Jemisin Nora Keita: The Fifth Season

Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, masquerading as an ordinary schoolteacher in a quiet small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Mighty Sanze, the empire whose innovations have been civilizations bedrock for a thousand years, collapses as its greatest city is destroyed by a madmans vengeance. And worst of all, across the heartland of the worlds sole continent, a great red rift has been torn which spews ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries. But this is the Stillness, a land long familiar with struggle, and where orogenes - those who wield the power of the earth as a weapon - are feared far more than the long cold night. Essun has remembered herself, and she will have her daughter back. She does not care if the world falls apart around her. Essun will break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter. Shortlisted for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Kitschies and Audie awards this is the stunning first instalment in a fantasy trilogy set in a world of volcanoes and earthquakes, where the power to control the earth is the most dangerous of all.