#The City We Became

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2024: THE GREAT CITIES DUOLOGY by N. K. Jemisin.

#books #books of 2024 #the great cities duology #the city we became #the world we make #nk jemisin #book photography #my photography #i SO MUCH LOVE jemisin and i'm SO EXCITED to read these!! #fifth season was world changing for me (especially on the POV front) #i own everything she's written but unfortunately i started collecting them in paperback #and now i am Trapped In Paperback lol #so i had to wait a while for book 2 to come out in paperback #and i KNOW i annihilate her series so i wanted to have them all in hand when i started the first one #but yeah i preordered the first one and it's been sitting on my shelf ever since XD #the springboard here is kaiju preservation society started and ended in NYC and had eldritch sized monster creachers #this is ALSO NYC and eldritchy monsters lmao #*I've Connected The Dots* #i do like threading my TBR for some flow/continuity #(also as a weird aside: i need to read these soon because they have to fit on This Shelf of ~Read This Year~) #(because they're too tall to fit on the next shelf down of ~Read This Year~) #space is a little tight rn lmaooo

[awondrousway]

You’ve heard of “good boy” and “good girl.” Now get ready for the gender neutral version,

#nk jemisin #the city we became

[plantpages]

11:39am

visiting a friend and noticed that his pillows match the book that i’m currently reading

#booklr #book photography #books #reading #the world we make #my photos #mine #the city we became

[words-writ-in-starlight]

Hello, I came across your Kencyrath rec post and I am tentatively intruiged. That said I wanted to ask about a trigger before I dive in. Suicide is pretty strong trigger for me. I can handle it if it's mentioned, but detailed descriptions of the act or a lot of time spent in a suicidal character's head/thoughts dealing with suicidal ideation would not be. Is this an issue in the Chronicles of Kencyrath, and if it is, do you have a different recommendation?

Okay SO.

The Kencyrath exist in a honor/shame society, in which going against the code of honor (lying, breaking your word, etc) is considered a sin that can only be forgiven through an honorable death. Sometimes this takes the form of going into battle without the intention to come back, generally without armor, but it also takes the form of ritualized suicide with a specific kind of knife. I would call it a very specific kind of suicidal ideation, in which it doesn’t come so much from a depressive headspace as it does from a kind of rigidly religious one. There isn’t a ton of time spent in the heads of characters actively pursuing ritual suicide, nor what I would call traditional depressive suicidality, but it IS a very present element of the society, including people freely making choices with the understanding that they will be expected to take their own life afterward, or people being forced to take their own life as an alternative to being dishonored. Think samurai rules or Imperial Chinese rules and you’ll be in the right ballpark. Ultimately I can’t know the inside of your brain, but if onscreen suicide discussion or aftermath is a concern, I might table this series until you feel more ready for it.

In terms of alternative recommendations, buckle up, I have a list based on what part of the Kencyrath pitch you were into. These recommendations are made with the assumption that all the OTHER content warnings for the Kencyrath are not a problem, but I’ll note any really major ones and include a broad rating according to AO3 rules. Anything with an asterisk by it heavily features the big Chivalric Devotion vibes of the main Kencyrath dynamics. I read a lot of that.

Sprawling politics:

The Unbroken* (drafted soldier impresses daughter of the empress, they try to stop a war, full of double-crossing schemes and gallant ladies, cw colonialism, M for violence, sex, and extremely real colonialism)

The Captive Prince* (dethroned prince is sold into slavery under his mortal enemy, definitional enemies-to-lovers content, cw sexual assault, E for a very sexually relaxed culture in a bad way)

A Taste of Gold and Iron* (unambitious prince gets tangled up in a currency fraud scheme and gets a shiny new bodyguard, E for a very sexually relaxed culture in a good way)

October Daye series (starts out classic urban fantasy, rapidly becomes Blood Magic and Politics The Series, for those committed to a long series, T for violence)

Pulp fantasy adventure vibes:

Hero and the Crown/The Blue Sword* (classic sword and sorcery fantasy, for DnD lovers and people who read Horse Girl Books as kids, General Audiences)

Silver Under Nightfall* (vampire couple teams up with vampire hunter to cure a magical plague, the polyamorous murder romance you need in your life, cw coercive assault and body horror, E for gore and numerous threesomes)

Heaven Official’s Blessing***** (translated Chinese novel, very old fallen god returns to Heaven and Does His Best, for those committed to a LONG book, currently on volume 8, T for violence)

Witch King (body hopping demon tries to solve his own murder with his found family in tow, perfect standalone book, T for violence)

Spicy magic systems:

The City We Became/The World We Made (sentient cities and extra dimensional invaders, for everyone who read a lot of Avengers In NYC fic back in 2012, cw racism and survival sex work, M for sex)

Gideon the Ninth/The Locked Tomb series***** (everyone knows about this series, it’s the one with the lesbian space necromancers, cw for just the craziest flavors of abuse, M for violence and cannibalism I guess, also fits the below category)

The Gilded Ones* (what if all the misogynists who said women were demons were absolutely correct, and it was fucking rad, cw for SO much sexism and also religious indoctrination, T for violence)

A Soul to Keep* et al (okay oKAY LOOK THIS IS MONSTERFUCKER CONTENT BUT I RECOMMEND IT, local cursed woman gets forced to marry a demon, they argue a lot and the sex scenes are REAL bizarre, cw kidnapping and the second book deals with a character coming out of a severe depression, HARD E for monsterfucking, obviously)

Interpersonal relationships that are just SO fucked up:

A Dowry of Blood (a letter from Dracula’s first wife to the man himself, cw domestic abuse, M for adult themes and sex)

Remnants of Filth/Yuwu* (translated Chinese novel, loyal general becomes the jailer for his traitorous ex-lover, cw slavery and discussion of sexual assault, E for sex)

The Salt Grows Heavy (homicidal Little Mermaid and plague doctor wander through an apocalypse together, actually read everything Cassandra Khaw has ever touched, the absolute pinnacle of horror, cw all her stuff for really creative violence and body horror, M for violence and gore)

Anyway if you have any other book recommendation questions and/or you read any of these and enjoy them, hit me up, recommending books to people is genuinely one of my great joys in life.

#Kencyrath #book rec #chronicles of the Kencyrath #hooooo boy howdy let’s get into these tags huh #the unbroken #the captive prince #a taste of gold and iron #October daye #the blue sword #silver under nightfall #heaven official’s blessing #tgcf #witch king #the city we became #the locked tomb #Gideon the ninth #the gilded ones #a soul to keep #a dowry of blood #remnants of filth #Yuwu #the salt grows heavy #cassandra khaw #listen i fucking L O V E recommending books #i AM the person who will ask what you like about your favorite books and recommend five things off the top of my head #i flatter myself I’m quite good at it #oh the other cassandra khaw book i recommend is hammers on bone #which is about an elder god working a day job as a private investigator #and has the vibe of a magnus archives Meat Episode(TM) #but that one doesn’t really fit the kencyrath tone except a couple niche scenes in the master’s house and jame’s nightmares

[bastardcosmonaut]

She’s a 30 year old woman that’s never left Staten Island. She is Staten Island. She’s besties with an eldritch entity. She’s agoraphobic. She’d be a Karen if she ever stood up for herself. She can excuse racism, but she draws the line at not liking Wu Tang Clan. She’s everything <3

#the MOST femcel character ever created #NK jemisin is a genius #she’s so pathetic and I love her so much #the city we became #the world we make

[lt-catbolt]

i've been silent too long, have some schoolwork

#atlantis #pompeii #digital art #the city we became

[nkjemisin]

Hi! I just finished The City We Became, and I want to say thank you for writing it. I never liked NYC, and even though I'm aware my experiences aren't universal, I couldn't help but internally roll my eyes whenever someone talked about how much they love the city. But I get it now! My experience with New York is still my own, but you've given me a perspective about it I can actually internalise. I want to say more about how much I love your writing, but fuck me if I can find the right words. So anyway, thanks!

Thank you!

Honestly, considering how often the media stereotypes New York as this horrifying, dangerous, disaster-prone den of iniquity, and how many politicians vilify us as a scapegoat for Everything Wrong With Cities, I think it's pretty common for outsiders to hate NYC sight-unseen! We're used to it. But that's part of why I wrote the story the way I did -- centering it on my New York (plus a little extra magic, but not as much as you might imagine) instead of whatever version of New York that lives rent-free in people's heads. Glad you liked it!

#the great cities #the city we became #answered asks

[makethosenarratorsfight]

UNRELIABLE NARRATORS; SIDE D

Aislyn Propaganda:

i don't know how to put this lightly but. she's very. well. bigoted and it reflects in her narration, and while every other narrator in the book considers her the villian, she narrates herself to be the hero

Marvin propaganda:

this bitch is crazy you can't trust a thing she says!!!! but um seriously he is neurotic and while recounting his childhood everything is wack and doesn't make sense and ummm. Idk the man lies he withholds information (such as names of main characters he deems unworthy or important details) he makes he presents his fantasies like actual canon events (how marvin eats his breakfast, rape of ms goldberg) he tries to convince himself and therefore us that he's straight ummm he's just a little freak and an attention whore and a liar and a fugly slut and i love him. Heart

#aislyn #the city we became #marvin #in trousers #falsettos #unreliable narrator battle #unreliable narrators #polls #side d

[downtowonderland]

the extradimensional eldritch abomination can have a little gender. as a treat.

#the city we became #the world we make #n.k. jemisin

[keplerspacecraftofficial]

sometimes a family is an indigenous lesbian professor who beat up an informant at stonewall, an anxious indian math whiz who occasionally breaks the law(s of physics), a guy with a twenty in charisma and skeletons in the closet, a local politician who nukes a bajillion interdimensional spiders with some sick bars, and the embodiment of the full city of new york

#not featured (affectionate): #wannabe private eye who gets a stat buff from smoke and desserts #and the guy who is his partner. up for interpretation #not included (derogatory): thirty year old virgin #the city we became #thoughts from the stars #great cities

[bemtevis]

worst thing this book did was introducing a really interesting character I am sooooo invested in in the first two chapters then not going back to him in 130+ pages

#WHERE IS HE!!! #NEW YORK OR WHATEVER HIS NAME IS #the city we became #nathan reads

[bread--quest]

[ID: Three digital drawings of the characters Padmini, Manny, and Veneza, from N. K. Jemisin's Great Cities series. All three are very simple, lineless drawings of the head of the character. Padmini is a woman with brown skin and long, darker brown hair, and she is smiling slightly while looking off to one side. She is drawn against a blue background. Manny is a man with light brown skin and short, curly light brown hair, who is looking away with a neutral, unamused expression. He is drawn against a dark green background. Veneza is a girl with dark brown skin and curly dark brown hair in two buns, and she is grinning confidently at the camera. She is drawn against an orange background. All three have skylines drawn around the top of their heads in glowing white lines; the Queens skyline for Padmini, the Manhattan skyline for Manny, and the Jersey City skyline for Veneza. End ID.]

tcwb fans today i bring you: skyline halos. tomorrow? who knows....

#i had to redraw this like 3 times bc they kept coming out horribly crunched :( #sondart #wow look something original!! #great cities #the city we became #fan: restless city #nyc: manny #nyc: padmini #nyc: veneza #sorry i didnt do the others yet ghdhshsn these 3 are my special favorites so i did them first #might do the others later. perhpas. #not sure what neek's would look like... #also shout out to the silhouettes of the queens/manhattan/jc skylines i referenced. no idea why they existed but im glad they did

[centersy]

Manny: Neek is playing hard to get…

Manny: But it’s okay. Good thing I’m really hard to get rid of.

Neek (later in confessional): I’m only playing hard to get because pretty boy likes a challenge. He thinks he’s seducing me, but I’m seducing him.

#manny x neek #nyc avatars #the city we became #the world we make #great cities #n.k. jemisin #nk jemisin #booklr

[sentientcitysmackdown]

ROUND 1, MATCHUP 3

[ID: The cover of The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin next to an image of Mechanicsburg from the webcomic Girl Genius, with the letters "VS." between them. End ID.]

An exciting round to be sure! Mechanicsburg is technically a city controlled by a sentient castle, but I decided it counts. It's also controlled by a homicidal AI and filled with mad scientists, but its citizens love it anyway. The City We Became takes place in a world where cities are a thing that can become alive and choose human avatars to personify them, and New York City does just that! It's personified in one person (Neek) and then 5--no, sorry, 6 more people for its 5 boroughs (Brooklyn, Bronca, Manny, Padmini, Aislyn, and Veneza), and it continues to be the glorious, horrible, all-too-much all-the-time mess of a city it always has been. The person who submitted Mechanicsburg described it as "a weird and chaotic symbiosis that has so much collateral damage, but somehow it all works", which is also a pretty spot-on description of NYC as seen in The City We Became! However, only one of these two weird and chaotic symbiotic cities can continue on...who will it be?

#new york city #the city we became #mechanicsburg #girl genius #the world we make #im a little biased on this one. not gonna lie #girl genius does look really good though i might try and get into it #sentient city smackdown #round 1 #READ GREAT CITIES YALL #if you are following this poll i GUARANTEE its your thing

[aspeccharactersoftheday]

Padmini from Great Cities is asexual!

#padmini #great cities #the city we became #canon aspec #asexual

[number1iowan]

Semifinals Match 2

N. K. Jemisin is a hugely decorated science fiction author, known for being the first author to win the Hugo Award for best novel three years in a row. Her current series, The City We Became, features personifications of cities, but she was 37 in 2009, well out of the target demo, so it probably wasn't inspired by that anime.

They're hard of hearing, they wear colors on the red-purple spectrum and they're teaming up to take down the competition! After tying in the last round, Red vs. Blue's Donut and Marvel Comic's Hawkeye are now a team up for the ages! With their powers combined, maybe they can take down Kirk.

#n.k. jemisin #nk jemisin #the city we became #franklin delano donut #donut rvb #clint barton #hawkeye #rvb #red vs blue