The City We Became

Starred review from January 13, 2020
The staggering contemporary fantasy that launches three-time Hugo Award-winner Jemisin’s new trilogy (following the Broken Earth series) leads readers into the beating heart of New York City for a stunning tale of a world out of balance. After hundreds of years of gestation, New York City is awakening to sentience, but “postpartum complications” threaten to destroy it. An alien, amorphous force, personified by the Woman in White, launches an attack on New York. Five people—one for each of the city’s five boroughs—are called to become avatars dedicated to protecting the city. If they can combine their powers, they’ll be able to awaken the avatar of the city as a whole and defeat the Woman in White, but first they’ll have to find each other. While the Woman in White works to undermine them, the five avatars, whose personalities delightfully mirror the character of their respective boroughs (the Bronx is “creative with an attitude,” Manhattan is “smart, charming, well-dressed, and cold enough to strangle you in an alley if we still had alleys”), learn the extent of their new powers. Jemisin’s earthy, vibrant New York is mirrored in her dynamic, multicultural cast. Blending the concept of the multiverse with New York City arcana, this novel works as both a wry adventure and an incisive look at a changing city. Readers will be thrilled. Agent: Lucienne Diver, the Knight Agency.

Robin Miles gives voice to everything New York in this fantastical celebration of the city's spirit. As the novel opens, New York City is going through a transformation--it's becoming sentient, embodied by six human avatars who represent the city's five boroughs plus New York as a whole. Along with creating distinct voices and accents for the diverse cast of characters, Miles communicates their full range of emotions, from fear to defiance to NYC pride; select sound effects add even more atmosphere. In the midst of this fragile transition, a hostile entity from another universe is invading the city, manifesting in the guises of alt-right ideology, racism, xenophobia, and gentrification. New York's avatars must find each other and work together to reject the alien threat. Miles goes all-in with her energizing performance, making listening a joy. J.M.D. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine