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The City We Became

(Great Cities #1)

N.K. Jemisin (Goodreads Author)

4.01 · Rating details · 24,937 ratings · 4,722 reviews

Five New Yorkers must come together in order to defend their city in the first book of a stunning new series by Hugo award-winning and NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin.

Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got five.

But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs b ...more

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Hardcover, 437 pages

Published March 24th 2020 by Orbit

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Jun 18, 2020 Victoria Schwab rated it it was amazing

Holy shit, this book was so weird, and so good.

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Jun 26, 2020 Regan rated it it was amazing

literally amazing

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Feb 09, 2020 chai ♡ rated it liked it

Shelves: priority-new-releases, lgbtq-trans-side, fiction, lgbtq-rep, 2020-releases, poc-rep, lgbtq-bi, read-in-2020, adult, adult-sff

✧ find this review & others on my blog ✧

New York might be born in the world only to be shown right out of it.

Early in “The City We Became”, New York’s human avatar, a young queer Black man living in the streets, tries to salvage the City, to hold the breaking jar, keep his fingers over the cracks, but a battle with the Enemy—who sent forth the police as its harbingers—had worn him to little more than edges. He is weak and unsteady as moonlight on water, and the City was a candle that might b ...more

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Feb 27, 2020 Nataliya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020-reads

“I have hated this city. I have loved this city. I will fight for this city until it won’t have me anymore. This is my homage to the city. Hope I got it right.”
~ N.K. Jemisin

I always start a new book by a favorite writer with a bit of trepidation: Please be good, please stand up to the earlier ones, please deliver that satisfaction that you tend to feel after reading something that is solidly strong writing. With her ‘Broken Earth’ books N.K. Jemisin touched something in my soul that has never been the same since. She raised her own bar so dizzyingly high that I was afraid she would not be able to get there again.

Yeah, I didn’t need to worry. Her talent does not disappoint. This book is lovely. It’s objectively good. As different from ’Broken Earth’ as you can only imagine - the setting, the mood, the narrative voices - but the gut punch is the same.
——————-
Obviously, this is an ode to New York. One of the world’s best known cities. A country in its own right, size- and spirit-wise. Unique enough to be its own living and breathing entity. Which of course is what happens. Because cities want to be born and live.

“Manny’s been in New York for less than an hour and yet he knows, he knows, that cities are organic, dynamic systems. They are built to incorporate newness. But some new things become part of a city, helping it grow and strengthen—while some new things can tear it apart.”

Many cities, once they reach a certain point, will try to be born. Only a few will succeed. It is New York’s turn, and it’s avatar has been selected, and São Paulo is there to guide him through this - but things go very wrong. It’s not just the city itself - each of its boroughs has its own avatar, and at least one of them does not want to be a part of a greater whole. And the sinister outside force is The Enemy, and it has the plans of its own.

“A city is never alone, not really—and this city seems less solitary than most. More like a family: many parts, frequently squabbling… but in the end, against enemies, they come together and protect one another. They must, or die.”

Jemisin’s worldbuilding again is ridiculously impressive. Her characters are complex, nuanced and realized, and incredibly human - with all the good/bad/ugly that entails.

“My God, why are you attacking us?”
“Because I don’t know you,” [she] snaps, “and you were standing on my lawn.”

This also is an angry book. It’s an unapologetic fuck-you to the “racist sexist homophobic dipshits” that are everywhere. It’s not subtle, no, but these things don’t need to be. Because of course people are the worst monsters, especially when they tend to think of themselves as nice ones who only “try to be decent”.

“The alternative is to challenge her own belief that the Woman in White isn’t so bad. This would force her to question her own judgment and biases and find them wanting. And given how hard she has fought lately to feel some kind of belief in herself, she is not ready to doubt again. So it’s fine. Everything is fine.”

I loved this book. Jemisin is definitely an uncompromisingly brilliant voice in the modern science fiction. 5 stars.

“Discovering that one’s roommate is actively undergoing a break with reality is high on the scale of “things one wants to learn before signing the lease.”

——————

Found this since I wrote the review: a podcast featuring N.K. Jemisin discussing, among other things, racism in science fiction and the horrible legacy of H.P. Lovecraft, whose bigotry, racism and antisemitism are truly repulsive. Gives more of a perspective for this book and its answer to Lovecraft. ...more

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Apr 06, 2020 Nilufer Ozmekik rated it liked it

Oh no! I think this review will earn me so much glances, hater looks, curses and a unique place in the minority because when you get one of your favorite authors’ book into your hands, you get excited, hardly slow down your heart rate and want to devour it at few bites! You truly expect more and deserve more because you know what the author is capable of and how unique talent she is. So this is first for me giving three stars to one of my most anticipated reads of the year. Stop booing me or thr Oh no! I think this review will earn me so much glances, hater looks, curses and a unique place in the minority because when you get one of your favorite authors’ book into your hands, you get excited, hardly slow down your heart rate and want to devour it at few bites! You truly expect more and deserve more because you know what the author is capable of and how unique talent she is. So this is first for me giving three stars to one of my most anticipated reads of the year. Stop booing me or throwing virtual rotten eggs and tomatoes on my face! I didn’t choose to feel like this!

Facts: The plot is dazzling, thought-provoking and extremely interesting, unique. Every city has its own souls. But sometimes souls want to differentiate them from their cores and search for their own freedom, self-discovery for reaching their own identity. And the author couldn’t be so right to choose New York with multiple souls: a city never sleeps, a city full of chaos, movement, changing, a mother of original ideas, a quite mosaic with its cultural, ethnical identities. We are introduced 6 different souls and various characters but unfortunately they are not quite likable ones.

In my opinion: I got confused a lot with whirlwind bombardment of inner thoughts of several POVS and unpredictable story direction. I found it a little evasive and blurry, pacing through the chapters like moving in the dark till the first half. It was really hard for me to catch the center of the story because there are so many ideas fly around and so many annoying characters’ action change the direction of progression. But I have to admit second half was more gripping and ending was brilliant. Normally I would like it more if this is written by a debut author or any other sci-fi author
I haven’t read her books before but N.K. Jemisin is a trademark, a sign of perfectionism and it is so normal for me to expect more because I know deep in my heart so she had endless writing skills.

Unfortunately this was less likable book of hers. But that’s my opinion. I’m just in the minority and the way of story telling and characterization didn’t work for me! Maybe I dreamed to read it so long and I high leveled my expectations which turned me into tougher bitchy grader. But this is what it is!

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Sep 26, 2020 carol. rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: my-library-kindle, nyc

Surprisingly underwhelming for me. Admittedly, I'm not a huge new-adult fan, and this has 'coming-of-age' plot line all over. I was also surprised that there was a strong Lovecraftian vibe going on here--add this to the growing body of work subverting Lovecraft's (white) universe. So perhaps there were a couple flavors that were not intriguing to my reading preferences. On the other side, I like N.K. Jemisin, and one of her books is in my top twenty list. I'm also fond of NYC in its many varieti ...more

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Nov 06, 2019 S.A. Chakraborty rated it it was amazing

Without a doubt, one of the most brilliant books I have ever had the honor of reading. A brilliant homage to New York City, packed with all its love and harshness, and so incredibly inventive that I felt my own imagination and the boundaries of what fantasy can be expand.

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Nov 06, 2019 Alix Harrow rated it it was amazing

I want you to understand that you're not ready for this book. Even if you've read Jemisin's other work, even if you've read The City Born Great, which is the starting place for this book (https://www.tor.com/2016/09/28/the-ci...).

You're not ready for the fun and pop of it, the rhythm and beat. You're not ready for the wit and weight of it, the subversions that are both subtext and said out-loud. You're not ready for the cleanness and cleverness of the prose, the daring of it, the way the whole t ...more

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Jul 07, 2020 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it did not like it

Shelves: library-book, audio

Nope. On to the next. Don’t ask me! Sometimes I love her books and sometimes I don’t 🤔🤨

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾 ...more

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Dec 08, 2019 Rebecca Roanhorse rated it it was amazing

A wonderfully inventive love letter to New York City that spans the multiverse. A big middle finger to Lovercraft with a lot of heart, creativity, smarts and humor. A timely and audacious allegorical tale for our times. This book is all these things and more.

The story started a bit slow as our team assembles, but once our heroes are together (or as together as they're gonna be), it was a blast - sharp and insightful but also just fun. There are definitely some creepy and disturbing moments, and ...more

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Mar 23, 2020 Claudia ✨ rated it liked it

Shelves: lgbtqia, year-2020, feminist-reads, three-stars

"I sing the city."

When I first read The Fifth Season, it was like taking a cold shower - almost like waking up, since I had no idea that you could actually write like that. But N.K. Jemisin doesn't play by the rules; instead she creates her own, stomping all over both genres and everything binary to create something amazing that is purely hers. I love it, and I love her. That's why it broke my heart when I didn't find myself in love with The City We Became.

All remarkable cities have souls, and a ...more

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Apr 02, 2020 Tatiana marked it as dnf

Shelves: ppb, 2020, urban-fantasy

Tragically, not one thing about this novel is holding my attention. You also have to be very open to social justice issues (the issues I whole heartedly support in real life) being bluntly jack hammered into the narrative, something that was never present in Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, where the author’s political and social commentary was woven into a tremendously interesting fantasy story with nuance and measure. Jemisin’s ability to show rather than tell disappeared somewhere in the proce ...more

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Jul 07, 2020 Anne Bogel rated it it was amazing

Easily one of my favorite books of the year, and I'm grateful this is the first installment of a planned trilogy. How soon till I can read book 2?

Every city has a soul, and the great cities of civilization—like Rome, Athens, São Paolo—finally reach a point when they come to life. Now it’s New York’s time to be born, but the city itself is too weakened by a gruesome attack to complete the process. If New York is to live, five people—or, more precisely,
five avatars, one for each of the city’s bor ...more

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Apr 12, 2020 Bradley rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020-shelf, fantasy, sci-fi

Coming back to Jemisin, my expectations are extraordinarily high. After reading the short fiction that this novel was based on, it made me wonder and scheme and imagine where it would go.

I mean, hey! This is all about human avatars being created out of a City, FOR the City's own protection and soul! It's like crossing American Gods with a NY monster movie with the SOUL of xenophobia (or any other kind of prejudice).

Coming into this, however, I should recommend that you manage your expectations. ...more

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Sep 10, 2020 Anthony rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: popsugar-2020-challenge, 2020-book-bingo-challenge, sf-group-2018, poc-authors, queer-content, fantasy

This is a wild ride, and reading it I felt the exhilaration of watching the incredibly talented N.K. Jemisin riff on many tropes of popular speculative entertainment in increasingly fun ways. Tropes surrounding the superhero origin story, the diverse fellowship of strangers joining together to defeat an Enemy story, the mythology of H.P. Lovecraft, and stereotypes of what New Yorkers are like; Jemisin filters them all through her abundantly humane, fiercely progressive, and joyfully propulsive p ...more

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Mar 15, 2020 Robin Brown rated it it was ok

The positives:-

Says some interesting things about race and inclusivity both in general life and within the Sci-Fi genre. There is a fair amount of intertextuality with the work of H.P Lovecraft, as well as repeated criticisms of his world view. Lovecraft is a pillar of the genre, despite his now widely publicised racism, anti-semitism and homophobia. He remains hugely popular so it’s good to see a big name name in contemporary sci-fi confront him like this.

The negatives:-

The writing is patchy; v ...more

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Sep 05, 2018 Meagan ✊🏼 Blacklivesmatter ✊🏼Blacktranslivesmatter marked it as dnf-try-again-later

3/27/20 I am reading 3 other books right now and I tried desperately to finish at least one before starting this, BUT FUCK IT. I am starting this tonight! :)
_______________________________
3/24/20 did I say I didn't like this cover?? Because now that I have it in my hands, I fucking love it! It's giving me all the 90's vibes! Ah I can't wait to start! I can't believe release day is finally here!
_________________________
2/15/20 so close to the release date now! Can't wait!!!! 🥰🥰
__________________ ...more

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Aug 27, 2020 Zitong Ren rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020, action, diverse, lgbtqi, fantasy, adult

The City We Became is N.K Jemisin’s newest book and it is the first novel in the Great Cities series and overall, it’s a pretty solid start. I had a good time reading it, and while I didn’t love it, it’s pretty solid fantasy, with an almost creepy and mysterious vibe to that was cool. There are a lot of primary characters and for a book that’s four hundred pages(which is not very for fantasy), it tried to accomplish a lot all while introducing the reader to a pretty interesting concept.

All of t The City We Became is N.K Jemisin’s newest book and it is the first novel in the Great Cities series and overall, it’s a pretty solid start. I had a good time reading it, and while I didn’t love it, it’s pretty solid fantasy, with an almost creepy and mysterious vibe to that was cool. There are a lot of primary characters and for a book that’s four hundred pages(which is not very for fantasy), it tried to accomplish a lot all while introducing the reader to a pretty interesting concept.

All of these characters have very distinct personalities and, individually, there are all really well written and constructed and it’s an incredibly diverse bunch of characters as well, which from what I know of New York(the city that this novel takes place and is centred upon), reflects the city really well. Now, while these characters are all technically developed, I do have a complaint, that it almost tried to do too much and with the constantly altering POV’s, I didn’t get the time to become attached to all of them, despite them all playing a central role. I actually really liked the way Manhattan, or Manny was introduced, but then the novel quickly moved on from him, and he was really pushed to the sidelines for the second half of the novel, even though he played a major role at first. This is largely the case for all of the characters, where they all have really great moments at are written really well, yet the novel didn’t give me enough time to become really attached to them.

One thing I did really like was the concept and at how there is like an infinite number of dimensions or whatever all layered on top of each other and at how so much goes on at these so called ‘Great Cities.’ Also, the fact at how people embodied cities, like that was really cool of a concept. For the most part, I also really liked at the way it was executed here, and at how distinctive it was. I did feel that the worldbuilding was a bit vague at times which sort of worked and didn’t work. It worked in that lots of things felt mysterious and as things were not explained fully(or maybe I’m just dumb, that’s a real possibility), it added to that mystery factor, especially early on in the novel. My issue with was that I was pretty confused at what was going on for lot of it, and while it was fascinating to read and to follow these characters, I also didn’t really know what was going on.

There were many aspects that are actually incredibly relevant now in the real world, even though it is fantasy. Some of these things included things like systemic racism, and police brutality and at how Karen’s are Karen’s. Being a bit of a leftie, I didn’t mind it at all, and I do believe that even in fiction, these issues should be brought even, as oddly enough, it makes it feel more realistic and at how unfairly BIPOC are treated, mostly by white supremacists. We are also seeing through the lens of these people who do have to be wary of certain things, that white characters normally wouldn’t have to. So, this was great that it wasn’t afraid to tackle real pressing problems. I will note, that for me personally, it was occasionally a bit much and almost felt forced in presenting these issues and it would often detract from the main plot line.

Now, talking about the plot, if I’m being honest here, it was sort of weak. The first portion of the book is introducing us to New York, and it’s a bit confusing as to what is actually going on, before the entire middle section is one big hunt for these few people, which is great and all, and meeting up with the other avatars of New York, it was also repetitive and took way too long. Then there was the ending, which felt pretty rushed and it was over really quickly, and while it resolved lots of things in this book, with enough direction for some really interesting sequels following these characters and having them be developed really well.

For the most part, I really enjoyed it, with gorgeous writing, well written characters and a really cool concept, though I did wish certain aspects were fleshed out more and that the plot had a bit more direction to it. 7.5/10 ...more

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Mar 15, 2020 Dima rated it it was ok

I want to start by saying that I've read all of Jemisin's novels to date, and have enjoyed all of them thoroughly! They are vibrant, dynamic, fascinating and fresh. This applies to The Killing Moon duology, as much as it does to The Broken Earth Trilogy: The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky. I've been a huge fan for years, and I think the author is truly one of the most innovative voices in the new generation of fantasy fiction.
Unfortunately, I can't say much of this applies to this I want to start by saying that I've read all of Jemisin's novels to date, and have enjoyed all of them thoroughly! They are vibrant, dynamic, fascinating and fresh. This applies to The Killing Moon duology, as much as it does to The Broken Earth Trilogy: The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky. I've been a huge fan for years, and I think the author is truly one of the most innovative voices in the new generation of fantasy fiction.
Unfortunately, I can't say much of this applies to this new novel, which I'm super grateful to have received an early copy of from NK Jemisin herself.
On the plus side, it is as well written as the rest of her fiction, and deep, interesting and empowered characters, and superb pacing. The universe is well thought through, and is comparable or superior to that of other Urban Fantasy novels (The City & the City comes to mind most, as a comparator). That being said, there are several things I just couldn't find myself liking in this new work:
1) the almost vehement red thread of the new left US politics woven throughout the story, full of clichés and tiresome stereotypes. Previous works have been great at showing empowered women, often from minority background, breaking societal and political barriers, and being frankly inspiring role models. This novel, however, ends up using simplistic tropes and extreme politics. Somehow the antagonists in the book are all clearly white boorish racist middle aged men or women, the women who support the bigots are scared and confused racists, Starbucks is the entry point of evil into our world, and all the people who work for the financial services industry are at best misguided or at worst predatory monstrosities. It is so simplistic and violently divisive that even the what might otherwise be appropriate criticism gets lost in the vitriol and can't really resonate (for me at least). There isn't one (!) positive non minority favourable protagonist in this book, that I noticed at least. Dealing with racial issues is important and topical, and something that needs to appear more in the sci-fi and fantasy genres. However, if done in a more balanced way and without caricaturing races, groups, or topics, it might resonate better with a broader readership.
2) everything in this book is about New York. That's not necessarily a bad thing (there are many other books that place cities in the middle, such as Rivers of London, King Rat, and of course classics such as Dickens's canon of work). That being said, as a non New Yorker, I'd also love to see some themes that I can relate to living elsewhere (and not being a fan of the city myself). I couldn't find any of that in this book. It felt like an ode to the melting pot that is New York, but, frankly, it didn't resonate with me one bit.

I continue to be a huge fan of course and will read the next novel in the series, hoping it will prove to provide a more balanced experience. ...more

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Jan 09, 2021 Laurie Anderson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adult-fiction, best-of-the-best, fantasy

Absolutely brilliant. Read it twice for the sheer joy of it.

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Mar 25, 2020 Silvana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021-hugo-ballot, female-nonbinary-authors, mine-mine-mine, kindle-google, sff-2020-reading-challenge, z-2020-fantasy-novel-novella, fyeahfantasy, lgbtqia

Not quite as masterpiece like the Broken Earth trilogy. It might also be the wokest novel I ever read. It is even woker than The Future of Another Timeline since it does not only touch the gender issues, but also race and identities. Considering the political climate nowadays in the US, readers will have no problem to immerse themselves inside the world.

Speaking of the world building, at first I wish I had been to New York before I read this book. Sure, it is probably the most famous city in th ...more

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Jul 12, 2020 Mara rated it really liked it

Shelves: physical-owned

Whew, can we just appreciate the talent that is NK Jemisin? The writing in this is so specific to her style & is honestly the star of the show here. I think the metaphors, while incredibly apt, where *slightly* too spelled out on the page for my tastes, but other than that... yeah. This is just a super solid piece of speculative fiction that is shockingly relevant for everything that has been going on this year. Don't over think this one-- if the description appeals to you & you like a strong wr ...more

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Jun 10, 2020 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it liked it

Shelves: tournament-of-books, 2020-sword, sci-fi-fantasy, audiobook, read2020, camptob

I read this because it was included in the Tournament of Books' Camp ToB 2020 (you can see the final discussion on their website.) I like N.K. Jemisin but I don't always read past the first book of her series, and I think a closer examination of my feelings of this book help explain why.

In the book, people are transformed into different boroughs of New York City (one person per borough,) because the city is under attack. Some stereotypes are at play in those sections but it's fun as each person I read this because it was included in the Tournament of Books' Camp ToB 2020 (you can see the final discussion on their website.) I like N.K. Jemisin but I don't always read past the first book of her series, and I think a closer examination of my feelings of this book help explain why.

In the book, people are transformed into different boroughs of New York City (one person per borough,) because the city is under attack. Some stereotypes are at play in those sections but it's fun as each person is "discovered." They each seem to have other characteristics in addition to their city presences that make them an asset to the team. Originally, while enjoying this part of the book, I was also partially annoyed because here I am with one more book that is completely focused on New York as if its the only place in the world. A very diverse view of the city, of course, but still it's just the city. I will agree to suspend my judgment on this feeling that so many New Yorkers seem to have because I've never been. But as a non New-Yorker, I must admit to a bit of prejudice against another NY novel.

Anyway, along with this transformation comes the ability to see a layer of the city that is hidden to others - warping and relocating of borders, wormlike invasions that reminded me of all the demon-possession novels I read in my fundamentalist childhood (ha!), and a woman in white who seems able to fill the tiniest or endless space. There are hints of multiple dimensions and she also seems to be a master of spaceTIME as well, knowing what will happen, and what would happen in alternate dimensions. (I was interested in her world but we only see tiny glimpses.) Some of the boroughs join up and fight evil until they find the last borough, and hijinks ensue.

But ... I mean, that's kind of it. I enjoyed the worldbuilding to a certain extent, but then felt like - so what? Why did I sit through all those hours of audio? I thought I missed something so I've listened to the end three times and I'm like okay... that's it? I don't even know what is going to matter enough to consume books 2 and 3.

I get that there is an underlying metaphor going on of the danger to New York being racism. Good, timely. But what's the story moving forward?

That's all I'm left feeling really. I'm not sure I'm left with anything to fight for or care about.

I listened to the audio and Robin Miles is excellent as always; I felt the times the production people decided to use effects were ... the wrong choice. Characters who are thinking to themselves suddenly having reverb, some sentences stalling like on a bad internet connection, some unnecessary screeching - it wasn't all the time, thank goodness, but the times it happened felt too often. ...more

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May 03, 2020 Thomas rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Such a fun and light read! In The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin writes about a fantasy world in which when a city reaches a certain population or status, it receives a “soul” as embodied in a human form. Thus, we follow five humans who each personify a borough of New York City: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island. We learn early on that they face a dangerous enemy bent on destroying their city – both each individual borough and all of their respective inhabitants. While it l Such a fun and light read! In The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin writes about a fantasy world in which when a city reaches a certain population or status, it receives a “soul” as embodied in a human form. Thus, we follow five humans who each personify a borough of New York City: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island. We learn early on that they face a dangerous enemy bent on destroying their city – both each individual borough and all of their respective inhabitants. While it looks like the boroughs may band together to defeat this enemy, there remains some uncertainty about who feels an allegiance with who, as well as what it may take to vanquish their common threat.

This novel felt like great entertainment. I do not read much fantasy, yet my transition into N.K. Jemisin’s world felt easy and smooth thanks to her clear and accessible writing style. Each of the different characters contained distinct and memorable voices, which helped keep each section from bleeding into one another. I loved all the little social justice and diversity bits in this book, like Bronca calling in Brooklyn about her homophobia in her former music career, Bronca fending off entitled white men who feel that they are being discriminated against for being white men, and Manhattan’s crush on the beating heart of the city (another dude) and Bronca and Veneza’s undefined yet loving relationship. I honestly had no clue about New York’s different boroughs and I feel like I have a solid grasp of each after reading this book. Also, Staten Island was honestly such a Karen, I could not with her, though I really liked the others.

In some ways The City We Became felt more like an action movie or TV show than a book. The characters as a whole felt rather underdeveloped. The book follows a pretty standard formula of introducing us to each character, providing us with enough backstory to get us acquainted with them, and then having them encounter the main enemy before they realize they have to join with the other boroughs. I lacked investment in the characters and in the book overall because we did not get much emotional insight or perspective into each character’s lives, like their hopes, dreams, and relationships outside of their main plot of fighting the big bad enemy. By the time I finished the novel, I felt like I had just started to get to know each character.

Overall, a solid book I’d recommend to those wanting something more on the lighter side as well as those who care about New York. N.K. Jemisin is forward about how this book is a love letter to New York City and that comes across well. I appreciated the commentary on gentrification as well as the focus on the resilience of New York City and its inhabitants. Between this book and The Fifth Season and I haven’t read a Jemisin book I’ve loved yet, though perhaps with time one will come. ...more

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Sep 08, 2020 Allison Hurd rated it liked it

Shelves: sff-bookshelf, authors-of-color, urban-fantasy, lgbtqia-mc, fantasy, sff-2020-challenge, fem-author

Don't read if you are preparing to read for SFFBC and want to go in without outside opinions!

(view spoiler) ...more

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Jul 03, 2020 Candie rated it liked it

2.5 stars. Don't hate me; I'm totally in the minority here.

I just could not seem to get into this book. I thought the concept was really great. This book was very creative and original but I'm just not sure it was for me.

I usually love fantasy and science fiction but I think it may have been a bit too out there for me. There was a lot of info and descriptions of the world, the magic system, the concept of what was happening and the personalities that it was a bit confusing and I found it hard t ...more

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Aug 11, 2020 Noria rated it it was amazing

Shelves: afro-latinx-characters, kick-ass-female-characters, contemporary, racism, looking-forward-to-the-sequel, mythical-beings, this-book-owns-me, sff, abuse, best-sci-fi-books

Words! I don't know her! I can't describe her! All I know is that my hands are still shaking even though it's been almost two weeks since I finished this book. My body still feels jittery. My skin still feels tingly. This book reached out from within its bindings and dipped into my soul, clutching its fists around my heart. It hasn't let go since. I am in awe. I am amazed. I am shaken! How on earth is this the first N.K. Jemisin book I'm reading?!!! What on earth happened to me that I went this ...more

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Nov 17, 2017 Elle (ellexamines) marked it as tbr

Shelves: author-love, x-tbr2020

| releases: 26 Mar 2020 |
okay so. I love creepy city aesthetics, and this book is about a city with an actual living soul. which sounds so so amazing. I'm here for this!!!! ...more

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Oct 29, 2020 April rated it really liked it

The right time to read this book.

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Apr 05, 2020 Plamen Nenchev rated it did not like it

Shelves: urban-fantasy

If you picked this up because you liked Inheritance and The Broken Earth, check your expectations at the door: The City We Became is nothing like them. And while saying that this book has rubbed me the wrong way is an understatement, this is hardly motivated by subjective reasons alone:

IDEA: Call me simple, but I like my stories human, my characters relatable, my conflict engaging. Cities that are ‘midwifed’ through song and afterwards battle Lovecraftian monsters through human avatars? How can ...more

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