#16 in Urban fantasy
The City We Became
- 437
- Pages
- about 8 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 1 week on the list
- Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel
- BSFA Award for Best Novel
- Bob Morane award for best foreign novel
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Our view
“The City We Became” is urban fantasy in the most literal sense: a loud, affectionate tribute to New York and the many kinds of people who make it. Jemisin borrows freely from quest tales, superhero origins and cosmic horror, and the mix is energetic, tense and ultimately hopeful. The novel grew out of an earlier short story and opens a series. Readers who enjoy watching genres collide are the ones to pick it up.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The City We Became is a 2020 urban fantasy novel by American writer N. K. Jemisin. It was developed from her short story "The City Born Great,” first published in her collection How Long 'til Black Future Month? It is the first novel in her Great Cities duology and her first novel since completing her Broken Earth series.
Reading order · Great Cities
Full order & progress →- The City Born Great
7.97.9 / 10 - The City We BecameThis book
7.87.8 / 10 - The World We Make
8.08.0 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.7 across 548 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 79% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Urban fantasy average of 8.0. That is how 7.8 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 7.7 | 548 | 100% |
Frequently asked
How long is The City We Became?
It has 437 pages — shorter than 67% of the ranked books in Urban fantasy.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Urban fantasy — with scores between 7.8 and 8.0, closest to this book.
