If we were to ask people to list the 10 most influential speculative fiction writers of the twentieth century, one name that would pop up on a lot of lists is HP Lovecraft. He captured the terror of the unknown and unknowable in a way that has inspired generations of creators since: writers like Stephen King, comic book creators like Alan Moore, filmmakers like Guillermo Del Toro.
Of course, the reason why he was able to capture this terror so well in his writing is because he was terrified of everything, in a way that only an extreme bigot can be. He was a racist xenophobic misogynist, even by the standards of the racist xenophobic misogynistic times he lived in. It is like he believed every single negative stereotype he ever heard about any group that was different from him without question, and so therefore was terrified of everybody. And he let that terror inform his writing (sometimes directly, as some of his stories are clearly and explicitly racist).
So, when you have a man who has been so influential on the weird fiction and horror subgenres of speculative fiction, but who was also extremely bigoted, who better to respond to him than a black woman who is one of the best speculative fiction writers of her time, and who is currently shaking up the storytelling norms in the industry?
Enter: NK Jemisin
Enter: The City We Became
Jemisin takes what might as well been the central tenet of Lovecraft’s life and flips it on its head. Instead of saying ‘What makes people different makes them terrifying’, she says ‘What makes people different makes us stronger’. The danger comes, not from diversity, but rather from homogeneity and segregation. If we spend all our time demonizing and fearing each other, then OF COURSE we don’t stand a chance against Eldritch horrors from another dimension! It is only by standing together and embracing our differences that we can hope to even stand a chance.
The City We Became takes on the idea of facing down cosmic horrors while subverting every assumption Lovecraft ever made about people and society. But it is not only Lovecraft the book challenges. It also challenges us, the readers, who might be comfortable in our little corners of the world, comfortable in our assumptions and our prejudices. It asks the question, “What if, by not engaging with those we don’t understand, we are holding back the whole world?”
Okay, so enough about themes and ideas. What about the story? The characters? The writing style? Is it actually any good?
The short answer is, yes. This is the best book I’ve read this year. The characters are fascinating, the story is a unique take on the Lovecraftian style mythos, and the writing voice absolutely blew me away.
The longer answer is, this is a story about cities, not as collections of people and cultures, but as living things all their own made up of the people, places, and cultures they contain.
Specifically, this is a story about the city of New York as it joins the ranks of living cities.
“This is the lesson: Great cities are like any other living things, being born and maturing and wearying and dying in their turn.
“Duh, right? Everyone who’s visited a real city feels that, one way or another. All those rural people who hate cities are afraid of something legit; cities really are different. They make a weight on the world, a tear in the fabric of reality, like . . . like black holes, maybe. Yeah. (I go to museums sometimes. They’re cool inside, and Neil deGrasse Tyson is hot.) As more and more people come in and deposit their strangeness and leave and get replaced by others, the tear widens. Eventually it gets so deep that it forms a pocket, connected only by the thinnest thread of . . . something to . . . something. Whatever cities are made of.”
–The City We Became, Prologue
This is also a story about the Eldritch horrors that try to consume and destroy cities in the moments they become living entities.
The fight for the soul- and the very survival- of New York is on, and the people that New York has chosen as its avatars and defenders must accept their roles, learn quickly, and trust each other if the city is to have any chance to make it through the next few days.
We follow these avatars as they struggle with the responsibility thrust upon them by their new position. They must find each other and work together to defeat the inter-dimensional horror invading their city. And they only have outdated information to use against the invader, since it seems to have changed tactics when compared to what previous cities have experienced.
The writing in this book is spectacular. Each of the main characters comes alive, as Jemisin gives them each a unique voice that feels so real. And even apart from their voices, the characters all feel so fully fleshed out. You come to learn who each is and how they will react. No character ever does anything just because the plot needs them to. Their motivations are clear.
If I have a criticism for this book, it is that the ending felt a little abrupt. I would have preferred a little more wrap-up, especially with such a large cast of characters. Still, it is the first book in a planned trilogy, so this is a small quibble, as the story is not yet over.
All in all, as I said above, this is the best book I have read this year. Is NK Jemisin going to win her fourth Hugo for this novel? Quite possibly. And it is also possible that if she doesn’t get it, that that has more to do with wanting to allow other deserving authors to win, rather than having her win one of the most prestigious awards in speculative fiction for the fourth time in six years. But I expect this book to at least be nominated for all the speculative fiction awards next year. It is just that good.
As an extra note, I just want to say that I listened to the audiobook. If you like audiobooks, I absolutely recommend experiencing this book that way. Not only is the narrator, Robin Miles, phenomenal, but the sound production is like nothing I have experienced in an audiobook. A good audiobook immerses you into the story without taking anything away from the experience. A great audiobook adds to the experience of the story in a way the text by itself couldn’t. This is a great audiobook.
Have you read The City We Became? If so, let me know what you thought in the comments down below! If not, let me know if you plan on reading it!