The Fifth Season

The Fifth Season

by

N. K. Jemisin

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Fifth Season makes teaching easy.
Geomest is the usual term for a scientist in the Stillness. Because the people of the Stillness focus so much on surviving Fifth Seasons and the movements of the earth, geomests generally focus on fields related to seismic activity, including the study of orogeny.
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Geomest Term Timeline in The Fifth Season

The timeline below shows where the term Geomest appears in The Fifth Season. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 10: you walk beside the beast
Hierarchy, Oppression, and Prejudice Theme Icon
Disaster, Violence, and Survival Theme Icon
History, Storytelling, and Knowledge Theme Icon
...safe catches everything, but the woman argues back, clearly knowledgeable about the subject. “You’re a geomest,” Essun says. The woman denies this, saying that she’s at least smart enough to avoid... (full context)
Chapter 12: Syenite finds a new toy
Power and Control Theme Icon
...saying that it could be something dangerous. Instead, she suggests commissioning a study with some geomests to figure out what the object is, and then using orogeny only as a last... (full context)
Chapter 13: you’re on the trail
Disaster, Violence, and Survival Theme Icon
...hints she has dropped Essun is now pretty sure that she used to be a geomest at the most prestigious university in the Stillness. The first afternoon after the kirkhusa attack,... (full context)
Chapter 14: Syenite breaks her toys
Hierarchy, Oppression, and Prejudice Theme Icon
Freedom Theme Icon
Power and Control Theme Icon
History, Storytelling, and Knowledge Theme Icon
...likely the Fulcrum wants Syenite to stay in Allia so that she can meet with geomests and maybe get more business for the Fulcrum in the process. Indeed, geomests and every... (full context)
Chapter 21: you’re getting the band back together
History, Storytelling, and Knowledge Theme Icon
Identity and Naming Theme Icon
...grows angry and demands an explanation. Tonkee apologizes and tries to explain: she is a geomest and did go to the Seventh University, though that didn’t go well for her, but... (full context)