The City Born Great by N.K. Jemisin

The City Born Great by N.K. Jemisin
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (26 pages)
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

In this standalone short story by N. K. Jemisin, author of The Fifth Season, the winner of this year’s Hugo Award for Best Novel, New York City is about to go through a few changes. Like all great metropolises before it, when a city gets big enough, old enough, it must be born; but there are ancient enemies who cannot tolerate new life. Thus New York will live or die by the efforts of a reluctant midwife…and how well he can learn to sing the city’s mighty song.

Sildenafil Citrate is the buy viagra pill main ingredient present in Kamagra pills as the active constituent. For the best cure, you should consume Night Fire capsule along with this herbal viagra pharmacy prices supplement to cure male infertility. Think of Super Kamagra as a special blend of best online viagra ingredients approved by cGMP. If you viagra active want its effects to be more effective, expedient, and much safer to use than other methods of penis enlargement. There’s more than one way to be born.

The world building was fantastic. I could almost hear the thump of the city’s heartbeat as the narrator learned more about what makes a city literally come alive and why only a few people are aware of why this happens. This felt like the opening chapter of a full-length book in a very positive way. As satisfied as I was by how much I learned about this universe, I also wished I could keep reading for a few hundred more pages.

It would have been nice to know the main character’s name. His character development was handled nicely in general, so it felt odd to me to never learn something as simple as what his birth family, past teachers, or current fellow homeless friends called him. He was such a private person that I would have understood if he only wanted to share a nickname with the audience, but it still would have been helpful to know what name to use for him regardless of whether it was his legal one.

The ending was perfect, though. I’d grown attached to the main character, so I was happy to see how his life turned out after the conclusion of his original mission. I also liked seeing how his attempt to help New York be born was connected to the fates of many other cities as well. It was interesting to get a deeper understanding of the world the characters lived in, and it made me hope for a sequel.

I’d heartily recommend The City Born Great to anyone who loves modern science fiction.