Many of us have been in places that felt more alive in some way than others. We stepped within their borders and felt a change in the air. In the world of The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin, when a city reaches a certain point of that kind of heightened reality, it manifests an avatar. A person who was formerly just of the city comes to embody the city. Contemporary New York City has just reached that point, but something is off. New York didn’t manifest a single avatar. It manifested six. And there is an otherworldly enemy ready to undermine them and their attempts to unify, leaving the city stillborn and ripe for the Enemy to use the shell of the city for its own purposes.
The City We Became is nothing short of a love letter to New York, to the point that I have to wonder how much more sense it makes to someone who knows the city well than it does to me. There have been many stories where people will say the setting is one of the characters, but it is rare for the setting to be most of the characters in an ensemble cast. Race relations and gentrification, however, are widespread problems and Jemisin’s commentary on the subjects will be clear to readers who have been living anywhere other than under a rock. Jemisin ability to paint truly striking pictures with words is on full display, and her use of Lovecraft references to bolster her themes is clever.
This novel is the first in the planned Great Cities Trilogy and as such carries the feeling of having far more setup than payoff, but I must admit to being curious to see where things will go from here, even if my own local pride is slightly offended by her use of New Orleans as an example of a stillborn city.
Availability: Book; eBook in cloudLibrary
Rating: *** Stars (I liked it)
Reviewer: Catherine, Cataloging Librarian
ARE YOU AND THIS BOOK A GOOD MATCH? DISCOVER MORE WITH NOVELIST APPEALS! The City We Became
GENRE: African American Fiction; Urban Fantasy
CHARACTER: Culturally Diverse; Large Cast of Characters; LGBTQIA Diverse
STORYLINE: Intricately Plotted; Own Voices
TONE: Strong Sense of Place; Thought-Provoking
WRITING STYLE: Candid; Compelling; Incisive; Lyrical
SUBJECT: Cities & Towns; City Life; Enemies; Gentrification of Cities; Good & Evil; Imaginary Creatures; Race Relations; Racism; Soul
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