Dec 13

Dec 13 The World We Make (Great Cities, #2)

Author: N.K. Jemisin
Publisher: Orbit
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

***Description is a spoiler for The City We Became***

Three-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin crafts "a glorious fantasy" (Neil Gaiman) — a story of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City, in the final book of the Great Cities Duology.

Every great city has a soul. A human avatar that embodies their city's heart and wields its magic. New York? She's got six.

But all is not well in the city that never sleeps. Though Brooklyn, Manny, Bronca, Venezia, Padmini, and Neek have temporarily managed to stop the Woman in White from invading--and destroying the entire universe in the process--the mysterious capital "E" Enemy has more subtle powers at her disposal. A new candidate for mayor wielding the populist rhetoric of gentrification, xenophobia, and "law and order" may have what it takes to change the very nature of New York itself and take it down from the inside. In order to defeat him, and the Enemy who holds his purse strings, the avatars will have to join together with the other Great Cities of the world in order to bring her down for good and protect their world from complete destruction.

TL;DR Review

The World We Make is not as strong as The City We Became, IMO, but it was still fun and smart and definitely worth reading.

For you if: You have ever lived in NYC.

Full Review

The World We Make is the much-anticipated follow-up to N.K. Jemisin’s The City We Became, which tells the story of New York City’s essence coming to life in human avatars as they battle an opposing force intent on preventing the city’s birth. I really loved TCWB — especially as someone living in Jersey City (IYKYK) — and liked TWWM, although not as much as the first one.

The good stuff: A lot! Jemisin is clever and funny and so smart. I loved spending more time with these hilarious, big-hearted characters. And she just really knows how to write an exciting, engaging story.

The neutral: TWWM goes much deeper into the sci-fi part of the story, whereas the first book concentrated more on personifying NYC and each of its boroughs — this duology is an homage and critique of Lovecraftian sci-fi in a super smart way. I am afraid it might lose steam for some of TCWB’s readers who don’t do as much sci-fi, but it’s absolutely worth a shot.

The less-than-stellar part was that the ending did feel rushed and not as surprising as I would have expected from Jemisin. The reason is pretty clearly laid out in her acknowledgments: She started this series, originally planned as a trilogy, before COVID and Trump. Those things changed us, and changed NYC, while she was in the middle of the project. It took all of her emotional labor just to give the story an ending — and as a reader, you can feel it.

Still, I really enjoyed this duology and I think it’s 100% worth reading, especially if you’re from or have ever lived in NYC!