Repurposing the Hero’s Journey

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Image by Florante Valdez from Pixabay

In their latest episode, the Writing Excuses hosts examine where N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season fits into the canon of fantasy literature. They ask: How does Jemisin interact with magic, words, and the expectations of the genre? How does Jemisin repurpose parts of the hero’s journey while creating something fundamentally different? Does this work start a new lineage for epic fantasy?