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A review by ofbooksandtrees
The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin
adventurous
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
5.0
Read April 2024
While maybe not quite as strong as the first in the duology, due to real world events happening*, I still loved The World We Make a lot.
I might not be a big-city girl myself, but I love the way N.K. Jemisin writes about them, or in this case specifically, New York, its people, and its monsters.)
*a quote from the acknowledgments:
"You know the problem with writing a fantastical paean to a real city? The real world moves faster than fiction. […] All of this meant I ended up writing about the soul of a city at a time when that soul was, as we used to say in my old counselling career, "in a transitional stage"—i.e., midlife crisis.
The New York I wrote about in the first book of the series no longer exists. [...] The Great Cities trilogy that I'd initially planned became a duology because I realized my creative energy was fading under the onslaught of reality, and I didn't have it in me to write three books in this milieu. I came dangerously close to quitting after book one, in fact—but I absolutely hate leaving stories unfinished (and readers disappointed!) once I've begun a thing, so I finished this out of sheer bloody-minded stubbornness."
While maybe not quite as strong as the first in the duology, due to real world events happening*, I still loved The World We Make a lot.
I might not be a big-city girl myself, but I love the way N.K. Jemisin writes about them, or in this case specifically, New York, its people, and its monsters.)
*a quote from the acknowledgments:
"You know the problem with writing a fantastical paean to a real city? The real world moves faster than fiction. […] All of this meant I ended up writing about the soul of a city at a time when that soul was, as we used to say in my old counselling career, "in a transitional stage"—i.e., midlife crisis.
The New York I wrote about in the first book of the series no longer exists. [...] The Great Cities trilogy that I'd initially planned became a duology because I realized my creative energy was fading under the onslaught of reality, and I didn't have it in me to write three books in this milieu. I came dangerously close to quitting after book one, in fact—but I absolutely hate leaving stories unfinished (and readers disappointed!) once I've begun a thing, so I finished this out of sheer bloody-minded stubbornness."