the other hand, they do have electricity, so it's not like all is lost.<br/><br/>It's a beautiful world having a horrible time, and Jemisin builds both the world and the story perfectly. And since it's a Hugo nominee, I should also say that although completely different, in some ways it reminds me of Neal Stephenson's Seveneves. And while I quite liked Seveneves, it had some quite obvious flaws. In The Fifth Season, I can't point a single one.