Book Review: “The City We Became” by N.K. Jemisin
The City We Became | N.K. Jemisin
Okay, hear me out: N.K. Jemisin is one of the greatest writers – I was going to say ‘living’ writers, or ‘of our generation’, but nope. One of the greatest writers, living or dead. The way she writes speculative fiction, her world building, her characters, everything gels together so perfectly on the page that her books go beyond five stars. This is the fifth book I’ve read from Jemisin – I started with the Broken Earth trilogy, read How Long ‘til Black Future Month? then was lucky enough to snag a copy of this from NetGalley. And it has in no way changed my mind.
Thing is, Jemisin knows her shit. She knows the history of the genres she’s writing in, the issues and problems, as well as the ways in which they can and have been reclaimed, and somehow manages to bring together SFF and Horror in her own unique brand. I could write a whole essay on why her work is so great, but I will focus in on The City We Became for this review.
If you’ve read the short story collection, you know the opening to this story, as it’s told in “The City Born Great”. But the direction the novel takes towards the end is completely different. The City We Became starts from the idea that every great city has a soul. It can take many, many years for the city to be ‘born’, and it’s usually a difficult, dangerous process. Most cities have one soul. New York has six. Each has an avatar, and as these avatars are ‘activated’, they discover the danger to New York hasn’t gone away.
There’s so much Jemisin packs and unpacks in this book. It’s a powerful journey, one that takes a critical but loving look at the city and its broughs, represented through the various characters. Jemisin holds a mirror up to the city, showing every aspect; the artistry, the power, the grasp for money, the diversity, the gentrification. The characters are wonderfully written, from the grad student who gets off the train in Manhattan and completely forgets who he is, to the ignorant, naïve girl on Staten Island who believes too much in the words her father parrots.
There are jabs at Lovecraft, at the twisted, fucked up way he saw the world, and love letters to the wonder of the city. Jemisin doesn’t pull any punches, but she gives space for us to really connect with each and every point of view character. Evil takes the form of a white woman and a corporation seemingly determined to squash everything unique about the city, especially in the Bronx and Brooklyn. But each character is informed not just by the way they inhabit the city’s souls, but their own personal lived experiences, too.
I’ve read a lot of excellent books this year, but this, so far, tops the list, and it’s going to take something truly amazing to knock it off its perch. If you haven’t read it yet, you’re really missing out. Combining Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Horror, Jemisin manages to exceed already high expectations.
Grade: A+++
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter & Instagram: @elleturpitt
I received this ebook from Orbit via NetGalley.