Name: August Stone's review of The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin
Item: The City We Became
Author: August Stone

N. K. Jemisin

Every great city has a soul. Some are ancient as myths; others are as new and destructive as children. New York? She's got six - and all six will be called to arms in the greatest battle the city has ever fought.

The City We Became

'A glorious fantasy, set in that most imaginary of cities, New York' Neil Gaiman on THE CITY WE BECAME 'The most celebrated science fiction and fantasy writer of her generation... Jemisin seems able to do just about everything' NEW YORK TIMES 'Jemisin is now a pillar of speculative fiction, breathtakingly imaginative and narratively bold' ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY Five New Yorkers must band together to defend their city in the first book of a stunning new series by Hugo award-winning and New York Times 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 beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all. 'The most critically acclaimed author in contemporary science fiction and fantasy' GQ 'N. K. Jemisin is a powerhouse of speculative fiction' BUSTLE

fira

He will kill for me. He'll love me, too, if I let him.

 tell me you aren't losing it," Bel says from where he's crouched on the rock. "I don't think both of us can afford a psychotic break at the same time. We just signed a lease."

Amelia Hruby

Johannes Ecker

Jackie Keiser

August Stone

This book was kind of rough for me. The opening chapter is one of the most confusing things I’ve ever read in my life. In retrospect, it makes a lot of sense, but you have to finish the book to get it, which I don’t love. I only pushed through because it was a buddy read, and I switched to the audiobook performance — which I highly recommend. I spent the first 30% just wondering what the hell was going on, and when I finally got in the swing of things, I kept waiting for something BIG to happen. Turns out, this whole book is one big prologue, and it seems like crux of the story will be happening in the sequel. While I do plan on reading the next book, it’s not at the top of my must read list.

I will admit though, I already came into this semi-hesitant because I don’t tend to like urban or contemporary fantasy. So, this was very much out of my comfort zone, and with my current headspace, I think I might need comfort reads as opposed to things that go against what I typically lean towards. I definitely give the book props for uniqueness of concept and voice. I completely understand why some people rate this 5 stars. It just wasn’t to me.

Nik ✨

This book was kind of rough for me. The opening chapter is one of the most confusing things I’ve ever read in my life. In retrospect, it makes a lot of sense, but you have to finish the book to get it, which I don’t love. I only pushed through because it was a buddy read, and I switched to the audiobook performance — which I highly recommend. I spent the first 30% just wondering what the hell was going on, and when I finally got in the swing of things, I kept waiting for something BIG to happen. Turns out, this whole book is one big prologue, and it seems like crux of the story will be happening in the sequel. While I do plan on reading the next book, it’s not at the top of my must read list.

I will admit though, I already came into this semi-hesitant because I don’t tend to like urban or contemporary fantasy. So, this was very much out of my comfort zone, and with my current headspace, I think I might need comfort reads as opposed to things that go against what I typically lean towards. I definitely give the book props for uniqueness of concept and voice. I completely understand why some people rate this 5 stars. It just wasn’t to me.

Five New Yorkers must come together in order to defend their city from an ancient evil in the first book of a stunning new novel by Hugo Award-winning and NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin. Every great 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 six. But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs in the halls of power, threatening to destroy the city and her six newborn avatars unless they can come together and stop it once and for all. For more from N. K. Jemisin, check out: The Inheritance TrilogyThe Hundred Thousand KingdomsThe Broken KingdomsThe Kingdom of Gods The Inheritance Trilogy (omnibus edition)Shades in Shadow: An Inheritance Triptych (e-only short fiction)The Awakened Kingdom (e-only novella) Dreamblood DuologyThe Killing MoonThe Shadowed Sun The Dreamblood Duology (omnibus) The Broken EarthThe Fifth SeasonThe Obelisk GateThe Stone Sky How Long 'til Black Future Month? (short story collection)

isabelle

I absolutely loved this book. I love how the diversity doesn't feel forced but is also a major part of their identities. The book reminded me of a Spike Lee film as it deals with gentrification and racism in NYC and also Across the Spiderverse. However I did think the ending was rushed which is why I haven't given it a full 5 stars but I am definitely going to read the sequel and Jemisin's other books.

When this book was good, it was amazing. When it frustrated me, I had to put it down and take some slow breaths. Amazing characters, interesting themes, contemplative pacing - but enough lows amid the highs that I’m not sure how much I enjoyed it, overall. The writer had mostly won me back over by the ending.

Naomi J.

Nothing human beings do is set in stone--and even stone changes, anyway. We can change, too, anything about ourselves that we want to. We just have to want to. People who say change is impossible are usually pretty happy with things just as they are.

The book started with a warm welcome to New York, and gradually built up tension, making me feel attached to every character. However, the ending was abrupt and left me disappointed. Despite that, the book sparked my curiosity about New York and made me question my own feelings about London. To be honest, I absolutely love London!

Then also, about NK Jemison, her incredible talent for crafting intricate worlds and unforgettable characters left me in awe. If you're looking for a truly captivating reading experience with new worlds, she is your author.

Home isn't where the heart is; it's wherever the wind feels right.

Bilge Ince

Nothing human beings do is set in stone--and even stone changes, anyway. We can change, too, anything about ourselves that we want to. We just have to want to. People who say change is impossible are usually pretty happy with things just as they are.

The book started with a warm welcome to New York, and gradually built up tension, making me feel attached to every character. However, the ending was abrupt and left me disappointed. Despite that, the book sparked my curiosity about New York and made me question my own feelings about London. To be honest, I absolutely love London!
Then also, about NK Jemison, her incredible talent for crafting intricate worlds and unforgettable characters left me in awe. If you're looking for a truly captivating reading experience with new worlds, she is your author.

Home isn't where the heart is; it's wherever the wind feels right.

Sarah Sammis

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin is the first in the Great Cities series. It builds on the short story, "The City Born Great" (2016). That story is included as a prolog.

The conceit here is that cities at a certain point in their existence as man built things come sentient entities. If they are successfully birthed a single person from the city will be given the mantel as the living avatar. That role will include magical powers that are drawn from the city's unique properties.

Not all cities are simple things. Not all cities are self contained within their initial borders.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2020/comm...

Oliver Magnanimous

Abhimat Gautam

I thought this book was an absolute delight. Equal parts social critique and character study, the writing was just so much fun to experience. While the plot itself is fairly straight-forward, the representation and diversity was fantastic throughout. I have already recommended this book to several people and I loved the urban fantasy concept of a city choosing avatars to represent it. If you're looking for more content in the same vein, I very much recommend the Unsleeping City series by Dimension 20, which is a live play D&D group that I absolutely adored.

I will say that this book may not be for everyone. The plot is an afterthought to the social critiques of our society and the characters that lead us on our journey. As a result, the plot moves at a snail's pace. I didn't mind much - I really enjoyed the deep understanding of the characters that I got - but I can see other people really not enjoying that aspect and wanting more to happen. At three quarters of the way through, I legitimately thought I was going to get cliffhangered. (I didn't. There is a resolution to the plot.) This book is honestly more philosophy than plot, which brings me to my next point.

If you're a white person that hasn't put in the work to examine your relationship with whiteness, racism, and your privilege, there's a very big possibility you're gonna get called out by this book. This book is not subtle about the negative impacts of oodles of aspects of society, including racism, homophobia, privilege, gentrification and capitalism, economic disparity, and so many more things. Sometimes I appreciated that about the book. Some things shouldn't be subtle. Other times, it was just really heavy handed. I think there were some really good subtle things about the book as well, but there's a lot of social justice points that are just handed to you that you don't ever really get a chance to focus on the subtler parts.

I personally kind of wished that the big bad of the book hadn't been related to another author whom I will not name here for fear of spoilers. I get that he's a well known xenophobic piece of historical trash who had a spooky idea, but I wish he could be left in the dusty back corner of time where people no longer seek out his work. I wish that the big bad's origin had been from a fully original world. I did, however, like the concept of what the big bad really is when you finally get that answer. I just wish it hadn't been related to such a terrible author.

The only other critique I have, which is a really big one, is that I didn't always like that the characters were based on stereotypes. I understand that the cities chose those that best represented them, but there were other bits that I worried crossed into territory that spilled over into the less okay. For example, Bronca, who is Lenape, was given a full understanding of the history of how cities are born as a result of her indigenous heritage and became a textbook example of the Magical Native American trope. I get why the author made the choice, but I also think it's very important to be aware of tropes that are harmful to communities and to steer clear of them, even subvert them, whenever possible. You also got the Bollywood Nerd trope with Padmini. Manny is the Ambiguously Brown trope. Some aspects made for cool world building, but it's also important to consider how this affects the community, especially knowing it's been optioned for a television series. That said, I am a white person, and you should DEFINITELY listen to the communities affected by these stereotypes over me. These are just my observations.

All in all, I really enjoyed the book. I don't think it was perfect, but it's definitely worth a read. I think the youngest person I would recommend this to would be a teenager. A little bit of cursing and no sex, this book is pretty tame in regards to the usual parental no nos. Be advised for content warnings of racism, homophobia, and attempted sexual assault.

Kirsten Simkiss

I thought this book was an absolute delight. Equal parts social critique and character study, the writing was just so much fun to experience. While the plot itself is fairly straight-forward, the representation and diversity was fantastic throughout. I have already recommended this book to several people and I loved the urban fantasy concept of a city choosing avatars to represent it. If you're looking for more content in the same vein, I very much recommend the Unsleeping City series by Dimension 20, which is a live play D&D group that I absolutely adored.

I will say that this book may not be for everyone. The plot is an afterthought to the social critiques of our society and the characters that lead us on our journey. As a result, the plot moves at a snail's pace. I didn't mind much - I really enjoyed the deep understanding of the characters that I got - but I can see other people really not enjoying that aspect and wanting more to happen. At three quarters of the way through, I legitimately thought I was going to get cliffhangered. (I didn't. There is a resolution to the plot.) This book is honestly more philosophy than plot, which brings me to my next point.

If you're a white person that hasn't put in the work to examine your relationship with whiteness, racism, and your privilege, there's a very big possibility you're gonna get called out by this book. This book is not subtle about the negative impacts of oodles of aspects of society, including racism, homophobia, privilege, gentrification and capitalism, economic disparity, and so many more things. Sometimes I appreciated that about the book. Some things shouldn't be subtle. Other times, it was just really heavy handed. I think there were some really good subtle things about the book as well, but there's a lot of social justice points that are just handed to you that you don't ever really get a chance to focus on the subtler parts.

I personally kind of wished that the big bad of the book hadn't been related to another author whom I will not name here for fear of spoilers. I get that he's a well known xenophobic piece of historical trash who had a spooky idea, but I wish he could be left in the dusty back corner of time where people no longer seek out his work. I wish that the big bad's origin had been from a fully original world. I did, however, like the concept of what the big bad really is when you finally get that answer. I just wish it hadn't been related to such a terrible author.

The only other critique I have, which is a really big one, is that I didn't always like that the characters were based on stereotypes. I understand that the cities chose those that best represented them, but there were other bits that I worried crossed into territory that spilled over into the less okay. For example, Bronca, who is Lenape, was given a full understanding of the history of how cities are born as a result of her indigenous heritage and became a textbook example of the Magical Native American trope. I get why the author made the choice, but I also think it's very important to be aware of tropes that are harmful to communities and to steer clear of them, even subvert them, whenever possible. You also got the Bollywood Nerd trope with Padmini. Manny is the Ambiguously Brown trope. Some aspects made for cool world building, but it's also important to consider how this affects the community, especially knowing it's been optioned for a television series. That said, I am a white person, and you should DEFINITELY listen to the communities affected by these stereotypes over me. These are just my observations.

All in all, I really enjoyed the book. I don't think it was perfect, but it's definitely worth a read. I think the youngest person I would recommend this to would be a teenager. A little bit of cursing and no sex, this book is pretty tame in regards to the usual parental no nos. Be advised for content warnings of racism, homophobia, and attempted sexual assault.

Joy Bush

First off this narrator is freaking fantastic! Do this one on audio. Seriously. 

A modern urban fantasy about 5 people from each borough of NYC need to come together to save their city from a multi dimensional fantasy monster. Not sure what else I can say without spoilers. 
I liked the characters but mostly Bronx and Brooklyn. 
It's starts off a little slow but intriguing, picks up around 36% and after 50% it's just so awesome you can't put it down!

Karis Ryu

an extremely cool, clever, and relevant mind-bending premise!! definitely necessary reading for everyone, because the ideas Jemisin presents (in such innovative ways) are things we need to talk about. it's great fantasy and it's the first *commentary* of its kind

charisa

3 at the start, 3.5-4 towards the middle/end! 

it’s so hard for me not to compare anything by jemisin to the masterpiece that is the broken earth trilogy!! but either way, i felt like this was a little too on-the-nose with its commentary, slipping into overt satire. and yeah, i guess that was the point? the premise was dazzling and breakneck and gritty in that special jemisin way, but i found myself missing the nuance and building shock that the fifth season afforded. still looking forward to reading the sequel!

Beautiful imaginative ode to New York and those who love the city. 

Patty Pforte

Katherine Yang

loved the concept of the book!! love sci-fi/fantasy that builds upon the lore of our own world. didn't get into it as much as i did with the broken earth trilogy, but still—n.k. jemisin is a fantastic writer.

Andrew Louis

I had high hopes but this really felt like a middling Netflix superhero show. 

Perhaps a more thoughtful way of saying that is this review 👇👇👇
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Jamieson

I really love that N.K Jemisin is writing out of her goddamn mind. Like you can just tell she had so much fun with this and I found her passion endearing.

 I really liked this, the worldbuilding was great and her concepts are always incredible. Once I got through the beginning, which dragged, I was hooked. 

That said... idk I didn't LOVE it. Maybe it's because I don't have the same fondness and attachment to NYC that this book demands. It was still really great though! I'll read the sequel

Joshua Line

Ryan LaFerney

This multi-faceted, superhero style novel is a wonderful read, an inescapable and timely metaphor for the violence and everyday bias that shapes the lives of people of color, and peopled with characters with compassion who you want to root for. 

When cities become large enough, with a distinctive culture and attitude, they become *alive*, with a soul of sorts that becomes linked to a human “avatar.” But it seems that some Lovecraftian power from another universe also battles against the formation of Earth cities, trying to destroy their avatars before the city can become whole. Since New York is five cities in one (the five Boroughs), five new avatars are created. They don’t just become representatives of their cities – they literally become *the personification of the city*.

Perhaps less dense and outwardly complex than Jemisin's other work but no less brilliant for that. This is definatively a different type of fantasy from Jemisin but one that still deals with issues of power, privilege, and racism - themes that are present throughout her books. You can tell Jemisin had fun writing this book as it acts as a love letter of sorts to her city, New York. And you can tell she was exercising some of her pain from current events with this one.

Warning: This isn't a comfortable read. This book is about the horrors of present day racism. But, it's topical nature is what makes the book shine.

Looking forward to the rest of the series.

Jessica Geddis 

** spoiler alert **
           I’ve read this book a while back, but I wanted to write a review while the memory still resides. First and foremost, as a white woman I cannot make any sort of commentary on the political side of the book, but I completely agree with it all anyway. If you are conservative or right leaning in any way, then you will probably be mad at this book. I’ve certainly already seen reviews detailing as such (they give me a good giggle). Anyways, all of the characters are very likeable, with the exception of Staten Island - no matter how hard I try to understand her actions, I cannot help but resent her. My favourite probably has to be Manhattan and New York, just because of their dynamic and mostly Manhattan’s attractive personality. The one critique I have is that all of the action was left at the end with a feeble few pages. However, I am excited for a sequel.

Janice Hopper

When I started this book, I honestly wasn't sure I was going to like it. But the further along I got, the better I liked it. This story about cities becoming embodied in some of their citizens and gradually awakening reminded me a little of the tall tales I used to read when I was young. 

The narration I listened to probably helped that along. The narrator, Robin Miles, handled the various accents of the different member of the different boroughs in ways that sounded plausible to my very NON-New Yorker ears. She also came at the story with gusto and verve. I got a strong "Imma tell you a STORY and you needta LISTEN" vibe from her, and honestly, I liked it a lot.

It's not a deep, complicated story. It's a story of a city in peril where a good ending is by no means certain. There's a tiny bit of deus ex machina at the end, but it worked for me.

I will probably read the next one when it comes out too.

Isabela H 

Ok so I love love loved the end but I can't lie, it took a moment to actually get into the book and get used to the weirdness of it. It ended up being a good weird that I really appreciate but it definitely took effort to first dive into everything. 
I loved the concepts and the writing once I actually understood everything :)

Connor 

I love NK Jemison and I love New York and damn it all, I love this book and would like to live inside of it for the rest of the month, pls.

Ewan

If i have to nit-pick I would say it's a 9/10, but that's only for a few minor things that didn't quite sit right with me.

Those tiny things aside, it's nearly a masterpiece

Jackie Keiser &
The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin

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