The City Born Great

by N. K. Jemisin

Ebook, 2016

Status

Available

Call number

Fic SF Jemisin

Genres

Collection

ebooks

Publication

Tom Doherty Associates

Description

Fantasy. Fiction. HTML: "Landon Woodson's captivating singing opens this stand-alone short story...Woodson's agile and engaging narration makes listeners wary of the ominous threats and feel all the anticipation for the battle to come." �?? AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner In this standalone short story by N. K. Jemisin, author of The Fifth Season, winner of the 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. The City Born Great is a Tor.com Original.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member krau0098

Series Info/Source: This is a prequel to The Great Cities Trilogy. I borrowed this as an audiobook from the library

Audiobook Quality (4/5): The audiobook was well done and easy to listen to, I enjoyed it.

Thoughts: This would be a great stand alone story and has some amazing concepts. However, if

you have already read the first book in the The Great Cities Trilogy “The City We Became” this feels more like a sketch of that one. Yes, it does fill in a bit of background and I do really enjoy the concepts behind this.

Jemisin is an amazing author and this was incredibly well written with amazing concepts. This story was very well done just like all her other writings, however I don’t think it has as much impact if you have already read “The City We Became”. Still it is well written and a short piece, so it’s worth the time you invest to check it out.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I really enjoyed this but think it has less impact if you have already read “The City We Became”. There are some fascinating concepts here and it does provide a bit of background for the series. I would recommend picking it up if you loved the first book in The Great Cities and want more or if you haven't read that book and want a quick intro to the concepts of that series. It was well done, I hope more books will be released in The Great Cities trilogy at some point!

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LibraryThing member ElleGato

I am a person prone to hyperbole.

But believe me now when I say I am not exaggerating a single bit: this is one of the best things I have ever read. Ever. Best. EVER.

I love cities. I love cities-as-characters, cities-as-people, cities-as-magic and ohmygod in such a small space, Jemisin has done all

of this and this is SO DAMNED GOOD I want to cry thinking about the perfection of this story.

So yeah, I liked it.

SO MUCH

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LibraryThing member bookczuk

Great concept, images, writing, none of which is surprising, considering the author. A friend heard Jemisin read this out loud, so I imagined I was listening to her speak this in my head.

LibraryThing member lavaturtle

This was a cool, different mythic fantasy story. As an inhabitant of the greater NYC area, I thought it captured the "New York-iness" of New York really well.

LibraryThing member JulesJones

Great cities come alive, and in this short story they do so in a most literal fashion. But there are things out there that feed on new life, and a city needs a midwife to guard it as it struggles to birth itself. Our protaganist is a young black man in New York who half believes, half disbelieves a

new friend's tales of living cities and his role in New York's story - right up until the monsters try to come for him. Stunning fantasy story deeply rooted in a deftly depicted metropolis.

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LibraryThing member whatsmacksaid

Beautiful, beautiful writing. Absolutely stunning and lyrical in the best way.

LibraryThing member VioletBramble

A stand alone story about the birth of New York City as a living, breathing entity. The story is told by a homeless man who acts as midwife to the city, protecting it and singing it's song as it is birthed.
Very fast paced story. Also a little weird. Recommended.

LibraryThing member whatsmacksaid

Beautiful, beautiful writing. Absolutely stunning and lyrical in the best way.

LibraryThing member books-n-pickles

Areg and I listened to this in the car and I loved it! The narrator was fantastic and all the NYC references were so fun--I love it when I know exactly where something is happening or the feel of the kind of place it might be because I've been in places like it. And the knock-down metaphysical

battle at the end is edge-of-your-seat fun. The story is compact with not a word out of place. Highly recommended!

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LibraryThing member LisCarey

The process of a great city being born as a living city starts sooner than we might realize from just the birth itself. Living cities, actual and potential have enemies, and they need protectors.

This is a short story about one of New York's midwives, a young man about a decade earlier than the

actual birth, coached--and coaxed--by Paolo, the avatar of San Paolo. He's a street painter, and a singer, and he'd really rather not have the responsibility, but the city calls to him, and enemy needs to be stopped.

The narration is wonderful, and the story is a lovely addition to the two books so far in the Great Cities series.

I bought this audiobook.

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LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne

This was at least short, and the horror wasn't done well enough to scare me. The whole thing didn't seem to make a lot of sense to me.

LibraryThing member jazzbird61

Got it when it was published on Tor. GREAT story. To the friends that know me well. READ. THIS.
It's only 23 pages.

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