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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
After finishing it, I was really surprised to discover there’s no online fandom for this book. There were a lot of physical descriptions of the characters in it, which fan artists tend to gravitate to, the plot ticked many of the boxes for the ex-Welcome To Night Vale fans, and the character cast was diverse. It’s still the lone first book in a series so perhaps that explains some of it - hopefully when the second installment is published it’ll pick up some more fans. I've read somewhere that Jemisin has put the next book on hold until she feels she can address the pandemic in a meaningful way, which is reasonable. Curse this linear time thing, though... I enjoyed it and definitely intend to check out more of Jemisin’s work.
adventurous
challenging
dark
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:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
New York City is alive, and so are all cities around the globe. But when a looming threat weakens the embodiment of the Big Apple, human manifestations of the five boroughs must band together and find the state's avatar to protect the city from the evil stirring beneath it.
Great!
I haven't read Fantasy in such a long time, and this was an excellent start to reintroduce myself to the genre. N.K. Jemisin is a fantastic storyteller, and the way she wrote the book brings you right there in New York. The story itself reminds me so much of Sense8, a show that I liked a lot. It did feel prolonged at times, especially at the beginning when not much had happened yet. It took a while before things sped up, but it was such a blast when it finally did. Not only did this book have a great plot, but there were also some conversations about racism, sexual assault, oppression, and many more. The characters were fun to follow, although they all feel one-dimensional, which could be intentional since they represent each borough. With that being said, I felt like I would've enjoyed this so much more if I were a New Yorker myself or if I'm more familiar with the state. I never really knew about the boroughs thing until this book. It was fun learning the different cultures from the five boroughs, though.
Oh, and I have to give a shoutout to the audiobook. It was phenomenal, and I highly recommend it. It is no doubt one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to in my entire reading life. Maybe it's normal for fantasy audiobooks to have production value, and if so, I can't wait to dive deeper into the genre. Anyways, The City We Became was great, and I will definitely pick up the sequel once it comes out.
I feel entirely underwhelmed by this book. There’s so much hype around the author and their other works that I expected amazing and instead I feel like I got alright. Now, this could very easily be a “it’s not you, it’s me” situation since I don’t really like fantasy, but this didn’t feel like fantasies fault?
The beginning of the book was very confusing and I had no idea what was going on. Then I felt like there was A LOT of background information and build up throughout the rest of the book for what I would call a very anticlimactic ending. I was just bored. A classic case of what happens when your expectations are too high.
The beginning of the book was very confusing and I had no idea what was going on. Then I felt like there was A LOT of background information and build up throughout the rest of the book for what I would call a very anticlimactic ending. I was just bored. A classic case of what happens when your expectations are too high.
Very insightful and earnest and sweet. Also, sometimes--if not frequently--corny, but what do you expect a Philadelphian to think of a navel gazing New Yorker's ode to their city?
I ultimately loved it for two reasons: 1) It's BIPOC centered and 2) It's pro-city, but not in an annoying urbanist way, but more in the "let your freak flag fly/live and let live" manner that I associate with people who see cities as a challenge to conformity vs. a new frontier to be colonized by whiteness, i.e., "oh my god, my packages got stolen!" or "that music is too loud, let me call the cops!"
What resonated most for me was challenging a zero-sum/binary view of existence. Adding the Lenape layer was especially smart. What does it mean to have to vanquish a universe, other than your own, in order to survive?
I ultimately loved it for two reasons: 1) It's BIPOC centered and 2) It's pro-city, but not in an annoying urbanist way, but more in the "let your freak flag fly/live and let live" manner that I associate with people who see cities as a challenge to conformity vs. a new frontier to be colonized by whiteness, i.e., "oh my god, my packages got stolen!" or "that music is too loud, let me call the cops!"
What resonated most for me was challenging a zero-sum/binary view of existence. Adding the Lenape layer was especially smart. What does it mean to have to vanquish a universe, other than your own, in order to survive?
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Boring, repetitive, no coherent plot to hold all the surreal magic together. It seems like there might be a good book in here, if an editor could cut it down to half the size. But as-is, with the constant introduction of new and totally dull characters and endless meandering around the actual conflict (some sort of supernatural threat to the city?), it is unreadably bad.