The City We Became (The Great Cities Trilogy #1)

Black History Month

Staff recommendations, guest essays, and curated reading lists.

One of the most fascinating things about N. K. Jemisin is her impeccable talent to take old tropes and breathe fresh life into their form, and The City We Became is no different. Sure, The City We Became is at its core a familiar story — New York City faces impending doom and must rely on supernatural powers to defeat it. But, in true Jemisin fashion, this premise is only the beginning. Showcasing a diverse cast of unforgettable characters, Jemisin has written a novel about NYC's durability against all odds — a message pertinent to these trying times. Recommended By Alex Y., Powells.com

I love N. K. Jemisin's books, I love New York City, and I love this book about the soul and personification of New York. The City We Became might just be my favorite book to be published in 2020. Tension, humor, great characters, with a guest appearance near and dear to me from Jersey City. I also got a little Wrinkle in Time vibe. This book is apparently the beginning of a trilogy, but it is completely satisfying as a standalone novel. Read it and be happy. Recommended By Doug C., Powells.com

Five New Yorkers must come together to defend their city from an ancient evil in this stunning new novel by Hugo Award-winner and NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin.

Every great city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She’s got six.

But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs in the halls of power, threatening to destroy the city and her six newborn avatars unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.

"It's a glorious fantasy....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 is a wonderfully inventive love letter to New York City that spans the multiverse. A big middle finger to Lovercraft with a lot of heart, creativity, smarts and humor. A timely and audacious allegorical tale for our times. This book is all these things and more." Rebecca Roanhorse, author of Trail of Lightning

"The most important speculative writer of her generation...She's that good." John Scalzi

"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

"The greatest fantasy novelist currently writing turns her magnificent eye and ear and heart on New York City, and the result is every bit as full of love and rage and crazy compelling characters as my beloved city deserves." Sam J. Miller, Nebula-Award-Winning author of Blackfish City

"Without a doubt, one of the most brilliant books I have ever had the honor of reading. An homage to New York City, packed with all its love and harshness, and so incredibly inventive that I felt my own imagination and the boundaries of what fantasy can be expand." S. A. Chakraborty, author of City of Brass

"The City We Became is a masterpiece that plays by no rules — beautiful, musical, joyfully weird, and as impossibly fantastical as it is deeply true." Peng Shepherd, author of The Book of M

"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

N. K. Jemisin is the first author in the genre’s history to win three consecutive Best Novel Hugo Awards, all for her Broken Earth trilogy. Her work has also won the Nebula, Locus, and Goodreads Choice Awards. She was a reviewer for The New York Times Book Review, and she has been an instructor for the Clarion and Clarion West writing workshops. In her spare time she is a gamer and gardener, and she is also single-handedly responsible for saving the world from KING Ozzymandias, her dangerously intelligent ginger cat, and his phenomenally destructive sidekick Magpie.

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