"The City We Became" by N.K. Jemisin

At this point, I've read--and adored--quite a few of Jemisin's novels. The City We Became stands out from her other entries by being the first to take place in our world, rather than a fantasy environment. Sure, there's still magic and bizarre creatures and people with powers, but it takes place in New York City! Our New York City!

It's easy to understand such a shift. After all, if there's an American city that's been endlessly mythologized, it's NYC. Heck, there's a whole genre of "love letter to New York" movies, TV shows, and books. Whether you're a born-and-raised city dweller or a farmer in Montana, NYC means something to you. Jemisin plays with that mythology and meaning by taking it literally: in The City We Became, NYC and its boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island) are embodied by human avatars who are endowed with powers drawn from their boroughs' characteristics.

However, by setting her novel in the real New York, Jemisin creates a relationship with the reader that is different from her other works. In the Broken Earth trilogy, for example, readers are on equal footing in their confusion over orogenes' powers, but The City We Became relies on readers' knowledge of--and adoration for--New York to work.

This is where I hit my first stumbling block. There are people for whom New York is everything: the apex of America, the place where it happens. And plenty of those people aren't New Yorkers (and perhaps have never even been to New York). Then there are those for whom cities have little appeal. Though I've been to New York a handful of times and I get that it's a big city and has a lot of cool stuff... meh? Don't get me wrong, the suburb in which I live is dull and lifeless, but I still don't feel the pull of the city. Or know much about it (I'll admit those could be related).

I think that buy-in is key to really loving The City We Became, which relies on the insane and joyful jumble and mismatch of people and ideas that is New York to craft its characters and conflicts. For those of us who don't love it, the New York adulation can become a bit eye-rolling.

In depicting the real New York, Jemisin also gets to play with another real issue: racism (also sexism, homophobia, and ageism, though racism is the more dominant theme). Her books always feature characters of color and address issues of discrimination, but here she gets to address American racism explicitly. There's some good and bad there. On the one hand, some of the discussions have a feel of "Racism 101," lacking much nuance or depth. Because the Big Bad uses white racists to attack, the racism can feel heavy-handed and obvious (Aislyn's father feels especially caricatured), which can obscure the less obvious--but more pervasive--racism today. Still, it's rare to see racism discussed in fantasy settings, so Jemisin's focus feels relevant and warranted.

I also thought the characterization if Aislyn (Staten Island) was especially good. She's a racist xenophobe, but you can understand why she's that way and how her experiences have confirmed her prejudice--and just how challenging it is to undo. The Woman in White (the Big Bad) is especially good at manipulating that prejudice. The focus on "niceness"--Aislyn assumes that because the Woman in White is "nice" and looks like her, she can't be bad--was an especially effective point.

Ultimately, though, The City We Became is a fantasy action novel. And here's the thing. I was annoyed by the book. Rolled my eyes at all the mentions of just how awesome New York is. Thought the characters were cheesy, over played. Yet I kept returning to it whenever I had a minute. Flew through its 500 pages. And even though I knew it would end with a hand-holding mantra of "We are New York!", I still welled up.

Miscellaneous:

• I realized just how rarely we see older heroes in fantasy settings. Though we're frequently reminded that Bronca (the Bronx) is in her 60's (maybe even 70's), I wanted to miscast her as a younger woman. Even Brooklyn is older (50's?) than your typical heroes.
• The boroughs rely on "constructs"--essential New York things--to get their powers (e.g. the first time Manhattan gets his power it's through a credit card). In the final fight, Manhattan turns into King Kong. I was so tickled.
• There's a lot going on with multiple universes/layers of existence, all of which speaks to the Woman in White's motivation. It works to add layers (the Woman in White isn't inherently evil), but it's also confusing and perhaps works against some of the metaphors and symbolism Jemisin's crafted to challenge racism.
• Addendum: There's some interesting stuff suggesting that gentrification (worldwide) is a result of the Woman in White's attempts to weaken and infiltrate the cities to be born. Need to think more on it
• Manhattan's roommate-to-be, Bel, plays an important role in the early chapters and is then completely forgotten. I wonder if he'll return in a more significant way.