Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

13 reviews

heini's review against another edition

dark hopeful medium-paced

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

Suomennos oli hämmentävä. Ehkä ne ovat tyylikeinoja tai en vain ymmärtänyt, mutta lukukokemusta haittaa, kun jatkuvasti ilmaisut särähtävät korvaan. Puhutaan jonkun ensimmäisestä rodeosta; henkilö, jota alkuperäisteoksessa kuvaillaan ja nimitetään sanoilla 'strawberry blond man-bun' suomennetaan mansikanvaaleaksi hipster sämpyläksi; yleinen kirosana on paskapökäle ja joku on hullumpi kuin lepakonpaska (batshit crazy?).

 
Itse kirjasta: Seuraamme New York Cityn kaupunginosien ihmisavatareja,  jotka ilmentävät suurkaupungin monimuotoisuutta. 
Hahmot olivat mukavan ristiriitaisia ja oli mielenkiintoista, kuinka välillä ihmisen kauheista piirteistä tuli ominaisia ja "hyödyllisiä", osa tarvittavaa kokonaisuutta. 
Tarina oli värikkäiden kertojiensa vuoksi hauska ja myös sivuhenkilöt olivat huippuja,

(eräs lempparihahmoni oli perinteisen Checker-taksin kuljettaja Madison, tosin luultavasti siksi, että kuvittelin hänet Roundabout-pelin Georgioksi ("the worlds first revolving limousine driver"). Heillä oli samanlaista hällä-väliä ja auttamisen asennetta. 

Valkoinen ja kirkkaus oli pahuuden ilmikuva, mikä on tietysti myös käänteinen kerrontaperinteen musta/pimeys=paha logiikalle, jota on ihonväriinkin sovellettu.
Kirjan yksi ydinkuvaus on, kuinka ennakkoluulot ja oletukset tuhoavat meitä (yksilöitä, yhteisöjä, yhteiskuntia) sisältä päin ja vain ruokkivat yhteisiä vihollisiamme. 

Pelko, että ihmisyys tuhotaan kosmisessa maailmojen sodassa / pelko, joka syntyy kaikesta siitä "normaalista" tai normaaliksi hyväksystä (kauheista ja epämukavista asioista), jota arkemme ihmisinä ihmisten keskellä on. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexism, Police brutality, Body horror, Racial slurs, Violence, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Racism

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Gaslighting

Minor: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Rape, Addiction, and Abortion

Spiders or spider-like creatures

brynalexa's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.5

There’s something about NK Jemisin’s endings that make me want to go right back to page one as soon as I’m done. She also loves to end a book underground. I read that people feel the character introductions are a slog but I completely disagree- the character introductions and them finding each other IS the plot. I loved how the world building and plot were so expertly weaved into the character work. I was sad to be introduced to Queens last because I liked being in her head quite a bit.  I’ll be picking up the sequel ASAP. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia

Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Car accident, Rape, and Racism

onegalonelife27's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Transphobia, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

litliz's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Islamophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Cursing, Death, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Abortion, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Classism, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, and Rape

dannythestreet's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Police brutality, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Dementia, Homophobia, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Cancer, Car accident, and Kidnapping

martinatan's review

adventurous lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I was intrigued by the premise but the execution was not entirely satisfying. I was mainly surprised by the conclusion of this book (the first of an upcoming trilogy), but it didn’t really delight me—I thought it was mildly clever.

I could sense a lot of research and creative license went into writing this, and the concept must make it hard to really flesh out the characters, but ultimately the writing voice rubbed me the wrong way with almost all of the characterizations. Especially when

trying to speak to some very particular identities, I felt the author was not handling every characters’ background to the degree of sensitivity that I hoped for. There were many times that the description of East Asian characters, especially, fell short of what I feel is a culturally nuanced understanding of being from East Asian. That’s all I really can articulate about it for now, but ultimately there was a buildup of instances throughout the novel that gave me an overarching feeling of distrust in the author’s ability to inhabit characters of other cultures.

Also, I felt really unbalanced by the amount of “screen time” given to each character, as some did not get many POV chapters and it left me hyperfocused on why. Even if they get more focus in future installments, I wish they had all been developed to the same degrees in the first. Additionally, the ordering and pacing of how information is revealed felt really off to me, there were times where even how a scene was established rattled my immersion in the characters’ point of view.

Slight ramble ahead. On the premise itself, what I started labeling it in my head early on was

weird fanfic about New York City. I’ve lived near and visited New York my whole life, and only after reading this did I realize I don’t really need “New York fanfic” in my life. Sure it’s an homage and all, but I don’t know that I can get behind the metaphor for white supremacy and colonization being a literal extraterrestrial entity. Maybe it’s because I feel sensitive to this subject, and I had hoped it might be somewhat cathartic to see it play out in a fantasy setting, but after reading this I want to say say that it actually feels kind of disrespectful to people facing actual prejudice, displacement, and hate crimes. Like when the Enemy is vanquished, the implication of how this book ends is that this alien source of white supremacy and therefore the magnitude of injustice in the world is significantly diminished. I just can’t vibe with that after all. Or maybe this is the point, for me to get uncomfortable about how racism and gentrification are still out there. Idk, it just ended up too far removed from a productive or interesting take on society that I would have appreciated.

Anyway. Being someone from New Jersey who has lived close to New York City all my life, perhaps a contemporary fantasy story with this setting wasn’t the right book for me to pick up. Even though I’ve enjoyed the Broken earth trilogy in the past. Hard for me to say!

I can say overall this is somewhat worth reading if you want to explore the base concept of living cities a little, but because of the reasons above, I ultimately didn’t get too much pleasure or satisfaction out of the story.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Ableism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Addiction, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Transphobia, War, Cursing, Cultural appropriation, Drug abuse, Abortion, Alcohol, and Cannibalism

kirstenf's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Death, Police brutality, Genocide, and Racism

Moderate: Colonisation, Ableism, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Xenophobia, Sexism, Alcohol, Cursing, and Domestic abuse

voxelbee's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual violence, Classism, Sexual assault, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Death, Xenophobia, Violence, Hate crime, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Blood, Cancer, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.25

As per usual some disjointed thoughts about this book 

• Amazing cover: the matte city scape with the shiny tentacles and colour detailing ties in so nicely to the story *chef kiss* The person who designed the cover deserves an award
• Chapter titles really should make a comeback 
• We love some reluctant heroes who really just want to say to hell with saving the world just let me live my life in peace 
• I am a fool I did not realize this was part of a series and now I’m sitting here waiting for the next book :(
• The petty book hill I will die on is that short chapters are superior to long chapters 
• This is different than other fantasy books partially because it’s urban fantasy but also because the first half of the book the characters don’t know what’s going on so you don’t know what’s going on. Jemisin doesn’t info dump or use a naive character at the start to explain this world but rather you learn as the characters learn which I find is a fresh take. 
• This book has the most diverse set of characters I have ever come across and it does so without any “token” characters because their identity and diversity is tied in to who/what they are. With this comes addressing so many timely and everlasting issues and Jemisin does so without sacrificing plot, pacing or anything else. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Abortion, Body shaming, Addiction, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, Rape, Transphobia, Bullying, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Biphobia, Classism, and Violence

gattolinos_nerdy_nook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I will admit I wasn't sure I was going to like this book, and with the first couple of chapters leaving me lost and confused, I was really not confident. I am pleased to be wrong about this.

This book will catch you right away with such a rich and unique cast, not only in design, but also in personalities, goals, fears, and struggles. I love how each character has a unique power to fight the "Woman in White". Each of them embody not only the borough they represent but also different minorities that can be over looked and harassed as the book touches on with each character. Each of them the boroughs are funny and loveable (well mainly) to read, the car scene in chapter 14 made me laugh.

As I was reading I thought this was a standalone book, when I learnt it wasn't I was so relieved as I has way too many questions. I want to know more about this world and its lore, how does everything work?

What happened to Stranton Island? Both the island and the avatar? Will we see a redemption arc?

What are the other cities like? Do cities get a second chance? I just want to see more of these characters and I cannot wait.

I will say this book does take a couple of chapters to get into, so keep that in mind if you are wanting to read it. Once you do get past the confusing beginning, it is really easy to get sucked into the story and love the characters as they are introduced. You also get the appreciate how much the first couple of chapters have set up. I think the magical realism and soft sci-fi is also good for those readers that want to get into the sci-fi fantasy genres but are intimidated by what is out there already and are unsure if they will like it.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Hate crime

Minor: Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Abortion