Reviews tagging 'Islamophobia'

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

21 reviews

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

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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. 
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marissasa's review against another edition

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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.
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skudiklier's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

4.5

By the end of this book I really enjoyed it! For a while there it felt a little too slow and repetitive, and like I just didn't appreciate it enough because I don't know NYC at all. But it was definitely interesting and engaging overall and I'm glad I read it. I love the idea here. 
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its_van_vulpen's review against another edition

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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

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chalkletters's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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? No

3.0

I’ve heard a huge amount about N K Jemisin, so I was interested to finally read some of her writing. ‘What if cities were personified as people’ was intriguing, but didn’t give much of an idea what the plot was going to be, so I really didn’t know what to expect. 

I hadn’t realised that the city-people would have been normal people first, which was a really unexpected spin on things. I enjoyed reading about Padmini and Bronca and Brooklyn and Aislyn because they all had normal people lives, they didn’t just come into being as personification of New York’s four boroughs. Character is always the most important part of any book for me, and these characters felt alive and vibrant, even the ones who were standing in the way of what the others wanted to achieve. 

That said, the actual plot wasn’t really my cup of tea. I wasn’t expecting a multi-dimensional war, or Lovecraftian horrors, and neither is something I particularly look for in a book. I did enjoy the characters coming to work together, figuring out how to get to their goal, but the antagonist and the stakes were a little bigger and higher than I could appreciate. 

I enjoyed reading The City We Became, and it certainly made me think about things, so I’m looking forward to book club’s discussion. But I don’t know that I’ll seek out more books by N K Jemisin unless I encounter something where the premise seems more up my alley.
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troisha's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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aardwyrm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

I've never not loved a Jemisin book, but this is a new height of craft for her. I've been to New York all of once, but you still feel the place in your bones even as a despised tourist. The ramping of tension, the unfolding of worldbuilding, and the balance of fright are all masterful.
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zombiezami's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny informative tense slow-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

This book was really inventive and interesting. I read the short story that formed the base of this novel, and I like the way it was expanded. I have never read a book with a Lenape character, and  it is so important that one was included. This was beautifully diverse and funny overall.

It was also super intense. The white supremacist groups and individuals mobilized by the enemy hit very close to home. I also observe that the book was clearly in conversation with Lovecraft. The ending was
definitely a deus ex machina, but I still liked it. I just hope there isn’t a contingent trying to have a redemption arc for Aislyn but I mean cmon there probably is one isn’t there.
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katie_the_librarian's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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librarianmage's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective tense fast-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Thank you N.K. Jemisin for this at-times-painful-yet-ultimately-cathartic ride.
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