Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

32 reviews

maryellen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0


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caseybones's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

Hopefully this is the first in a new trilogy or duology and not a one-off – there’s so much about this universe I want to know. And from the perspective of a fourth-generation Brooklyn native, this book was PERFECT. No notes. 

I’m not even mad that
Jersey City ends up being an honorary borough,
and of course
the Staten Island avatar is the betrayer;
how could the product of that environment be anything else? 

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brekaboujie's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? No

3.75

I'd like to rate this book higher than I have, because I'm pretty sure I should have enjoyed it more than I did. 
The premise is such an interesting idea (though I didn't realise the title wasn't a metaphor for a little while. That's on me) and the way it was written was snappy, packed full of adventure and tense scenes and all very myterious and exciting. All the characters were very unique and the author did a brilliant job of establishing their personalities really quickly. But I just had absolutely NO motivation to keep going. It wasn't even slow paced! I don't know why, but it never clicked with me at all, and I found it such a drag to get through. When I was reading it I was enjoying it and found it interesting, but then I'd put it down again and just not really care to keep going. 
I'd definitely recommend it if you enjoy modern takes on fantasy! A really interesting idea that I wish grabbed me more.

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heini's review against another edition

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dark hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

Suomennos oli hämmentävä. Ehkä ne ovat tyylikeinoja tai en vain ymmärtänyt, mutta lukukokemusta haittaa, kun jatkuvasti ilmaisut särähtävät korvaan. Puhutaan jonkun ensimmäisestä rodeosta; henkilö, jota alkuperäisteoksessa kuvaillaan ja nimitetään sanoilla 'strawberry blond man-bun' suomennetaan mansikanvaaleaksi hipster sämpyläksi; yleinen kirosana on paskapökäle ja joku on hullumpi kuin lepakonpaska (batshit crazy?).

 
Itse kirjasta: Seuraamme New York Cityn kaupunginosien ihmisavatareja,  jotka ilmentävät suurkaupungin monimuotoisuutta. 
Hahmot olivat mukavan ristiriitaisia ja oli mielenkiintoista, kuinka välillä ihmisen kauheista piirteistä tuli ominaisia ja "hyödyllisiä", osa tarvittavaa kokonaisuutta. 
Tarina oli värikkäiden kertojiensa vuoksi hauska ja myös sivuhenkilöt olivat huippuja,
(eräs lempparihahmoni oli perinteisen Checker-taksin kuljettaja Madison, tosin luultavasti siksi, että kuvittelin hänet Roundabout-pelin Georgioksi ("the worlds first revolving limousine driver"). Heillä oli samanlaista hällä-väliä ja auttamisen asennetta. 


Valkoinen ja kirkkaus oli pahuuden ilmikuva, mikä on tietysti myös käänteinen kerrontaperinteen musta/pimeys=paha logiikalle, jota on ihonväriinkin sovellettu.
Kirjan yksi ydinkuvaus on, kuinka ennakkoluulot ja oletukset tuhoavat meitä (yksilöitä, yhteisöjä, yhteiskuntia) sisältä päin ja vain ruokkivat yhteisiä vihollisiamme. 

Pelko, että ihmisyys tuhotaan kosmisessa maailmojen sodassa / pelko, joka syntyy kaikesta siitä "normaalista" tai normaaliksi hyväksystä (kauheista ja epämukavista asioista), jota arkemme ihmisinä ihmisten keskellä on. 

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jaysaysnope's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny inspiring mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I want to love a place the way N.K. Jemisin loves New York City. The ending was a little anticlimactic for me, but
the betrayal of Staten Island
was so good (and honestly, realistic to the character), I cannot wait to find out how it’s dealt with in The World We Make.

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kuporeads's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25


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leweylibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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

5.0

I'm not always the biggest Sci-fi fan, usually more of a fantasy girlie, but gosh this was so good. I highlighted so many parts, loved the super diverse characters and the thought put into them, and just the entire concept overall 👏 I feel like it was giving Sense 8 meets Good Omens meets multiverse of madness? Love.

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rnbhargava's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad 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

4.25

This book is near perfect for me. Some dings for variable pacing and maybe wrapping up a bit too cleanly and vaguely abruptly. Overall, I loved this adventure steeped in what makes NYC the city it is. 

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kshertz's review against another edition

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challenging informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Definitely take this review and rating with a grain of salt. I have heard so much about this author and this book so I definitely wanted to read it. The concept is brilliant and there are so many brilliant lines in this book. I really feel like a lot of it probably went over my head but I did enjoy the parts of it that I understood and caught. It was a little bit too slow of a read for me and very long but overall definitely glad I got to experience this writer and their writing style.

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harpoonholly's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Audiobook review. First thing, Robin Miles is an amazing actor who puts so much passion in the words written, even the post-credits and IP legalese. She is a full cast in a single person, her characterizations are so good. I'll be getting the sequel to this book, "The World We Make" to hear her act again.

I'll also get the sequel because NK Jemisin is an amazing writer. I'm fascinated in the personification of concepts and to personify cities is to maximize adds greater complexity because of course it has to. I also like how she goes about acknowledging Lovecraft's literary contributions (northeastern U.S. sublime, dread, and monsters) and shining a scalding light over his overt bigotry that was startling even for his time. 

10/10, would recommend, especially the audiobook. 

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