The synopsis seemed pretty interesting, the cover design is cool too and I immediately clicked the request button on NetGalley. It is the first installment of Great Cities series. Jemisin’s brilliant allegorical premise lands with an uncanny prescience. The City We Became is one of the most hyped and talked about sci-fi/fantasy book of 2020. While the larger metaphors.are clear, the narrative is gripping, not just because of the systemic catastrophes the “Alt Artistes” of Jemisin’s fantasy (because of course they call themselves the Alt Artistes) represent, but also because of the specificity with which Jemisin literalizes that system.

The novel is at its best when the conflicts facing each borough’s avatar feel as human as they do symbolic. At times, though, it’s exactly the neatness and wit of the premise that trip up the book. filled to the brim of fantastically clever details that infuse focused political points with wild imagination. The City We Became is partly a spectacular love letter to New York City in all its diversity, partly the beginning of a new fantasy trilogy, and partly a horror story with roots that go back. After introducing us to each character in engrossing and vivid set pieces, the bulk of the novel is dedicated to the team tackling parallel crises. I enjoyed this well-crafted novel, but The City We Became will resonate most with people who truly know and love New York City. Jemisin turns her attention to our world in her new book or at least, a version of our world in which cities can. of the Sunday Book Review with the headline. Review: 'The City We Became,' By NK Jemisin Three-time Hugo Award winner N.K.

Part of Jemisin’s genius is rooted in her ability to come up with fantastically inventive premises that, while unthinkable before her writing, feel intuitive once read, to the point that one is baffled that nobody came up with them before. Jemisin’s The City We Became is a love letter to the city and its residents, but explicitly welcomes foreignness and plurality.

The city we became book review