Review: The City We Became

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The City We Became found its beginnings in a short story, The City Born Great published on Tor.com in 2016.That short story is now adapted as the prologue of this novel, which is about the birth of an avatar that represents a city. But birth in one place can collapse reality in other multiverses and some multiverses just aren't down with that plan. A genius loci story that is clearly a love letter to Jemisin's adopted home of New York City and its five diverse boroughs, The City We Became also manages to upend the infamously racist H. P. Lovecraft, offering him a giant middle finger by seizing his lost city of R'lyeh and handing her defeat. The avatars of the city of New York - Bronca, Manny, Brooklyn, Padmini, and Aislyn - must seek out and join forces with a sixth, who embodies their city as a whole. On hand to help are Paolo (that's São Paolo, of course), Hong (Kong) and btw, you know that Jersey is part of the heartbeat of NYC, right? Cities are robust but they can die. Witness New Orleans, during and after Hurricane Katrina, or Port-au-Prince, with the earthquake that decimated Haiti.

Wild and weird and wonderful, I listened to the fabulous Robin Miles narrate the audiobook. With high-quality voicing and sound effects, the novel is rendered even livelier.

This novel was a diverting read but I struggled to write my review, thinking of what NYC is currently enduring during the Covid-19 pandemic. If ever there was a time when we could wish avatars were real and could join forces to protect cities and people, this would be it.

I received a paper review copy of this novel from Orbit books in exchange for an honest review.

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