Scan barcode
martinatan's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I was intrigued by the premise but the execution was not entirely satisfying. I was mainly surprised by the conclusion of this book (the first of an upcoming trilogy), but it didn’t really delight me—I thought it was mildly clever.
I could sense a lot of research and creative license went into writing this, and the concept must make it hard to really flesh out the characters, but ultimately the writing voice rubbed me the wrong way with almost all of the characterizations. Especially when trying to speak to some very particular identities, I felt the author was not handling every characters’ background to the degree of sensitivity that I hoped for. There were many times that the description of East Asian characters, especially, fell short of what I feel is a culturally nuanced understanding of being from East Asian. That’s all I really can articulate about it for now, but ultimately there was a buildup of instances throughout the novel that gave me an overarching feeling of distrust in the author’s ability to inhabit characters of other cultures.
Also, I felt really unbalanced by the amount of “screen time” given to each character, as some did not get many POV chapters and it left me hyperfocused on why. Even if they get more focus in future installments, I wish they had all been developed to the same degrees in the first. Additionally, the ordering and pacing of how information is revealed felt really off to me, there were times where even how a scene was established rattled my immersion in the characters’ point of view.
Slight ramble ahead. On the premise itself, what I started labeling it in my head early on wasweird fanfic about New York City. I’ve lived near and visited New York my whole life, and only after reading this did I realize I don’t really need “New York fanfic” in my life. Sure it’s an homage and all, but I don’t know that I can get behind the metaphor for white supremacy and colonization being a literal extraterrestrial entity. Maybe it’s because I feel sensitive to this subject, and I had hoped it might be somewhat cathartic to see it play out in a fantasy setting, but after reading this I want to say say that it actually feels kind of disrespectful to people facing actual prejudice, displacement, and hate crimes. Like when the Enemy is vanquished, the implication of how this book ends is that this alien source of white supremacy and therefore the magnitude of injustice in the world is significantly diminished. I just can’t vibe with that after all. Or maybe this is the point, for me to get uncomfortable about how racism and gentrification are still out there. Idk, it just ended up too far removed from a productive or interesting take on society that I would have appreciated.
Anyway. Being someone from New Jersey who has lived close to New York City all my life, perhaps a contemporary fantasy story with this setting wasn’t the right book for me to pick up. Even though I’ve enjoyed the Broken earth trilogy in the past. Hard for me to say!
I can say overall this is somewhat worth reading if you want to explore the base concept of living cities a little, but because of the reasons above, I ultimately didn’t get too much pleasure or satisfaction out of the story.
I could sense a lot of research and creative license went into writing this, and the concept must make it hard to really flesh out the characters, but ultimately the writing voice rubbed me the wrong way with almost all of the characterizations. Especially when
Also, I felt really unbalanced by the amount of “screen time” given to each character, as some did not get many POV chapters and it left me hyperfocused on why. Even if they get more focus in future installments, I wish they had all been developed to the same degrees in the first. Additionally, the ordering and pacing of how information is revealed felt really off to me, there were times where even how a scene was established rattled my immersion in the characters’ point of view.
Slight ramble ahead. On the premise itself, what I started labeling it in my head early on was
Anyway. Being someone from New Jersey who has lived close to New York City all my life, perhaps a contemporary fantasy story with this setting wasn’t the right book for me to pick up. Even though I’ve enjoyed the Broken earth trilogy in the past. Hard for me to say!
I can say overall this is somewhat worth reading if you want to explore the base concept of living cities a little, but because of the reasons above, I ultimately didn’t get too much pleasure or satisfaction out of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Transphobia, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Abortion, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and War
kirstenf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, and Police brutality
Moderate: Ableism, Lesbophobia, and Colonisation
Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Alcohol
blewballoon's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I read this with a couple friends as a sort of impromptu mini book club. I would recommend it for a book club as there are a lot of interesting concepts in terms of the fantasy and social commentary. As one of my friends put it, this book definitely goes by the idea that "subtlety is for cowards" and most of the social commentary is completely overt. Our group was mixed in how much they liked how heavy handed it was. Some found it refreshing, others found it broke immersion in the story. One of the characters, to me, was especially unbearable and I would groan when I got to her chapters. The fantasy aspect of the human avatars of cities was amazing and I loved the concept of using constructs to channel their power.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, and Abortion
readwithria's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
This book was 👏🏻 not 👏🏻 the 👏🏻 vibe 👏🏻
I have a few complaints that I can voice, and many that I can’t. Here’s my “I just finished this fucking book” review.
1. I don’t like Lovecraftian horror. That’s not the book’s fault
2. There are too many POV characters for a 435 page book, and while they (mostly) have distinct voices they don’t have actual personality traits because they’re the personification of places
3. What exactly is the plot? The characters don’t know what they’re doing for 75% of the book
4. Aislyn, even as an Americanization of Aislin, would not be pronounced anything like island. It’s ASH-lyn. Ais makes an ash sound in Gaelic.
5. Speaking of Aislyn, she’s so stupid. This woman is not in her 30s, there’s absolutely no way. She doesn’t feel like a complete adult (or a complete person)
6. There are some, I don’t know exactly what to call the parenthetical but maybe asides is the right word? Anyway there are asides in this book that made me really dislike the writing style. I also don’t like how vague the writing is. I think this book would have benefitted from being in third person instead of first person.
Okay, now on to the couple of things I did like. I really liked Aislyn’s mom. I think she was one of the most compelling characters in the whole book. Give me a piece of literary fiction about that entire family and I’d be happy. I also liked Veneza a lot, she was great.
Note: the characters I like are all secondary characters. I have exactly no thoughts about most of the boroughs. Bronca is fine though.
Anyway, I will not be reading the sequel. I will, however, be reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms later this month.
I have a few complaints that I can voice, and many that I can’t. Here’s my “I just finished this fucking book” review.
1. I don’t like Lovecraftian horror. That’s not the book’s fault
2. There are too many POV characters for a 435 page book, and while they (mostly) have distinct voices they don’t have actual personality traits because they’re the personification of places
3. What exactly is the plot? The characters don’t know what they’re doing for 75% of the book
4. Aislyn, even as an Americanization of Aislin, would not be pronounced anything like island. It’s ASH-lyn. Ais makes an ash sound in Gaelic.
5. Speaking of Aislyn, she’s so stupid. This woman is not in her 30s, there’s absolutely no way. She doesn’t feel like a complete adult (or a complete person)
6. There are some, I don’t know exactly what to call the parenthetical but maybe asides is the right word? Anyway there are asides in this book that made me really dislike the writing style. I also don’t like how vague the writing is. I think this book would have benefitted from being in third person instead of first person.
Okay, now on to the couple of things I did like. I really liked Aislyn’s mom. I think she was one of the most compelling characters in the whole book. Give me a piece of literary fiction about that entire family and I’d be happy. I also liked Veneza a lot, she was great.
Note: the characters I like are all secondary characters. I have exactly no thoughts about most of the boroughs. Bronca is fine though.
Anyway, I will not be reading the sequel. I will, however, be reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms later this month.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism
Moderate: Rape, Antisemitism, and Sexual harassment
voxelbee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, and Classism
Minor: Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Transphobia, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
laurenkimoto's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
As per usual some disjointed thoughts about this book
- Amazing cover: the matte city scape with the shiny tentacles and colour detailing ties in so nicely to the story *chef kiss* The person who designed the cover deserves an award
- Chapter titles really should make a comeback
- We love some reluctant heroes who really just want to say to hell with saving the world just let me live my life in peace
- I am a fool I did not realize this was part of a series and now I’m sitting here waiting for the next book :(
- The petty book hill I will die on is that short chapters are superior to long chapters
- This is different than other fantasy books partially because it’s urban fantasy but also because the first half of the book the characters don’t know what’s going on so you don’t know what’s going on. Jemisin doesn’t info dump or use a naive character at the start to explain this world but rather you learn as the characters learn which I find is a fresh take.
- This book has the most diverse set of characters I have ever come across and it does so without any “token” characters because their identity and diversity is tied in to who/what they are. With this comes addressing so many timely and everlasting issues and Jemisin does so without sacrificing plot, pacing or anything else.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
marissasa's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This wasn't a book I think I'd pick up on my own but I'm glad I did for the Read in Color Book Club's February pick and stepped out of my usual reading genres. I genuinely enjoyed the weirdness and creativity of the concept of cities in the world personified, despite the story being a little slow at the start. Once we got a look into each character and their personalities I started to enjoy the book and felt compelled to know what would happen once they all came together. I love "found family" tropes, especially ones where the characters have to work to trust each other and build relationships. It was also great to see a diverse range of protagonists not just in ethnicity, but sexuality, age, and general walk of life too. The enemy in this narrative is so fascinating that it can be so foreign and alien-like yet also all too familiar in the way it uses white-supremacist and colonizer language as weapons. Overall I'm intrigued and curious to see what happens in the next installments of the series, especially when the scope gets wider and we learn more about the summit what effects a city's birth or downfall have on the rest of the world. Also, the audiobook played a huge part in my enjoyment of this one and I don't think I would have been as immersed in the story without it. The narrators were great and did a lot for the overall characterizations of the main cast, as well as great world building with the sound effects and editing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Cancer, Drug abuse, and Drug use
chelseareads's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
Minor: Emotional abuse, Rape, Police brutality, and Abortion
sabrinz's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
For everyone who knows Rivers of London the concept will be familiar - and yet this story is different enough from Rivers to not feel like just another version of the same coin.
I loved the concept of cities waking up and creating an avatar through the people living, working, dreaming, being in the city and all the tourists coming and going (and leaving a little somthing of them behind).
The story never gets boring and with the different characters taking center-stage for different chapters you never feel like one of them comes too short.
I am very much intreagued by the other cities and how this trilogy will continue. It is a love letter to New York that also shows the bad sides and the past that this city is built on and influenced by.
I loved the concept of cities waking up and creating an avatar through the people living, working, dreaming, being in the city and all the tourists coming and going (and leaving a little somthing of them behind).
The story never gets boring and with the different characters taking center-stage for different chapters you never feel like one of them comes too short.
I am very much intreagued by the other cities and how this trilogy will continue. It is a love letter to New York that also shows the bad sides and the past that this city is built on and influenced by.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Racism
Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Sexual harassment
its_van_vulpen's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Murder
Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Genocide, Abortion, Alcohol, and Colonisation