The first book was a delightful fantasy take on urbanism and politics. Now it’s all a little too real and a little too raw and reading about it just hurts. ( )

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-world-we-make-by-n-k-jemisin-brief-note/

I enjoyed this a lot. Great sequel to the first volume, which I voted for for the Hugo last year. ( )

A very preachy read that comes across as a very earnest book with very little nuance or self awareness. The message intruded upon the story to such a degree that it was close to unreadable. The sophomoric metaphors, devoid of any humor, felt preachy and smug. Its self-seriousness and righteousness made it flat and un-appealing.
As a reader I don’t appreciate being bludgeoned with one dimensional ideological messages on page after page.
The first person narrator has a very jarring voice, which interferes with my immersive experience and is grating and annoying.

The plot was rushed and lacking in depth, characters and plotlines were introduced and then dead-ended.

And one of my pet peeves is using words like TERF and Karen and Becky to denigrate women and their concerns. Are we supposed to take away from this piece of ideological propaganda that it is ok to use slurs to silence women when you are the ‘good guys’ but not when you are the 'villains'? ( )

I haven't finished this yet, but I can already tell this book will transport me as completely as the first novel in the Great Cities series, The City we Became. Jemisin has a conversational style that pulls me along, even when she is tackling very difficult subjects. ( )

In this sequel, the war against the Lovecraftian horrors determined to exterminate living cities (and humanity) accelerates, with white supremacists on the side of death and NYC struggling to get the other cities to fight on its side. I would have liked it a bit better if the machinations of cities didn’t mean that the people of NYC “had” to vote in the right mayoral candidate, but it has lots of city pride and found family. ( )