Match Book
The City We Became
N. K. Jemisin
2020 · Fantasy
How it reads
The City We Became is fantasy (urban fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is hopeful. Whatever it puts its people through, it believes things can get better. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.
It's set in a big city setting, in the present day, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are identity, power and politics and friendship. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.
It opens a series. The ending resolves happily. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something hopeful
- you want to be sure it ends well
- you're drawn to stories about identity
Maybe not if…
- you need something melancholy or dark
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- fantasy
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- prolific veteran
- Setting: place
- big city
- Setting: time
- contemporary
- Mood / feeling
- hopeful
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- balanced
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- third person, several viewpoints
- Publication era
- recent
- Popularity
- well known
- Series vs standalone
- first in a series
- Themes
- identity, power and politics, friendship
- Ending style
- resolved and happy
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
- The Ballad of Perilous GravesAlex JenningsShares: fantasy, balanced tone, urban fantasy, moderate pace
The Once and Future WitchesAlix E. HarrowShares: fantasy, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace- Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading InnovationLinda A. HillShares: hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace, resolved and happy ending
Spinning SilverNaomi NovikShares: fantasy, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
Black Water SisterZen ChoShares: fantasy, balanced tone, urban fantasy, moderate pace
KrakenChina MiévilleShares: fantasy, balanced tone, urban fantasy, resolved and happy ending
Appears in
Find a copy
Reviews on Goodreads ↗Match Book earns a commission on purchases made through these links, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, Match Book earns from qualifying purchases.