So I started off this little strand back in June and I’ve just realised that I only did six books. So I can read but I can't count. Let's do a little housekeeping and get this one finished off.
One of the things that I find with these lists is that you end tending to prioritise older books, books you've had time to get nostalgic over. Well, let’s balance that out a bit with a book that only came out in March this year…
The City We Became (The Great Cities Trilogy Book 1)
By N.K. Jemisin
First published:- 24th March 2020
What’s It About?
Cities aren’t just the places where we live; at a certain point, they become living breathing beings. New York’s birth is fraught with danger and the five human avatars who represent must come together to protect it from The Enemy…
Background
I’ve talked about Jemisin’s books before - I read her Broken Earth Trilogy a while back and was completely drawn in by it.* Jemisin has a refreshing take on sci fi and fantasy that utilises her perspective on race and gender to create something fresh in genres that still tend to be dominated by white men. As well as race and gender, there’s a strong sense (at least in the Broken Earth series; I’ve yet to read her other two series of books) of the geographical and geological, of utilising the locations to be as much a part of the story as the people.
She’s relatively prolific as well, having published nine novels and a collection of short stories in the last ten years, in addition to currently writing a monthly Green Lantern spin-off comic, Far Sector, for DC Comics.
Why’s It Good?
Jemisin has an immensely readable style that, in some respects, puts me in mind of Neil Gaiman or Stephen King and has a facility for drawing a string mental picture to convey concepts that are not necessarily easy to visualise, particularly in describing how the human avatars of the individual boroughs of New York visualise both our world and the wider world they perceive. As before, race and gender play a strong role in the book, especially in representing the multiple cultural identities that denizens of New York contain within them, both as New Yorkers but also with a broader cultural heritage.
Naturally, geography once again plays a part, given that the books deals with living cities. Jemisin clearly has a strong affinity for her adopted city in a warts-and-all kind of way and that shines through here. (I was also surprised to find mention of my own home town in there, especially as I live not in New York but in South East London.)
There’s a small element of risk here - this is only book one of three and there’s every chance this could go off the rails before the end (a trap that Stephen King certainly fell into with the curate’s egg that is The Dark Tower series). Given her previous form, though, that really is a small element and I’m already champing at the bit to get into the next part of the story...
*Side note - Jemisin is the only person in its sixty seven year history to win the Hugo Award (the most established award for science fiction and fantasy writing) for three consecutive years for the Broken Earth books. Given that previous winners include Isaac Asmiov, Arthur C Clarke, Kurt Vonnegut, JK Rowling and Neil Gaiman among others, that’s not an achievement to be sniffed at.
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