Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The World We Make

I think this book builds on a lot of what made the first book so unique and interesting. It expands on the "rules" and worldbuilding of the original while also keeping things mysterious and tense. I really liked the inclusion of other cities as characters as well, even though we only got short snippets of them.

Like many other reviewers on here I did find the ending of this book to be somewhat anticlimactic, and I really wish this series was going to be a trilogy as originally planned. However, after reading the Acknowledgements at the end I understood why Jemisin felt such burnout on this series and decided to make this end instead. I really love the premise of these books, and Jemisin's writing is top notch (as usual), I can only hope that we get a spin off or some type of sequel at some point in the future, although I will be happy to read whatever she feels like publishing.

If you read and enjoyed the first in the series, I would definitely recommend giving this one a go. If you were on the fence about the first one, you can probably skip this sequel but you would be missing out in my humble opinion.

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pandact's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I’m sending this straight to Alex Kasman and MathFiction, because this is some quality speculative fiction! I’d say it’s four stars for literary content, leaving me fully satisfied, and five stars for my favorite audiobook production. The ambience and voice distortions gave me chills, and the narration pretty much voice acting (similar to The Original, but 100% less Audible)! It’s packed with scenes giving every beloved character a good payoff, and all the twists had satisfying, subtle hints that readers of the Broken Earth series will be familiar with. (I love seeing Padmini and Neek interact 🤩)

I liked the references to Lovecraftian lore (including the gory colors that I know from OSP), plus the witty pop culture and self-aware social justice. Most of all, the thing that this book excels at is the reason I love fiction: The Great Cities series is fantastic at giving you a new way of seeing the world. It flawlessly pulls off blending the real world with fictional battles, while also describing concepts from social justice with optimism. Thematically, it makes sense that almost every chapter is a different person as they all build a story, just like the cities of the world are built from the interaction of every person. The World We Make is well worth your time, and I’m going to spend money on it too since I promised myself I would if my favorite character made it (no spoilers)!

Similar stories: Middlegame, Wendell & Wild, Broken Earth, Lovecraft County

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lordmondegreen's review

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Jemisin's writing beautifully weaves compelling character dynamics, cosmic horror, and lush meditations on the construction of meaning. My only gripe is that it feels cramped in a way the first book didn't- this is understandable given that there are, by necessity, a larger number of primary characters. I'm more than satisfied with the ending, but I wonder if this world would have been better explored in a trilogy rather than a duology. You could just as well take that as a compliment- if Jemisin ever wants to return to this world- I wouldn't complain!

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zone_a3's review

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challenging hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Although I love Jemisin's body of work as a whole, and I enjoyed The City We Became, this book missed the mark for me. I understand and sympathize when the author's expressed difficulties in tackling this series' premise given the state of the real world at the time of writing, but I would be lying if I didn't acknowledge that it clearly negatively impacted the book.

While there were certainly elements I enjoyed, (every glimpse at other Cities was excellent), when I look back at this book and compare it to its prequel, its faults become very apparent.

Spoiler
In Book 1, there is clear, pervasive, present danger. In Book 2, any time danger starts cropping up, it is immediately resolved with no consequences.
Spoiler
In Book 1, a lot of effort is made to humanize all sides of the conflict. Jemisin makes it very clear that the villain doesn't "turn people evil", but rather people with certain (bigoted, hateful) beliefs are susceptible to evil influence. Useful idiots, if you will. If the villain disappeared in Book 1, many of the problems facing the heroes would persist. In Book 2, however, this nuance is completely gone. Useful idiots have been replaced with brainwashed zombies; and when the villain is defeated, it magically fixes all of the massive institutional problems the heroes were facing.
Spoiler
A large portion of the conflict in this book stems from mature (in many cases, literally multiple centuries old) adults deliberately failing to communicate. This is attempted to be justified, but I don't think it worked.
Spoiler
And of course there's the issue of pacing and the unavoidable plot rush of crunching a planned trilogy down into a single (significantly shorter) sequel. There just wasn't time to explore the ideas Jemisin had set up in Book 1 before Book 2 was over. It really felt like we gasped over the finish line; or maybe more accurately, we stopped short and just moved the finish line up.

I've been really harsh in the spoiler tags, so I want to pull back a bit and reiterate that the book does have good qualities; it just wasn't what I've come to look for from Jemisin as an author.

If you are largely discouraged/depressed by the state of the world, and want to have a bit of escapism to a version of reality where bad people get what's coming to them and evil is an external force which can be defeated, you'll probably have a good time with this book. If you prefer a more difficult, nuanced view of humanity and the nature of evil, with fewer clean, easy answers, you're probably better off sticking with Jemisin's other works.

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azrah786's review

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4.25

[This review can also be found on my BLOG]

**I received a copy from Orbit Books UK in exchange for an honest review**

CW: violence, gun violence, blood, gore, body horror, hate crime, police brutality, racism, racial slurs, xenophobia, transphobia, homophobia, deportation, toxic friendship
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Another Jemisin gem, The World We Make is an action packed finale to the wonderfully whacky Great Cities duology.

The conflict between the boroughs of New York and the eldritch being that is hellbent on destroying them comes to its head, and with the Woman in White’s chaos putting the entire planet at stake the other Great Cities of the world are called upon to join the fray.

I loved being back with the avatars and with them being together more in this sequel we get a chance to appreciate the little found family they have formed. There are a lot of moving parts to the plot around the ongoing dispute at the heart of the saga including a dash of modern day politics, some character backstories, a continuation on the apt commentary on real world social issues, as well as multiverse shenanigans. It all makes for an entertaining conclusion to the story.

As ever Jemisin’s writing and storytelling immediately transports you, immersing you right back into the colour and noise of "the city that never sleeps". I mentioned in my review of The City We Became that being someone who has never visited New York myself I didn’t feel like I was able to appreciate all the nuances and allusions to the place but you definitely get a very vivid picture.

I absolutely loved that even more city avatars from around the world were introduced! Tokyo, Turkey, London – the handful of pages in the perspective of these other cities were so much fun and further displayed the vibrancy of Jemisin’s imagination. I just wish we could have had more time with them.

The only major let down for me was the final showdown that occurs as a result of everything that went down. It felt a little lacklustre and rushed.. However, considering the fact that the length of the series was reduced and the direction of the overall story was shifted (a completely understandable decision made by the author) I feel like everything was adequately wrapped up.

If you liked book 1 then this one is just as enjoyable! And if Jemisin ever decides to return to this series or world in the future I just want to put it out there again that this kind of story would be pretty cool in graphic novel form.. 👀
Final Rating – 4.25/5 Stars

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thebookcoyote's review

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adventurous funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

TW/CW: Language, violence, body horror, fantasy violence, police violence, sexual talk and situations

REVIEW: I had been looking forward to this book since I finished The City We Became. It was such a unique premise for a story – unlike anything I’d ever read before – and I was dying to know how the story ended. This is that book, and it succeeded in everything that I wanted it to.

The World We Make picks up a couple of months after the end of The City We Became. I can’t give a lot of plot description without spoiling that book, but it works as a continuation of that story, picking up the plots and characters where they had been left and heading towards an exciting conclusion.

One of my favorite things about Jemisin’s writing in these two books is how she isn’t afraid to confront the politics and current events that clearly shaped some of the chapters in this book. Some people might not like this, of course, but I think it adds a lot to the story as a whole. But if you want a book that doesn’t tackle anything important, this book isn’t it.

The worst thing about this book is just that I’m sad it’s the last one in this universe! I would have loved to read more about the other cities, and what happens to all the new cities that were preparing to be born. I guess it’s a good thing, though, if the worst thing you can say about a book is that you wish there were more of it!

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for good science-fiction/urban fantasy. You won’t be disappointed!

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