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The City We Became

A Novel

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The City We Became

By: N. K. Jemisin
Narrated by: Robin Miles
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Three-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin crafts her most incredible novel yet, a "glorious" story of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City.

In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember who he is, where he's from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history, and feel its power.

In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it's as if the paint is literally calling to her.

In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels.

And they're not the only ones.

Every great city has a soul. Some are ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York? She's got six.
For more from N. K. Jemisin, check out:

The Inheritance Trilogy
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
The Broken Kingdoms
The Kingdom of Gods

The Inheritance Trilogy (omnibus edition)
Shades in Shadow: An Inheritance Triptych (e-only short fiction)
The Awakened Kingdom (e-only novella)

Dreamblood Duology
The Killing Moon
The Shadowed Sun

The Dreamblood Duology (omnibus)

The Broken Earth
The Fifth Season
The Obelisk Gate
The Stone Sky

How Long 'til Black Future Month? (short story collection)

"A glorious fantasy." —Neil Gaiman Action & Adventure City Life Contemporary Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Locus Award Magic Magical Realism Paranormal & Urban Urban Classics New York Feel-Good

Critic reviews

"It's a glorious fantasy, set in that most imaginary of cities, New York. It's inclusive in all the best ways, and manages to contain both Borges and Lovecraft in its fabric, but the unique voice and viewpoint are Jemisin's alone."—Neil Gaiman
"The City We Became takes a broad-shouldered stand on the side of sanctuary, family and love. It's a joyful shout, a reclamation and a call to arms."—The New York Times
"Jemisin is now a pillar of speculative fiction, breathtakingly imaginative and narratively bold."—Entertainment Weekly
"A love letter, a celebration and an expression of hope and belief that a city and its people can and will stand up to darkness, will stand up to fear, and will, when called to, stand up for each other."


—NPR
"The City We Became is a raucous delight, a joyride, a call-to-arms, a revolution with plenty of dancing. Eat your heart out, Lovecraft."—Alix E. Harrow, author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January
"Some of the most exciting and powerful fantasy writing of today... Jemisin's latest will attract ... even those who don't typically read genre fiction."—Booklist (starred review)
"The most important speculative writer of her generation...She's that good."—John Scalzi
"A love/hate song to and rallying cry for the author's home of New York... Fierce, poetic, uncompromising."—Kirkus (starred review)
"The City We Became is a wonderfully inventive love letter to New York City that spans the multiverse. A big middle finger to Lovercraft with a lot of heart, creativity, smarts and humor. A timely and audacious allegorical tale for our times. This book is all these things and more."—Rebecca Roanhorse, author of Trail of Lightning
"N. K. Jemisin has captured the living, breathing soul of New York City in a way that only a writer of her skill can. The City We Became is a masterpiece that plays by no rules-beautiful, musical, joyfully weird, and as impossibly fantastical as it is deeply true."—Peng Shepherd, author of The Book of M
"Without a doubt, one of the most brilliant books I have ever had the honor of reading. An homage to New York City, packed with all its love and harshness, and so incredibly inventive that I felt my own imagination and the boundaries of what fantasy can be expand."—S. A. Chakraborty, author of City of Brass
"The greatest fantasy novelist currently writing turns her magnificent eye and ear and heart on New York City, and the result is every bit as full of love and rage and crazy compelling characters as my beloved city deserves."—Sam J. Miller, Nebula-Award-Winning author of Blackfish City
"One of the most celebrated new voices in epic fantasy."—Salon.com

Featured Article: Must-Hear Contemporary Black Women Authors


It’s a fact that a high percentage of the best books that have come out in this century have been written by Black women authors. (Truth be told, there are so many excellent works that this list could simply centered on the best contemporary authors and still be accurate.) Nevertheless, Black women’s stories deserve to be heard, and when the stories are this compelling, this engaging, and this beautifully written, they’re impossible to ignore.

Featured Article Must Hear Contemporary Black Women Authors

Editor's Pick

Don't mess with New York
"So many writers and creators have attempted and brilliantly succeeded at the city-as-character trope, and New York has been featured heavily in these stories—but how many writers can say they literally made New York a sentient being? Wait—don’t think about that too much: just start listening and experience how Jemisin drops you into this wonderfully weird, wild new fantasy series as if you were arriving for the first time in this bewildering and amazing city itself. I love her ability to adapt her unique voice to any story she tells, and this one—fast-paced, surreal, a little jaded—felt so quintessentially New York, I swear wore a permanent grin for the first few chapters. I didn’t really need a reason to get hyped about this new series beyond the fact that it existed—but as a born-and-raised New Yorker, Jemisin has written the love letter to my city that my weird little nerdy heart didn’t even know it yearned for."—Sam D., Audible Editor

Unique Concept • Imaginative Worldbuilding • Distinct Character Voices • Lovecraftian Elements • Social Commentary

Highly rated for:

All stars
Most relevant
Mild spoilers ahead.

Admittedly the main idea of this book is wonderful. N.K Jemisin suggests in this novel that cities are multidimensional ententies. Cities like New York have so much history, so much vibrancy so much metaphorical life flowing through their streets that they litterally come to life and manifest an avatar, a personification of what the city is as a whole.
Doing so, however, wipes out and destroys alternate universes where the city presumably doesn't exist or something else exists in its place. This means cities being "born" are vunerable to attack from extra-dimensioanal ententies.

In short, N.K. Jemisin is mixing H.P. Lovecraft with every novel/play/song where the location plays a big role. In theory its a wonderful idea. In practice its very heavy handed as to what constitutes a healthy city and what doesn't. In short, gentrification universally bad, "real" New York good.

Tearing down the old to make way for the new is seen as suspicious at least, dangerous at worst. Never mind the fact that in New York what constitutes as old or new is up for considerable debate. The author picked a date and decided anything more recent wasn't the real New York. Every child does this with the place that they grow up in, hating the changes, good or bad, that inevitably come to a place they love with nostalgic intensity. I suppose New Yorkers are no exception.

Much of what Jemisin says makes sense. For example unique, "family owned" coffee shops making way for corporate soulless Starbucks is literally the sign of the apocalypse. Similarly anything xenophobic, racist or hateful in any way is posionious to the city as a whole. This last statement is one no sane person would disagree with, but the way this idea is shoved into our faces without subltly leaves something to be desired.

Finally, is it just me or is anyone else slightly insulted that New York is the first city in America to come to life? What about Salem, Massachusetts? Or Jamestown, Virginia? Or hell why not the capital of the freaking country, Washington D.C? Aren't there cities in America older than New York with equally diverse cultures and rich histories? New York may be important but it ain't the only game in town.

Heavy handed

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Incredibly creative, characters you have to love and admire, perfectly paced. And, I think this is the best-narrated and best-produced audiobook I listened to since I joined Audible in 10-15 years ago. Brava, all!!!

Wonderful story, amazing production

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Very fun listen and an outstanding performance by Robin Miles (the narrator). She deserves the Oscar equivalent of performances for audible. Her Brazilian accent could have been a little better but that was the only slight knock on her. This is the perfect example of when the audible is better than actually reading the book. N. K. Jemisin turns NYC into a whirlwind of out of this world visuals for the listeners/readers. Perfect homage to NYC. However, I don’t think I would have liked this as much as I did if I didn’t grow up in NJ right outside the city my whole life. Glad I gave this a listen!

Amazing performance !

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I am a big fan of N.K. Jemisin and this book is at the top of my list of favorites!
Robin Miles' Narration was top notch and her ability to inhabit each character so fully was astounding!
The whole premise of the book is very timely in every way and I cannot wait for the next in the series!
I bought this as an Audiobook to listen to when I was driving and after having to pull over to shout at my car speakers I decided I might want to listen to it in a safer space!
I actually need to read this in print or on my Kindle, but Robin Miles voices will inhabit my head when I do!

Wow and Wow! Thank you For Another Special Series

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This unique and interesting book brings to life NYC like you've never imagined it. NK Jemisin is a master at building a world. Even a world you think you already know. She rhythmically weaves a spectacle you can easily get lost reading. I cannot wait for the next book in this series. She is a true master of her trade. Robin Miles brings books to life with an outstanding read. Music to your ears in book form. When these two combine its worth every second.

N.K Jemisin is the fantasy reader you have to read

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Loved everything about this book. The characters are interesting. The story is vivid. and the narrator is spectacular.

So good

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This book did something I thought was impossible. It made me want to move back to New York

Exceptional

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The narration for this book was amazing. each character had a distinct voice which played perfectly into his/her personality!

Loved It!

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Thoroughly enjoyed this book, being a New Yorker the language and references were so spot on. Robin Miles captured the heart of this book with the accents and inflections. Fantastically fun and a great adventure. This is going into my bank of greats.

Jemisin gets New York

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awesome book. the performance by the narrator was nuanced and inspored and simply beautiful. brought so much to the story

I believe n.k. jemisin is one of the greatest sci fi authors of the times. I look forward to many more words from her prolific genius

incredible performance

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