Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - The City We Became

i really wanted to like this book. i enjoyed the short story that eventualy became the prologue. and i loved the 'broken earth', even with its flaws. and 'how long till black future month' is one of my favourite short story collections by a single author. 'the city we became' is actually one of the only books –that isnt part of an established series– which i was anticipating for months and got right on release. and then i read it in under a week. you would think that means i liked it, but i know i'm not gonna be re-reading it (normally i always read books i like atleast three times). and i probably wont be reading the next books in the series.

it has some pacing issues, it's both to slow and too fast. 'the city unborn' felt like a wholly self-contained story and was a satisfying read. and it had all the exposition needed to carry this premise for a whole series. this book says no actually it's just a prologue. and then the whole book feels like a prologue and exposition dump. it would have left me waiting for more, if the book was better.

however my main gripe is, that for a story that is so heavily about who makes up nyc (and its culture) and, very obviously cares about representation, it is missing jews and trans women. having only one minor jewish character - who is only there to be antisemiticly harrassed and threatened -and no trans femmes is just really fucking disappointing. and inaccurate. Jemisin's New York doesn't need an alien enemy (more on that in a minute), to be a distopia. It already is. A city that is so heavily influenced by jewish people and jewish culture can't be so devoid of jews in it's representatives, without some sort of antisemitic catastrophe happening before the events of the book. similiarly for trans women: all my friends who have lived in, or visited nyc, tell me how different it is compared to the other places they have been. we actually have community there. so much important trans history has happened there. but nyc in this book doesn't have any trans character, besides one british guy who just moved there. to me that kinda implies some really, really bad shit must have happened to make one of the most hypervisible groups of people – who shape so much of what new york is and means to people – completly absent from this narrative.

the next main problem i have is: i don't like the whole white tendrils/the enemy makes you more violent and racist thing. it just doesn't work as an explanation for how people will act as agents of white surpremacy, seemingly on command. taking away their agency by making them influenced by a lovecraftian evil makes it appear as if they wouldn't act exactly the same without it. which, you know, is bad.

i am disappointed because i love genius loci. the world jemisin is building is really awesome. the concepts and ideas are so strong (and cool), but the execution is lacking. one of the reasons i am writing this review, is because over 2 years after reading this book once, i still think about it. i wonder what berlin looks like in it's universe and I have almost written an unhinged fanfic about it before. but everytime i think about this i also remember how disappointing the actual novel was. and until writing this, i forgot it was supposed to be a series, even though it only exists to set up the "great citys series", or whatever.

I'll give it 3 Stars, one for the worldbuilding, one for Bronca and Veneza – who might make me pick up the next books after all – and one for the handful of memorable scenes.

ps: jemisin is still bad at writing trans people. and it's so weird. cos her trans characters feel like real people – and i actually really love Tonkee from broken earth, one of the girls of all time – but then immediatly jemisin uses some tired old trope. it's disappointing.

pps: also i really dislike the thing the primary and manny have? are gonna have? yeah. it feels forced and the power dynamics and selfcesty vibe are a big yikes.

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voxelbee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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celines_schemes's review

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2.75

The story telling was objectively good but I found the concept hard to grasp. Also, the plot was VERY slow to pick up. So all in all, a good book but maybe not my cup of tea.

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

By the end of this book I really enjoyed it! For a while there it felt a little too slow and repetitive, and like I just didn't appreciate it enough because I don't know NYC at all. But it was definitely interesting and engaging overall and I'm glad I read it. I love the idea here.

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny informative tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book was really inventive and interesting. I read the short story that formed the base of this novel, and I like the way it was expanded. I have never read a book with a Lenape character, and it is so important that one was included. This was beautifully diverse and funny overall.

It was also super intense. The white supremacist groups and individuals mobilized by the enemy hit very close to home. I also observe that the book was clearly in conversation with Lovecraft. The ending was

definitely a deus ex machina, but I still liked it. I just hope there isn’t a contingent trying to have a redemption arc for Aislyn but I mean cmon there probably is one isn’t there.

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