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A review by sreddous
The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
tense
medium-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
4.75
The thing that kept book 1 of this series from deserving 5 stars, IMO, is this America-centrism that I think doesn't make a ton of sense -- the framing implies that only New York is a city special enough to have separate avatars for its different sections, and that other cities like London, and I quote, "ate... the things that made [other neighborhoods] an aspect of London... the city latched wholly onto [her and her] alone."
To me, that 'nah, different areas of other cities aren't actually too different from each other, only New York is that diverse' framing feels like the kind of thing someone who doesn't live in/understand the other cities would say, instead of a legitimate comment on how other cities operate. This 'nah other cities are one unit' is probably the same kind of thing someone who doesn't live in/understand New York would say about all the separate boroughs of NYC too. Honestly, it feels like bad research.
So that's an aspect of the worldbuilding that continued to annoy me in this book. But I complained enough in my review for book 1, so I was able to just deal with it in this book.
Because, boy, overall, this is darn good. It's uncomfortable and challenging exactly when it needs to be. It's detail-oriented on the granular ways different people from these different neighborhoods communicate and problem-solve. Even the slower character-focused and introspective chapters are full of wisdom and good moral dilemmas. I'm personally a huge fan, as a reader, of characters mulling over their moral problems, and it was super cool to see that here, with pretty much every POV character getting a good hard-hitting chapter.
This is an 'easy-to-get-into-flow-with' writing style too. The dialogue is natural and all the different characters' voices and the ways they interact with each other are distinct and fun. I liked meeting all the different cities in this book -- characters like Paris are fun, and the final battle with the group is satisfying and well-built-up to.
Really cool stuff!
To me, that 'nah, different areas of other cities aren't actually too different from each other, only New York is that diverse' framing feels like the kind of thing someone who doesn't live in/understand the other cities would say, instead of a legitimate comment on how other cities operate. This 'nah other cities are one unit' is probably the same kind of thing someone who doesn't live in/understand New York would say about all the separate boroughs of NYC too. Honestly, it feels like bad research.
So that's an aspect of the worldbuilding that continued to annoy me in this book. But I complained enough in my review for book 1, so I was able to just deal with it in this book.
Because, boy, overall, this is darn good. It's uncomfortable and challenging exactly when it needs to be. It's detail-oriented on the granular ways different people from these different neighborhoods communicate and problem-solve. Even the slower character-focused and introspective chapters are full of wisdom and good moral dilemmas. I'm personally a huge fan, as a reader, of characters mulling over their moral problems, and it was super cool to see that here, with pretty much every POV character getting a good hard-hitting chapter.
This is an 'easy-to-get-into-flow-with' writing style too. The dialogue is natural and all the different characters' voices and the ways they interact with each other are distinct and fun. I liked meeting all the different cities in this book -- characters like Paris are fun, and the final battle with the group is satisfying and well-built-up to.
Really cool stuff!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs and Transphobia