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  • The City We Became

  • By: N. K. Jemisin
  • Narrated by: Robin Miles
  • Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (302 ratings)
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The City We Became

By: N. K. Jemisin
Narrated by: Robin Miles
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Summary

Winner of Best Fantasy at the Audie Awards.

Winner of the BSFA Award for Best Novel.

Shortlisted for the Hugo Awards.

Nominated for the Nebula Awards.

Five New Yorkers must band together to defend their city in the first book of a stunning new series by Hugo award-winning and New York Times best-selling author N. K. Jemisin.

Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got five. 

But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.

©2020 N. K. Jemisin (P)2020 Hachette Audio UK

Critic reviews

"A glorious fantasy, set in that most imaginary of cities, New York." (Neil Gaiman on The City We Became)

"The most celebrated science fiction and fantasy writer of her generation...Jemisin seems able to do just about everything." (New York Times)

"Jemisin is now a pillar of speculative fiction, breathtakingly imaginative and narratively bold." (Entertainment Weekly)

What listeners say about The City We Became

Average customer ratings
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just excellent

I need more cities and their personhoods 🥺🥺🥺
it was just so incredibly good in every way

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing story, can't wait for the next one!

Best N. K. Jemisin yet, what a ride, makes me want to go back to NYC, despite the interdemetional threats in this book!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic!

I don’t always love urban fantasy, but I loved this - just as I’ve loved everything else written by the amazing author.

The narrator was fantastic and at least to my uneducated British ear did a great job of bringing the different characters and their accents to life.

Can’t wait for credit day to get the sequel.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not sure.

I've never really enjoyed any urban fantasy but love N.K. Jemisin so thought I'd give it a whirl. Unfortunately not even the mighty NKJ could persuade me otherwise. I found the characters a little stereotypical but then that was kind of the point so I can't really criticize there. Dunno, I just found the lack of nuance in any of it a bit disatisfying.

Mostly a very good range of vocal characterisations but a couple that didn't work for me. Have to say though that Robin Miles managed to make the characters instantly identifyable which most of the female narrators I've listened to find tricky so she gets two thumbs up for that.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Phf’k yeah!

Wicked. Wicked. Wicked.

This ambition and scale of this epic is breathtaking. The muscular flex of imagination was comparable to a Ms Universe contest. Oh, and the performance by Robin Miles is stunning.

The germ of this idea features in ‘How Long Til Black History Month’ (as available on Audible) and hearing it I was blown away. I then knew it was to be my first foray into Jemisin’s work. So check that out too.

N. K. Jemisin and Robin Miles are like Clark Kent and Superman, and if you understand the mythos you’ll get it. Great job ladies! ☝🏿

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Jemisin does not pull any punches

As usual, Jemisin pulls no punches in this stunning social commentary/urban fantasy hybrid. Performance and production of the audiobook are also fantastic.

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    4 out of 5 stars

Awesome Narration

One of the best narrations I've heard. Emotive, passionate and consistently good.

Loved the story but I (potential spoiler) I expected a bit more from the finale, the build up was incredible but then the tension just went out of it right at the end.

Solid 4+/5 will recommend.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant

I first read the book and then listened to Robin Miles' narration. I love the wonderful mix of accents, the vocal variety and mix of tempo and pace. It's a fantastic exploration of the rich source text.

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1 person found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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For New Yorkers only

This book is aimed at New Yorkers only for the description of the city from many angle. The story is non sensical. It feels like a long fable of heavy moral, in a manicean setting

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The Best Way To Do Urban Fantasy

I'm absolutely amazed by both this novel and performance. The narration, voice modulation and audio effects made this whole experience extra dramatic and full of action. And the story is fantastic, just a pure eldritch horror but upgrated to modern standard. I also now very little about New York but I found I still enjoyed immensely.

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