Welcome to Litsy!

Such a thrilling conclusion to this dystopian duology. The avatars of New York have come into their powers, but the threat looming above Staten Island still needs to be defeated. The enemy has infiltrated the city in new & insidious ways, promoting harsh political division & hate that is scarily reminiscent of our current society. Despite (or maybe bc of) the disturbing parallels, the story is one of hope & standing together against a common enemy

Glad for the author's acknowledgements, it confirms that this is a duology, that the bit of pacing that felt rushed to me is likely the result of the transformation from a planned trilogy, and needing to wrap up a lot of loose ends in a shorter time frame. All of which did not take away from my enjoyment of the tale. 1/?

4.5/5

I thought this was a great conclusion to this duology. Even as the avatars of New York have survived their first battle, the Woman in White is still out there in her terrible otherworldly city hovering above Staten Island. The avatars still have to figure out how to save their city and the world from multidimensional horrors.

“Call me Neek.
No, I'm not hunting no fucking whale. Giant squid, maybe.“

#firstlinefridays @shybookowl

#12Booksof2023

I had forgotten to wishlist this book after reading the first one and was so very excited when I remembered the sequel existed. This was a fabulous read for the end of August.

@Andrew65

This is a fantastic audiobook. It's a full performance with special effects and whatnot. I think this author has an interesting voice and a fantastic imagination.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

I think I've finished the wrapping!

(Tagged book relevance : it is under the tree)

4-7 Nov 23 (audiobook)
A soft pick as the novelty of the first book wore off for me. I am not sure this stood up in itself, but it did resolve some of the pending storyline‘s from the first. I did enjoy some of the personifications of other old cities, such as Paris and London.

🤣 I ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 N.K. Jemisin.

Archival footage of Daisy chilling with the paper books I brought along to her place. Last time I was here, she wanted to live outside in the snow and I huddled in the only warm room in the house. Now I‘m living outdoors while she pretends to be a puddle on the semi-cool front hall floor.

I‘m currently out on the porch, set to finish THE WORLD WE MAKE before I do supper. Only 40 pages to go! #gaymay

Did the whole book + beer + plants thing this afternoon. THE WORLD WE MAKE is set to stress me the hell out, but at the same time it‘s so good to be back inside N.K. Jemisin‘s prose. #gaymay

A super fun conclusion to this epic story! I'll miss meeting all of the city avatars and watching New York fight an otherworldly entity that weaponizes hate, political unrest, and corporate stores. I feel like I wanted a little more from the ending than this whole Digimon-esque wrapup, but was not deebly disappointed. #LGBTQ #Fantasy

Just sharing a weird coincidence this month. I recently reread The Lives of Christopher Chant, and as a child Christopher wanders his way into different worlds in his multiverse. He calls them Anywheres. While listening to the tagged today, I came across another character who calls the worlds she travels to in her own multiverse Anywheres! 😮 #Similarities #Coincidence #Multiverse

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bummed to learn that this would be the end of the "Great Cities" series for N.K. Jemisin... That where the author had planned for a trilogy, this became a duology. It saddens me to learn of innovative writers losing steam with a project, but I can't fault Ms. Jemisin for doing so considering she was writing this in the middle of the pandemic! An emotionally-draining time of great turmoil and uncertainty indeed.

Cont'd in comments ⬇️

Denial won't save us...

In recent weeks, my eyes have begun to let me know (in subtle and LOUD ways!) that my computer-heavy job is taking a toll on them. After a visit to the optometrist, I was diagnosed with SPK (superficial punctate keratitis) - a (treatable!) ocular surface disease that affects the cornea, decreasing vision and causing the eye to become red, watery, and sensitive to light.

(Cont'd ⬇️)

I found a sprayed edges version of The City We Became on ebay to replace the one I lost / gave away. Balance restored 🧘🏼‍♀️

I loved, loved, loved the first book in this series, so expectations were high when picking this one up. I was already very invested in the characters and world that Jemisin had built, so no surprises that I did like this, but...it felt a little bit like the story was running out of steam second-half.

3.5 city avatars out of 5 🗽🏢

Life has been colourful over the last year, but it's good to be dipping back in here when I can. I snuck in a few pages of this before heading out in to the woods earlier. Feels like I'm maybe getting my reading groove back... 🙃 hope everyone is well.

I love Jemisin and I really enjoyed the first book in this duopoly. I liked this one a little less. I enjoyed the characters, but found the story lacking in suspense.

Thank you so much, @mommyoftwo ! I have been so excited to read this book. And the chocolate looks amazing. I hope you and your family are warm and cozy this frigid Christmas Eve.

#Jolabokaflodswap @MaleficentBookDragon

Once again N.K. Jemisin has created an engrossing and captivating tale of culture and social awareness. Brace yourself for the stunning draw of real world politics into a fantasy setting. This book is chilling in how it connects to recent events and will pull readers in with the drive to find out how the characters endure each new challenge.

Review https://www.behindthepages.org/post/the-world-we-make-by-n-k-jemisin-book-review

This was an excellent end to this story. I hope it isn't the end of course, cause it would be really cool to have other stories about other cities. Excellent book!

I have five more books to read before the end of the year! Yay! I might just make it.

Jemisin always writes an awesome story. To quote her “you‘re not going to save the world with technology; you‘re not going to save the world with some new scientific innovation. You‘re going to save it with people choosing to fight against things they perceive as wrong.”

This sequel to The City We Became finds the avatars of New York struggling to understand how best to represent their city & realize their potential, while the Enemy works to undo everything they've fought for, enabling hateful allies like the Proud Men & a mayoral candidate who wants to make NYC "great again." A rollicking, cathartic read for anyone who loves a city in all its complexity, or who'd enjoy using a bass drop to vanquish the haters.