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

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

The City We Became is magical realism at its finest. One day, New York City is born. Born as a living City, with a living avatar and 5 sub-avatars. But as it's being born, something straight out of Lovecraft attacks it, trying to kill it. The avatar fights it off, and collapses, just as the sub-avatars awaken. And it gets better and more confusing from there. 

The City We Became doesn't have the exposition or information dump that a lot of magical realism books have. The reader learns what is happening as the characters learn. I'm very interested to see where she goes with the trilogy, given what happens during the climatic scenes. 
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