Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - The City We Became

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The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

110 reviews

its_van_vulpen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.5

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thebakerbookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It's been a while since I've read a fantasy book that felt so unique and creative and imaginative—but that's exactly what this book was. The world that the author has created here looks a lot like our world, but expanded, and I loved it.

Our characters are introduced to us slowly and without much explanation; we figure out what's happening to them at the same time they do. So there's a fair amount of confusion at the beginning but things start to become clear and we do know more than the characters in that we know they are the embodiment of each of the boroughs—but that's about all we know at first. I loved all of the word play happening in this book—from the character names to the chapter titles, it was making me smile the whole time.

The plot was also intriguing. From the prologue, it moves at a steady pace, and an imminent threat and danger is clear. The ending doesn't end on a cliffhanger but things are definitely not resolved, and I am very anxious for book two!

This book is very New York and if you have any love for the city, you'll enjoy reading it. If you've lived in NYC at all, you'll recognize a lot more references in this book than I probably did. I can't wait to see where this story goes, because honestly the things you could do with the concept of cities as people...I just love a unique fantasy story!

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kait_sixcrowsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

Unrated for right now because I’m not sure yet what to rate it. BUT. I did really enjoy it — all the characters were a delight (minus Staten Island, though she was interesting as a character). The pacing was a bit weird (the story was over, what, a few days? A week?), but the writing was very nice, atmospheric. I wished we saw more of New York the avatar, but I also understand that this is a first book in a series, so we’ll see where it goes.

Overall, it was a great reading experience, if a bit of a slow start on my part.

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deedireads's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-paced

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

4.25

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

The City We Became is a fast-paced, imaginative, super fun urban fantasy set in New York City. As a person who lives here, I ate it up. I can’t wait to see where the series goes.

For you if: You love New York City.

FULL REVIEW:

“This is the lesson: Great cities are like any other living things, being born and maturing and wearying and dying in their turn.”

Y’all, what a FUN book. You’ll see lots of people describe it as a love letter to NYC, and as a person who lives here, I had such a good time reading it.

The premise is really imaginative: All cities, when they reach a certain age or cultural tipping point, are born into living things. To help that process complete, there is always a human who takes on the city’s life force; a living avatar. Except New York has not one, but six avatars: one for each borough, and one for the city as a whole. But NYC’s birth gets disrupted by an ancient enemy who wants to stop it from being born, and so our six characters have to find each other to fortify and protect New York so it can finish being born and live on.

What makes this book so fun is how Jemisin infused these avatars with the culture, history, and lifeblood of their boroughs. You can tell she lives here and loves it deeply. It’s also very modern and of today, almost pop culture-ish. If you've ever lived here, you’ll recognize the city instantly through her eyes. It did occasionally feel a little TOO on the nose, but I also understand that Jemisin has to bring non-New Yorkers along for the ride too.

One thing I will say is that this is a very tough look for Staten Island, and it occasionally made me feel a little uncomfortable. The avatar, a girl named Aislyn, is a sheltered and racist daughter of a very racist and misogynistic police officer. And while it’s true that Staten Island is VERY red to the rest of NYC’s blue, it felt almost dismissive of the whole borough, like it’s a lost cause or full of bad guys, which doesn’t feel like a hopeful or helpful position. That said, I do think that Jemisin did a good job of showing how and why Aisyln became who she is, and she’s definitely got room for redemption, so I’m hoping that the next book focuses on the possible unity being hinted at.

Anyway, all told I had a lot of fun with this and I think you would too!

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ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

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adventurous informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

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chalkletters's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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? No

3.0

I’ve heard a huge amount about N K Jemisin, so I was interested to finally read some of her writing. ‘What if cities were personified as people’ was intriguing, but didn’t give much of an idea what the plot was going to be, so I really didn’t know what to expect.

I hadn’t realised that the city-people would have been normal people first, which was a really unexpected spin on things. I enjoyed reading about Padmini and Bronca and Brooklyn and Aislyn because they all had normal people lives, they didn’t just come into being as personification of New York’s four boroughs. Character is always the most important part of any book for me, and these characters felt alive and vibrant, even the ones who were standing in the way of what the others wanted to achieve.

That said, the actual plot wasn’t really my cup of tea. I wasn’t expecting a multi-dimensional war, or Lovecraftian horrors, and neither is something I particularly look for in a book. I did enjoy the characters coming to work together, figuring out how to get to their goal, but the antagonist and the stakes were a little bigger and higher than I could appreciate.

I enjoyed reading The City We Became, and it certainly made me think about things, so I’m looking forward to book club’s discussion. But I don’t know that I’ll seek out more books by N K Jemisin unless I encounter something where the premise seems more up my alley.

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apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious 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

3.75

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allison_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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

5.0

(Not so) Patiently waiting for the the sequel to come out and praying for a major character arc 🙏

I actually enjoyed this so much more than Jemisin’s Broken Earth series and I’m mad at myself for waiting to read it. Jemisin does an amazing job at making the characters feel distinct and have their own voices all while writing in third person. The descriptions are amazing and really feel like New York the more you learn about the characters.

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st_ender's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I listened to the audiobook and the voice actor is doing an amazing job. It's an interesting concept, I found the book quite tense and was thrilled to see what happens next. May have enjoyed it more if I weren't an European and got all the little things I'm sure New Yorkers know but I had to just believe in.
Edit:
It's 4 am and I am thinking about the book again so I will upgrade the rating I guess.

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beccaand's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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

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