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

Did not finish book. Stopped at 49%.

I really liked the concept and there were a fair amount of specific moments I enjoyed but I struggled to get through this book. Whenever I put it down I was never really excited about getting back to it and when I was reading it, I read a lot slower than I usually would for a book like this. While I don’t dislike the writing style I think that it is so upfront about the themes and ideas it wants to talk about that it comes at the cost of the plot and characters. It feels like it is a book that is more focus on talking about those themes and ideas rather than being a story, despite the fact she is clearly still trying to tell said story. This is also more an early part of the book issue but having to be introduced to each character/borough (which I did like reading about) basically one right after the other became structurally very repetitive. I’m really disappointed that I didn’t get on with this book the way I hoped I would because so much about it is exactly what I want and like from a story like this. I don’t know maybe one day I’ll give this book a second go but right now I just have to cut my losses.