azrah786's review against another edition
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
--
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
**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
--
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Transphobia, Racism, Violence, Hate crime, Body horror, Racial slurs, Gun violence, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Gore, Deportation, and Blood
tsubramaniam's review against another edition
4.0
A really satisfying sequel and conclusion to a fascinating series. I will say that, as someone who read the first book years ago, there were moments I wished I had reread it before starting this one, as it truly picked up right where it had left off, with very little in the way of a recap. It took me a while to remember which characters were which but once I did it was as much fun as I remembered!
lollypopzoo's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
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? No
5.0
elizabuff's review against another edition
5.0
The audiobook is a work of art. Highly recommend listening to it.
sodanisays's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
lauryl's review against another edition
4.0
A sequel to “The City We Became,” all about the five boroughs of NYC and Jersey City coming to life as individual people/avatars. Both books are from a super creative concept, and the way the author uses unique attributes of each borough as their superpowers is really smart. I probably liked the first book a little more as this one got a little too technical/hardcore sci-fi but I still enjoyed all the personal details. Recommend reading if you love NYC and are open to sci-fi.
apushie's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
kikiwalk001's review against another edition
5.0
Everything I've started to type is a spoiler, so instead, I'll convey: YOU SHOULD ABSOLUTELY READ THIS SERIES!! Brava on another masterpiece, Ms. Jemisin!!!!
oldmansimms's review against another edition
2.0
Boy New Yorkers really love to sit around and congratulate themselves for being New Yorkers huh
Jokes aside, and aside from all the eye-rolling I did at the overweening New-York-Pride of it all (which is so over-the-top that I was astonished to discover that N.K. Jemisin isn't actually from there; no zealot like a convert, I guess) I really didn't enjoy this book. Jemisin says in her afterword that she nearly didn't finish this book, and compressed the planned trilogy into a duology, and it shows -- in fact, I feel like one can almost pinpoint the exact spot where she said "fuck it, I can't deal with writing another book of this" and dashed off a "climactic" final battle. Plot threads are resolved with lightning speed (or discarded entirely -- the first half of the book spends a huge amount of time on the avatar of Brooklyn deciding to run for mayor, and the book ends before the primary).
The basic premise ("cities have avatars, and the enemy is the city of R'lyeh") is great, but I've never quite gotten over how it's applied, with no US city having achieved critical mass to become a City until this present moment, except for New Orleans and Port-au-Prince (in order to cram-fit the real-world natural disasters that befell each city in the last 20 years into consequences of the Enemy opposing their transformation). Jemisin tries to justify it in New York's case as the city changing culturally too rapidly (and the present moment being the first time it's stayed pretty consistent for a few decade span at a time) and more broadly as the Enemy suppressing City formation in the Western Hemisphere, but that has never quite scanned for me. I can't speak to the cultural continuity of New York over its history, but surely someplace like Boston would have hit the criteria long ago -- of course, it would be anathema for Boston to achieve something before New York City, so it is never or barely mentioned here.
It's obvious that Jemisin has tried to hand-wave away that implausibility because New York City, at the present moment, is so important to her, but as someone who doesn't have that connection to NYC (been there, it's fun, The Strand is great, but the city is not incredibly special to me) I'm left a little out in the cold. Plus, as with Max Gladstone's No Exit, the absolute identification of Cosmic Evil with parochially American political and social problems feels like it will keep this book from aging well. (Maybe if the political aspects were a little less pervasive, but Jemisin has a LOT to cover, from the NYPD to gentrification to Trumpism to a truly bizarre sequence dunking on California Pizza Kitchen.)
Recommended only to people from New York (but not Staten Island, of course) who want to wallow in self-congratulatory New-Yorkness.
Jokes aside, and aside from all the eye-rolling I did at the overweening New-York-Pride of it all (which is so over-the-top that I was astonished to discover that N.K. Jemisin isn't actually from there; no zealot like a convert, I guess) I really didn't enjoy this book. Jemisin says in her afterword that she nearly didn't finish this book, and compressed the planned trilogy into a duology, and it shows -- in fact, I feel like one can almost pinpoint the exact spot where she said "fuck it, I can't deal with writing another book of this" and dashed off a "climactic" final battle. Plot threads are resolved with lightning speed (or discarded entirely -- the first half of the book spends a huge amount of time on the avatar of Brooklyn deciding to run for mayor, and the book ends before the primary).
The basic premise ("cities have avatars, and the enemy is the city of R'lyeh") is great, but I've never quite gotten over how it's applied, with no US city having achieved critical mass to become a City until this present moment, except for New Orleans and Port-au-Prince (in order to cram-fit the real-world natural disasters that befell each city in the last 20 years into consequences of the Enemy opposing their transformation). Jemisin tries to justify it in New York's case as the city changing culturally too rapidly (and the present moment being the first time it's stayed pretty consistent for a few decade span at a time) and more broadly as the Enemy suppressing City formation in the Western Hemisphere, but that has never quite scanned for me. I can't speak to the cultural continuity of New York over its history, but surely someplace like Boston would have hit the criteria long ago -- of course, it would be anathema for Boston to achieve something before New York City, so it is never or barely mentioned here.
It's obvious that Jemisin has tried to hand-wave away that implausibility because New York City, at the present moment, is so important to her, but as someone who doesn't have that connection to NYC (been there, it's fun, The Strand is great, but the city is not incredibly special to me) I'm left a little out in the cold. Plus, as with Max Gladstone's No Exit, the absolute identification of Cosmic Evil with parochially American political and social problems feels like it will keep this book from aging well. (Maybe if the political aspects were a little less pervasive, but Jemisin has a LOT to cover, from the NYPD to gentrification to Trumpism to a truly bizarre sequence dunking on California Pizza Kitchen.)
Recommended only to people from New York (but not Staten Island, of course) who want to wallow in self-congratulatory New-Yorkness.
pizzasprite's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25