The City We Became is a 2020 urban fantasy novel by N. K. Jemisin. It was developed from her short story "The City Born Great," first published in her collection How Long 'til Black Future Month? It is her first novel since her triple Hugo Award-winning Broken Earth series and the first in her Great Cities series, followed by The World We Make due to be released in November 2022
New York comes alive, through six human avatars, but something in the multiverse isn't happy. Explosively creative & often funny. Shares a deep love for the city & its people. Clever use of identity politics and gentrification.
Content warning Spoilers
A unique fantasy story of struggle against an eldritch horror by the diverse "avatars" of New York City as the city is "born" as a sentient entity. The enemy is an alien intelligence, so alien that it comes from another dimension and can't really be contemplated due to its "wrongness." Its manifestation in this world is simply: whiteness. It's a parasitic, devious, violent, very white entity who claims if it doesn't destroy this world, its own world will die. I was ok with being hit over the head with the symbolism, since sometimes I miss subtle stuff. It's been said this book is about gentrification...it seemed to me it's also about white colonization. An otherwise three-star story but I'm giving four stars for its unique ideas & world building.
