Description
Product Description
An instant NYT Bestseller!Four-time Hugo Award-winning author N.K. Jemisin crafts her most incredible novel yet, a crackling tale of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City. "A glorious fantasy." —Neil Gaiman
In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember who he is, where he's from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history, and feel its power.
In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it's as if the paint is literally calling to her.
In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels.
And they're not the only ones.
Every great city has a soul. Some are ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York? She's got six.
One of TIME Magazine's 100 Best Fantasy Books of all timeOne of TIME Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2020One of Vanity Fair's 15 Best Books of 2020One of Amazon's Best Books of 2020
For more from N. K. Jemisin, check out:
The Inheritance Trilogy
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
The Broken Kingdoms
The Kingdom of Gods
The Inheritance Trilogy (omnibus edition)
Shades in Shadow: An Inheritance Triptych (e-only short fiction)
The Awakened Kingdom (e-only novella)
Dreamblood Duology
The Killing Moon
The Shadowed Sun
The Dreamblood Duology (omnibus)
The Broken Earth
The Fifth Season
The Obelisk Gate
The Stone Sky
How Long 'til Black Future Month? (short story collection)
Amazon.com Review
N. K. Jemisin brings her reality-ripping storytelling skills to her own backyard of New York City in this vivid series starter. In
The City We Became, few people realize that Earth’s grandest cities—London, Hong Kong, São Paolo, and others—are alive. When New York City tries to join that select group, five people in the city unexpectedly become the living embodiments of each of the city’s five boroughs. Unfortunately, the first thing they learn is that the newborn city is under attack from a very ancient enemy that has successfully killed cities before, and now the five New Yorkers are targets as well. More fortunately, the city’s avatars soon discover that with great responsibility comes great powers. Paranormal battles on top of cabs, hidden subway stations, New York City politics, and local artists’ galleries thread through each other in a live-wire love letter to the city and its diverse denizens. While Jemisin has won awards with her previous novels, this one may be the most likely to win readers’ hearts as well.
—Adrian Liang, Amazon Book Review
Review
"It's a glorious fantasy, set in that most imaginary of cities, New York. It's inclusive in all the best ways, and manages to contain both Borges and Lovecraft in its fabric, but the unique voice and viewpoint are Jemisin's alone."―
Neil Gaiman
"The City We Became takes a broad-shouldered stand on the side of sanctuary, family and love. It's a joyful shout, a reclamation and a call to arms."―
The New York Times
"Jemisin is now a pillar of speculative fiction, breathtakingly imaginative and narratively bold."―
Entertainment Weekly
"A love letter, a celebration and an expression of hope and belief that a city and its people can and will stand up to darkness, will stand up to fear, and will, when called to, stand up for each other."
―
NPR
"The City We Became is a raucous delight, a joyride, a call-to-arms, a revolution with plenty of dancing. Eat your heart out, Lovecraft."―
Alix E. Harrow, author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January
"Some of the most exciting and powerful fantasy writing of today... Jemisin's latest will attract ... even those who don't typically read genre fiction."―
Booklist (starred review)
"The most important speculative writer of her generation...She's that good."―
John Scalzi