The City We Became
Ratings243
Average rating3.8
This is a hard one to rate, it’s beautifully written, like poetry in some places. The first chapter didn’t feel super narrative to me and more like spoken word, was a little worried I wasn’t going to like it, but as it goes on it gets better and better. It definitely a slower book and long so it took me a while to get through, however it feels so wholly unique and wonderful that I think anything less than 5 stars wouldn’t be fitting. So even though idk if it was generally my style I absolutely love it and will be reading the next instalment for sure.
I really wanted to like this book, but all I could think of while I was reading it was how much I wanted it to end already. The chapters are unnecessarily long and the author tried to shove too many scenes into each one. It felt like rambling. And while the writing wasn't bad, I had some problems with the over usage of specific words (like eldritch) and the inconsistency in context. The point of the book was, well pointy. The themes were dumbed down to the point where I felt like the author thought that her readers were too stupid to understand that every situation was an allusion to the evils of large corporations, gentrification, and racism. Subtlety was not invited to the party.
I liked that the descriptions of evil were purposely made to go against the institutionalized and prejudiced belief that bad things are dark and good things are light, except when we were in the thoughts of the racist character. I also liked how New York was described through the different avatars chosen to represent each borough.
On the other hand, there were times where there seemed to be awkward moments of inside jokes placed in the story, whether having to do with New Yorkisms or Lovecraftisms. It just felt forced in places. Also, the timelines didn't make a whole lot of sense as the perspectives shifted in the earlier chapters. The final fight scene left a lot to be desired. It was a whole page and a half long. Bronca was in a bathroom for like 20 pages...
I didn't hate this book, I just wish it could have been edited better and that it's description wasn't more interesting than the book itself.
I was really excited to read this book after reading The Broken Earth trilogy. That series felt super involved and immersive and I loved it. I didn't feel as good about this one.
The City We Became felt a bit too gimmicky for my taste. The initial idea of cities being ‘alive' was pretty cool at first. Having avatars that embody their spirit seemed like a good take on the idea and it introduced a set of unique rules and characteristics to the book. But the characters in the book felt pretty static apart from that issue. Most of their personality was determined by the part of New York they embodied and they just felt way less deep than some of the characters in The Broken Earth.
In addition, a lot of the plot felt repetitive and the cast felt too big. Each character basically had to learn about the central conflict of the book in the same way and fight small battles against the BBEG in order to learn how ‘powerful' it was. At first these encounters were really cool: the first chapter was my favorite part of the book. But after a couple chapters I couldn't help but skim since it was really hard to feel anticipation during the scene.
I'm not sure whether this book would've been better had I known more about New York but it felt like a drag and I wish that the characters did more than find each other in the book.
This one was a bit of disappointment. I didn't really understand what was going on for half of the book and then I just couldn't bring myself to care.
Idei bune (nu neapărat originale), dar execuție foarte slabă. Scriitura simultan grăbită si infinit lungită. Personaje nenumărate, obositor de multe, dar vagi, neconturate, indistincte și fără profunzime - se simt ca doar niște nume cu câte o caracteristică. Și aceea doar ca să bifeze categorii: negru gay? Checked. Negresă “cu atitudine” (mai bine zis agresivă)? Checked. Travestit asiatic? Checked. Și tot așa. Știți că susțin fățiș diversitatea, dar când e sinceră, nu doar sjw. Poveste? Unde? Doar o palidă copie de IT al lui SK, dar mult mai diluat. În plus, cartea este efectiv rasistă: albul este culoarea răului, albii-s sclifositi, albele niște Karen, bărbatul alb este un persecutor sadic, poliția strict si automat malefică etc. Din păcate, această leșinată carte pare scrisă de altă autoare decât Jemisina mediocră din Blood Moon și senzațională din Pământul Sfărâmat. O autoare foarte slabă. Ce s-o fi întâmplat? Nu știu, dar rezultatul este un mare eșec.
Started out promising, but unfortunately I just wasn't into it. The characters and story were eh. The politics in it were also very heavy-handed and so extreme it just bordered on ridiculous. It felt very much meant for an American demographic.
I imagine this is fun if you are from (or very familiar with) New York though. Unless you're from Staten Island
I liked the characters, but the way the world worked was a bit arbitrary at times, making the plot much less engaging.
As someone not from NY, Jemisin did a great job of showing what the city is like and portraying authentic experiences - She said she did a ton of research in the acknowledgements and I totally believe it.
The book starts off quite abstract as we are introduced to the concept of New York being “born” into a human body. Once we are introduced to the five boroughs of NY, also in human form, it becomes a lot easier to follow. Basically there's a big bad enemy trying to kill off New York (the city and the person) and the boroughs have to team up to try and stop them.
Overall this was an alright read. Since there was a lot of character introducing to do, and the book is fairly short, it feels like this one did a lot of setup for book #2. Might give it a read if it turns out good or I might not.
Originally posted at www.emgoto.com.
I'm furious with this book. I cannot for the life of me figure out if it's a social commentary with a very aggressive "anti-racism" message (I'll let you figure out why I put quote marks around that). If it is, I guess I never really understood Jemisin.
The Broken Earth Trilogy? That was in my opinion a very mature and intellectual exploration of society suppressing minorities.
Is The City We Became supposed to do the same? Because all I get from it is an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth attack on racism... which... phew... I don't know what to do with that.
I will admit that this book was probably not written for someone like me. I also dnf'ed around 40%. But if I ignore the above for awhile (because I usually prefer to read books that evoke strong emotions in me, including disagreement with authors), then let me tell you why it's a 2* for me: I don't care about the characters or their problems, the avatar concept and the weird alien-like multidimensional enemy is too abstract for me. There's nothing to ground me. Considering the main characters are New York City boroughs embodied, it's probably difficult to avoid the stereotypical vibe. But it's there, very strongly, and I'm not a fan.
Conceptually this book is brilliant and a unique fantasy experience in my reading history. I suspect for those who need 50-50 character development to plot, or more heavy character development, might not be 100% in love with this book. I'm a very feely person, and there were no feels for the first 3/4 of the book. Action happens, there's flat dialogue, there's external conflict, there's background on characters, but there's reference to anger and love that only feels like words, not an emotional experience (which is what the strongest books convey in my opinion). Even the stakes never felt very high for most of the book, which they are in the book's reality.
By page 300 when what I've been waiting for finally [begins] to happen, I was getting the feels a bit more but still waiting for the emotional connection for the characters to each other, themselves and to their city. The main characters are avatars for their boroughs, but I never felt the power in what that means, I felt that power the strongest in relation to geography but not its people - though we're told about each borough's people a few times. I wish the events and conversations between page 300 and 400 had been moved up earlier, and then expanded much more. The last 50 pages were amazing, interesting and surprising.
The book is 3.5 stars for me. I hope down the road I'll reread this to see if I missed what I believe is missing and go to the rest of the trilogy.
My heart Jemisin, my heart! Anyway - I'm getting a copy of Support Your Local Wizard because all the feels now.
4,5 ⭐
N. K. Jemisin já consegue nos deixar com uma pulga atrás da orelha de curiosidade pelo que está sendo contado, mesmo sem muitas informações - que vão aparecendo aos poucos ao longo da história. Mais uma fantasia da autora que captou minha atenção e não consegui largar até terminar a leitura.
O sistema de personificação das cidades é muito bem elaborado, apesar de às vezes não conseguir visualizar tudo que provavelmente a autora quis passar para o leitor. Em muitos momentos esses elementos fantásticos ficam de lado para dar foco à vida dos personagens, ao seu dia a dia e, mais importante, às críticas feitas a uma sociedade que não perde a primeira oportunidade de poder destilar seu preconceito.
Achei fantástica a caracterização da vilã da história, que vai de encontro a muito do que se lê em outras histórias, que mostram pessoas negras, que às vezes podem não estar impecavelmente vestidas e normalmente representadas com expressões de raiva ou “de poucos amigos” - como personagens a serem evitados e, mais além, como pessoas que devem ser evitadas na vida real.
Além da aparência de história fantástica, Nós Somos a Cidade traz muitas reflexões que vão deixar o leitor reflexivo por algum tempo além do final da história. Muito bom!
Contains spoilers
This book focusses on characters that are personifications of (boroughs in) New York. I personally didn't really enjoy this book, but I wonder if that is because I'm not super familiar with New York and its boroughs and their characteristics.
The book was paced really quickly in the sense that a lot of action/important things kept happening and there was very little time of downtime. Which brings me to my main issue, which is that I didn't really get attached to the characters because I felt I didn't really get to know them, every time I felt I was getting a feel for a character either we switched to a different one or some action happened.
Just as a note: Manny's sudden obsessive love for the NYC avatar also felt weird and out of place.
It also didn't feel like the characters were making smart decisions, which doesn't have to be a bad thing, but often they talked about what would be a good idea and then would choose not to do that for some reason. Like when they left Long Island to fend for herself when knew they would feel left out and be less likely to work with them (but maybe this makes more sense if you're more familiar with the relations between the boroughs).
The ending also felt a bit contrived, even though some pretty important stuff went wrong, something magically happened to fix it in time to have a positive ending. Long Island didn't want to work with them, so we'll just immediately give up on her, but oh how lucky this other girl that's been helping, just happens to embody this other place that kind of belongs to NYC anyways, so she can just fill that spot and everything's fixed. I like happy endings, but it felt a bit out of nowhere.
I did enjoy the part where they had to heal a city's representative with things that are quintessentially related to their city of origin, I thought that was a fun idea that you could have interesting discussions about.
I absolutely loved this book. I love how the diversity doesn't feel forced but is also a major part of their identities. The book reminded me of a Spike Lee film as it deals with gentrification and racism in NYC and also Across the Spiderverse. However I did think the ending was rushed which is why I haven't given it a full 5 stars but I am definitely going to read the sequel and Jemisin's other books.
It may seem like it took me forever to read this, but it's because I bought it and my library books were due back quickly, so I put it on hold until now.
It's excellent. Is there anyone else in this world with an imagination as big as N.K. Jemisin's? I think not. I broke my own rule about not reading the first in a series because I love her work so very much. This one is outstandingly fun. The battles are amazing The characters are kick-ass. It will be a looooong wait for the next installment, I'm sure. I'm a little bummed that I didn't get to meet her at an event in March, but I probably just would have squeed in total fangirl mode about how much I love her work at her anyway.
I loved every minute of The City and can't wait for more.
Love from Jersey.
Ok I LOVE N.K. Jemisin. Her Broken Earth series is literally one of my favorite sci-fi/fantasy series! Jemisin does SUCH an incredible job weaving real, political and social issues, into a fantastical world with magic and monsters. She expertly uses her mastery of language and world-building to create really strong character-driven stories that send out a message very applicable to real life.
That being said, Jemisin brings her quirky and unique writing-style into her new series, the City We Became. Each character is expertly nuanced and very, very politically inspired (if queerness and POC protagonists isn't your thing, maybe skip this one — and skip my page while you're at it ).
I did feel like Jemisin worked so hard to create really amazing and nuanced characters that the plot was kind of....meh. To be honest, in all 400+ pages of this, it didn't feel like a whole lot HAPPENED, you know? Like yes, obviously stuff was happening but it didn't feel like there was that much of a plot, just a lot of character and tension-building— which isn't a bad thing at all! It might just mean that she's building up the plot for the next book in the series! Still highly highly recommend this read.