A review by uraveragelesbianreader
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.25

I had absolutely no idea what to expect when I first read this book. I picked it up on sale at my local secondhand bookstore and I am incredibly glad I did. This book is wonderful in every way, to me it does not fit into any one genre but is instead almost defines its own cosmic horror sci-fi fantasy thing. The market is oversaturated with novels set in New York and with novels with a cosmic horror villain so in order to incorporate both of these books and still stand out to me makes it incredible. The villain in this novel is genuinely horrifying to me, sometimes I think the threat of it was perhaps understated and almost a bit random but overall it felt fitting for the novel. I never felt as though the threat of the creature was gone, it felt instead almost omnipresent in the novel hovering over you as a reader in the same way it does the characters. I also love how this book used the villain to convey a message about society and social issues. Modernly, many novels attempt to do this but few actually succeed in this and I think this novel is a perfect example of that. It examined jet and specific issues that affect the world and the city of New York specifically using the cosmic horror of the monster in this show is wonderful. The themes feel intentional and realistic without being heavy-handed, gratuitous or pointless. The cast of characters in this novel were interesting to me. There wasn't one that I was uniquely connected to over another and none of them felt like perfect people. Sometimes the conflict between the main characters felt a touch contrived or unrealistic but it never majorly interfered with my enjoyment of the novel however I see how it could for someone else. For me the characters were not a major highlight of this story but instead a vessel to convey the plot and the message of the series and I think that served to help the book. The plot moved at a very natural and steady pace, it never felt as though one part was being rushed through or that another part was dawdling along and one of the biggest highlights of this book for me. Sometimes however, I ended up very confused, I do think this is a me problem however. I am not a big reader of sci-fi so I found it more difficult to picture some things and ended up having to reread pages. The prose also oftentimes felt a touch dry however I think this is because I don't read a lot of realism, specifically non-magical realism. This is what I found hindered most my enjoyment of this book but did not ruin it for me and that is because the pacing and excellent plot compensate well for this. Because of this writing however, I did oftentimes find it difficult for me to picture the scenes as they were occurring in the novel specifically the fight scenes, once again however I think this was a me problem. If you're a more well versed sci-fi reader, I think you will enjoy this one far more than I did which is saying something because I already enjoyed it. To conclude, I think the characterizing in this book is wonderful and the characters chosen serve as a wonderful vessel to convey the key plot and message of the novel. Although the writing could occasionally be dry and confusing, it never massively hindered the plot to me due to its amazing pacing however it did disengage me. Its a book that is best read over multiple days and by someone far more versed in sci-fi and cosmic horror than I am. I would actually recommend coming into this book with more knowledge of the plot than I had so you know more what to expect and can better wrap your head around the horror of the novel. I would recommend this book to horror and sci-fi lovers specifically those looking to diversify their reading. It was a wonderful book and I am looking forwards to seeing more from this series.