Review – The City We Became (The Great Cities Trilogy, Book 1) by N.K. Jemisin (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 448 pages
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN-13: 978-0316509848
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in The Great Cities Trilogy
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 5/5 stars
“In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn’t remember who he is, where he’s from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history, and feel its power.
In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it’s as if the paint is literally calling to her.
In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels.
And they’re not the only ones.
Every great city has a soul. Some are ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York? She’s got six.”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in The Great Cities Trilogy. I borrowed a copy of this book from the library.
Story (5/5): The concept of this story is a really good one, stories have been written about cities being living entities before but never quite like this story. The concept is that if a city becomes big enough and different enough, it manifests as a living being. In this story we are introduced to seven characters, six who become the living representations of the boroughs of New York City and one who becomes New York City itself. Unfortunately, there is another entity from a parallel reality that doesn’t want cities to become alive. Our characters have to both figure out what is happening to themselves and not succumb to the alien entity.
I liked this a lot and really enjoyed the concept. I think the constant jumping around did distract from getting to know the characters some and parts of this book felt long. However, I really enjoyed the ideas and overall story presented here, it gives a lot of food for thought.
Characters (5/5): As mentioned above this isn’t really a character driven story but more of a concept and idea driven story. We jump between the different characters so much that it’s hard to engage with them as characters, they end up being more ideas or personifications of the parts of the city they represent. All of the characters are intriguing and well done. The fact that well established cities are a person/character/soul is an amazing concept and very creative.
Setting (5/5): I am going to be honest and say I am not a New York City fan, I’ve been there a few times and I think it’s loud and dirty (I am not a big city fan in general). However, I can see the charm of city living for some. What I really appreciated in this book is how well it explained the boroughs and personalities of parts of New York City so well to an outsider like myself. I learned a lot about New York City, enjoyed the setting and appreciated all the effort that went into making this a believable setting. I think those who love New York City will enjoy how it is represented both, the downsides and upsides of New York City are well represented.
Writing Style (5/5): This wasn’t the quickest or easiest book to read, Jemisin’s books never are. It was a very good story though and had some amazing world-building, so I appreciate the quality of story-telling here. In general I have found while Jemisin’s books do take effort and concentration to read, they are generally worth it because of the creativity used to put together the story and because of how thought-provoking they are. That is definitely the case for this book. I find myself thinking about it a lot and really looking forward to reading future books in this series.
My Summary (5/5): Overall I ended up loving this even though it took a bit of effort for me to get through. The payoff was definitely worth the time put in to read this. The concept and world-building are amazing here. This is an excellent “idea” book with some fantastical elements involving personification of a city and parallel realities. At times there is a very Lovecraftian feel to the story as well. I ended up really enjoying it a ton and am really looking forward to the next book in the series.
