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terramythos · 4 years

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TerraMythos' 2020 Reading Challenge - Book 10 of 26

Title: The City We Became (Great Cities #1) (2020)

Author: N. K. Jemisin

Genre/Tags: Urban Fantasy, Cosmic Horror, Weird, First-Person, Third-Person, Female Protagonists, LGBT Protagonists

Rating: 9/10

Date Began: 3/25/2020

Date Finished: 4/05/2020

Given enough time, population, and cultural impact, cities become sentient, living creatures. São Paulo, Lagos, Paris, Cairo, Hong Kong, and London have all made the plunge. New York City is next; there’s just one problem. At his moment of rebirth, the human avatar of New York is attacked by an ancient eldritch abomination known simply as The Enemy.

Now greatly weakened, his only hope lies with the avatars of the city’s five boroughs -- Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. These five strangers must find each other in order to save New York City himself, all while grappling with new powers and the constant threat of The Enemy. But their ancient adversary has adopted new, insidious ways to destroy nascent cities, which will take everything they have to overcome.

It makes Manny ache, suddenly, to feel the same wholeness all over the city. Shouldn’t everyone here have this? He’s been here only a day, and already he’s met so many vividly interesting people, seen such beautiful strangeness. He wants to protect a city that produces such experiences. He wants to help it grow stronger. He wants to stand at its side, and be true.

Anyone who’s spoken to me about books for more than ten minutes knows The Broken Earth trilogy rocked my world (hah) and utterly changed my perspective on what fantasy and science fiction can be. The Fifth Season in particular is a qualifier for “best book I’ve ever read”. So I was stoked to read something new by N. K. Jemisin. The City We Became is certainly different, being contemporary, set in a real place, and a totally different genre, but I really enjoyed it nevertheless.

Like any good cosmic horror, The City We Became offers both direct and indirect middle fingers to Lovecraft, and explores the genre in new and interesting ways. The true horror here isn’t just fear of the unknowable (although there’s some of that)-- it’s a conglomeration of issues heralded by modern white supremacy. Gentrification? The so-called “alt-right”? Cops? Casual racism, sexism, and homophobia? These are the cosmic horror mechanisms throughout the story, and Jemisin pulls no punches in exploring this idea. It’s no subtle coincidence that the tentacular eldritch constructs in the story are an eerie white, or that the creepy human avatar of The Enemy is simply known as The Woman in White, and so on. Honestly I can’t think of a much better “fuck you” to Lovecraft’s racist and prejudiced bullshit than how this book handles cosmic horror. I’m glad that Jemisin makes it blatant.

That being said, The City We Became isn’t a complete subversion of the genre. There’s still plenty of creepy, otherworldly content, and I found The Woman in White very disconcerting whenever her mask slips and her true eldritch nature becomes more prominent. Beyond white supremacy there’s something oddly technological about the eldritch horror here, and I’m eager to see where it goes. There is also an interesting twist regarding The Enemy that caught me completely off guard. I really can’t say more since it’s a Major Spoiler, but it’s very good and connects directly to Jemisin’s approach to the cosmic horror genre.

A strong point of this novel is its diverse and interesting ensemble cast. Manny and Bronca were my favorites. Manny (unlike the others) has lost his memory, and every hint we get about his past is... disturbing, to say the least. I assume future volumes will expand on this, but he is characterized as such a charming and pleasant guy that the sinister undercurrent about him is fascinating. Bronca is a Lenape Indian and veteran of Stonewall, so I was going to like her no-bullshit attitude from the start. There’s a ton of queer content in general, which is always a bonus for me. Jemisin's writing style heavily emphasizes character voice and personality. Each of the perspective characters is wildly different, with varied thoughts, relationships, and views of the world, and she makes each of them feel alive and distinct.

One criticism I have for the ensemble cast is, while some of the boroughs get a lot of characterization, others feel less developed overall. Manny (Manhattan), Bronca (the Bronx), and Aislyn (Staten Island) get a lot of screentime, but by comparison Brooklyn (...Brooklyn) and Padmini (Queens) don’t get much of a starring role outside of one-off chapters. I can only assume they will have a bigger role in future installments. They aren’t totally bereft, but much of what we learn about them comes from other characters. I also really want to see more of New York City himself -- I think he’s my favorite? -- but he has a pretty limited role in this book. This makes sense considering the plot, but I hope we see a lot more of him later.

If I had to nitpick something else, it’s that The City We Became feels very... setup-y? Yes, there’s a central, time-sensitive conflict, and it follows a standard story structure, but most of the book’s focus is establishing the premise, the ensemble cast, and the overarching antagonist. To me the story itself just doesn’t feel as important. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, assuming the next book has a stronger emphasis on plot. But in The City We Became, the climax is largely off-screen, which is pretty odd.

Overall, though, I really, really enjoyed this book. Jemisin’s writing just blows me away every time, and I found myself constantly marking interesting passages, themes, ideas, and lines which I’m almost positive are foreshadowing. I can tell a lot of the content in this book is setting up a long con, much like The Broken Earth, and I’m eager to see where it goes. Jemisin has established a great foundation for the next books in this series, and for me they can’t come soon enough.

#taylor reads #2020 reading challenge #9/10

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