
The City We Became
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Narrated by:
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Robin Miles
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By:
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N. K. Jemisin
About this listen
Three-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times best-selling author N.K. Jemisin crafts her most incredible novel yet, a "glorious" story of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City.
In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember who he is, where he's from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history, and feel its power.
In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it's as if the paint is literally calling to her.
In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels.
And they're not the only ones.
Every great city has a soul. Some are ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York? She's got six.
For more from N. K. Jemisin, check out:
The Inheritance Trilogy
- The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
- The Broken Kingdoms
- The Kingdom of God
- The Inheritance Trilogy (omnibus edition)
"Shades in Shadow: An Inheritance Triptych" (e-only short fiction)
The Awakened Kingdom (e-only novella)
Dreamblood Duology
- The Killing Moon
- The Shadowed Sun
- The Dreamblood Duology (omnibus)
The Broken Earth
The Fifth Season
The Obelisk Gate
The Stone Sky
How Long 'til Black Future Month? (short story collection)
"A glorious fantasy." (Neil Gaiman)
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Critic reviews
"A love/hate song to and rallying cry for the author's home of New York... Fierce, poetic, uncompromising." (Kirkus, starred review)
"The City We Became is a wonderfully inventive love letter to New York City that spans the multiverse. A big middle finger to Lovecraft with a lot of heart, creativity, smarts and humor. A timely and audacious allegorical tale for our times. This book is all these things and more." (Rebecca Roanhorse, author of Trail of Lightning)
"It's a glorious fantasy, set in that most imaginary of cities, New York. It's inclusive in all the best ways, and manages to contain both Borges and Lovecraft in its fabric, but the unique voice and viewpoint are Jemisin's alone." (Neil Gaiman)
"Some of the most exciting and powerful fantasy writing of today... Jemisin's latest will attract...even those who don't typically read genre fiction." (Booklist, starred review)
Featured Article: The Most Stellar Sci-Fi Authors of All Time
Science fiction is a genre as diverse as you can imagine. There are stories that take place in deep space, often depicting teams exploring or running away from something; stories that focus on life at the most cellular level, such as a pandemic tale; and stories that take place in times that feel similar to our own. Depicting themes of existentialism, philosophy, hubris, and personal and historical trauma, sci-fi has a cadre of topics and moods.

Editor's Pick
Don't mess with New York
"So many writers and creators have attempted and brilliantly succeeded at the city-as-character trope, and New York has been featured heavily in these stories—but how many writers can say they literally made New York a sentient being? Wait—don’t think about that too much: just start listening and experience how Jemisin drops you into this wonderfully weird, wild new fantasy series as if you were arriving for the first time in this bewildering and amazing city itself. I love her ability to adapt her unique voice to any story she tells, and this one—fast-paced, surreal, a little jaded—felt so quintessentially New York, I swear wore a permanent grin for the first few chapters. I didn’t really need a reason to get hyped about this new series beyond the fact that it existed—but as a born-and-raised New Yorker, Jemisin has written the love letter to my city that my weird little nerdy heart didn’t even know it yearned for."—Sam D., Audible Editor
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Story
Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian North. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother's death and her family's bloody history.
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Read, don't listen, to this book
- By Kaylee on 02-24-19
By: N. K. Jemisin
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How Long 'Til Black Future Month?
- Stories
- By: N. K. Jemisin
- Narrated by: Shayna Small, Gail Nelson-Holgate, Robin Ray Eller, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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N. K. Jemisin is one of the most powerful and acclaimed speculative fiction authors of our time. In the first collection of her evocative short fiction, Jemisin equally challenges and delights listeners with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption.
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Great! One quibble with the audiobook editing
- By L on 03-05-19
By: N. K. Jemisin
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The Fifth Season: Booktrack Edition
- The Broken Earth, Book 1
- By: N. K. Jemisin
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the way the world ends...for the last time. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.
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I would give this less than one star if I could.
- By Christin on 02-12-20
By: N. K. Jemisin
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The Wrong Unit
- A Novel
- By: Rob Dircks
- Narrated by: Rob Dircks
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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I don't know what the humans are so cranky about. Their enclosures are large, they ingest over 1,000 calories per day, and they're allowed to mate. Plus, they have me: an Autonomous Servile Unit, housed in a mobile/bipedal chassis. I do my job well: keep the humans healthy and happy.
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Futuristic journey without a single misstep
- By Julie W. Capell on 10-03-16
By: Rob Dircks
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Parasol Against the Axe
- A Novel
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Dorje Swallow
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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For reasons of her own, Hero Tojosoa accepts an invitation she was half expected to decline, and finds herself in Prague on a bachelorette weekend hosted by her estranged friend Sofie. Little does she know she’s arrived in a city with a penchant for playing tricks on the unsuspecting. A book Hero has brought with her seems to be warping her mind: the text changes depending on when it’s being listened to and who’s doing the listening, revealing startling new stories of fictional Praguers past and present.
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A surrealist chocolate box of delights
- By Roxanne Abeln-Taylor on 02-20-25
By: Helen Oyeyemi
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The Raven Tower
- By: Ann Leckie
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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For centuries, the kingdom of Iraden has been protected by the god known as the Raven. He watches over his territory from atop a tower in the powerful port of Vastai. His will is enacted through the Raven's Lease, a human ruler chosen by the god himself. His magic is sustained via the blood sacrifice that every Lease must offer. And under the Raven's watch, the city flourishes. But the power of the Raven is weakening. A usurper has claimed the throne. The kingdom borders are tested by invaders who long for the prosperity that Vastai boasts.
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A Unique Perspective and an Intriguing Mystery
- By Amazon Customer on 05-15-19
By: Ann Leckie
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Hollow Kingdom
- By: Kira Jane Buxton
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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S.T., a domesticated crow, is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with his owner Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle's wild crows (i.e. "those idiots"), and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos®. Then Big Jim's eyeball falls out of his head, and S.T. starts to think something isn't quite right. Even the slobbering affection of Big Jim's loyal but dim-witted dog, Dennis, fails to cure Big Jim's debilitating malady. S.T. is left with no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into a wild and frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis.
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Original, Funny, Unputdownable
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 05-08-20
By: Kira Jane Buxton
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What We Fed to the Manticore
- By: Talia Lakshmi Kolluri
- Narrated by: Nikki Massoud, Neil Shah
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Through nine emotionally vivid stories, all narrated from animal perspectives portraying the complexity of their lives and relationships, WHAT WE FED TO THE MANTICORE explores themes of environmentalism, conservation, identity, belonging, loss, and family with resounding heart and deep tenderness, and ultimately places the listener under the rich canopy of the tree of life.
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The Volcano Daughters
- A Novel
- By: Gina María Balibrera
- Narrated by: Gisela Chipe, Elena Rey, Alma Cuervo, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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El Salvador, 1923. Graciela, a young girl growing up on a volcano in a community of Indigenous women, is summoned to the capital, where she is claimed as an oracle for a rising dictator. There she meets Consuelo, the sister she has never known, who was stolen from their home before Graciela was born. The two spend years under the cruel El Gran Pendejo’s regime, unwillingly helping his reign of terror, until genocide strikes the community from which they hail.
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A Masterpiece, a must read!
- By Plant lover on 09-30-24
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Riot Baby
- By: Tochi Onyebuchi
- Narrated by: Tochi Onyebuchi
- Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Ella has a Thing. She sees a classmate grow up to become a caring nurse. A neighbor's son murdered in a drive-by shooting. Things that haven't happened yet. Kev, born while Los Angeles burned around them, wants to protect his sister from a power that could destroy her. But when Kev is incarcerated, Ella must decide what it means to watch her brother suffer while holding the ability to wreck cities in her hands. Rooted in the hope that can live in anger, Riot Baby is as much an intimate family story as a global dystopian narrative.
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I...wasn’t...ready
- By Amazon Customer1 on 04-28-20
By: Tochi Onyebuchi
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Afterland
- By: Lauren Beukes
- Narrated by: Bianca Amato
- Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Most of the men are dead. Three years after the pandemic known as The Manfall, governments still hold and life continues - but a world run by women isn't always a better place. Twelve-year-old Miles is one of the last boys alive, and his mother, Cole, will protect him at all costs. On the run after a horrific act of violence - and pursued by Cole's own ruthless sister, Billie - all Cole wants is to raise her kid somewhere he won't be preyed on as a reproductive resource or a sex object or a stand-in son.
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Good book, bad reader
- By Anonymous User on 07-31-20
By: Lauren Beukes
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Black Girl Unlimited
- The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard
- By: Echo Brown
- Narrated by: Echo Brown
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Echo Brown is a wizard from the East Side, where apartments are small and parents suffer addictions to the white rocks. Yet there is magic...everywhere. New portals begin to open when Echo transfers to the rich school on the West Side, and an insightful teacher becomes a pivotal mentor. Each day, Echo travels between two worlds, leaving her brothers, her friends, and a piece of herself behind on the East Side. There are dangers to leaving behind the place that made you.
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A beautiful discovery
- By T. Martin on 01-02-21
By: Echo Brown
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A Memory Called Empire
- Teixcalaan, Book 1
- By: Arkady Martine
- Narrated by: Amy Landon
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident - or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court. Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion.
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Story is great, weird editing, not great narration
- By Nadia on 06-10-19
By: Arkady Martine
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Emergency Skin
- Forward collection
- By: N. K. Jemisin
- Narrated by: Jason Isaacs
- Length: 1 hr and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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What will become of our self-destructed planet? The answer shatters all expectations in this subversive speculation from the Hugo Award - winning author of the Broken Earth trilogy. An explorer returns to gather information from a climate-ravaged Earth that his ancestors, and others among the planet’s finest, fled centuries ago. The mission comes with a warning: A graveyard world awaits him. But so do those left behind - hopeless and unbeautiful wastes of humanity who should have died out ages ago.
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Try to avoid getting clubbed by the message...
- By Chris on 04-10-20
By: N. K. Jemisin
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Olivetti
- By: Allie Millington
- Narrated by: Christopher Gebauer, Simon Vance
- Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Being a typewriter is not as easy as it looks. Surrounded by books (notorious attention hogs) and recently replaced by a computer, Olivetti has been forgotten by the Brindles—the family he’s lived with for years. The Brindles are busy humans, apart from twelve-year-old Ernest, who would rather be left alone with his collection of Oxford English Dictionaries. Once a collector of words, now Olivetti only collects dust. He gets a rare glimpse of action from Ernest’s mom, Beatrice—his used-to-be frequent visitor—only for her to drop him off at Heartland Pawn Shop and leave him behind.
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Absolutely brilliant!
- By Stephanie C. on 05-14-24
By: Allie Millington
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Moonbound
- A Novel
- By: Robin Sloan
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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It is eleven thousand years from now . . . A lot has happened, and yet a lot is still very familiar. Ariel is a boy in a small town under a wizard’s rule. Like many adventurers before him, Ariel is called to explore a world full of unimaginable glories and challenges: unknown enemies, a mission to save the world, a girl. Here, as they say, be dragons. But none of this happens before Ariel comes across an artifact from an earlier civilization, a sentient, record-keeping artificial intelligence that carries with it the perspective of the whole of human history.
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Now one of my favorite books
- By Leif Hansen on 07-06-24
By: Robin Sloan
What listeners say about The City We Became
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- Anonymous User
- 04-14-21
Heavy handed
Mild spoilers ahead.
Admittedly the main idea of this book is wonderful. N.K Jemisin suggests in this novel that cities are multidimensional ententies. Cities like New York have so much history, so much vibrancy so much metaphorical life flowing through their streets that they litterally come to life and manifest an avatar, a personification of what the city is as a whole.
Doing so, however, wipes out and destroys alternate universes where the city presumably doesn't exist or something else exists in its place. This means cities being "born" are vunerable to attack from extra-dimensioanal ententies.
In short, N.K. Jemisin is mixing H.P. Lovecraft with every novel/play/song where the location plays a big role. In theory its a wonderful idea. In practice its very heavy handed as to what constitutes a healthy city and what doesn't. In short, gentrification universally bad, "real" New York good.
Tearing down the old to make way for the new is seen as suspicious at least, dangerous at worst. Never mind the fact that in New York what constitutes as old or new is up for considerable debate. The author picked a date and decided anything more recent wasn't the real New York. Every child does this with the place that they grow up in, hating the changes, good or bad, that inevitably come to a place they love with nostalgic intensity. I suppose New Yorkers are no exception.
Much of what Jemisin says makes sense. For example unique, "family owned" coffee shops making way for corporate soulless Starbucks is literally the sign of the apocalypse. Similarly anything xenophobic, racist or hateful in any way is posionious to the city as a whole. This last statement is one no sane person would disagree with, but the way this idea is shoved into our faces without subltly leaves something to be desired.
Finally, is it just me or is anyone else slightly insulted that New York is the first city in America to come to life? What about Salem, Massachusetts? Or Jamestown, Virginia? Or hell why not the capital of the freaking country, Washington D.C? Aren't there cities in America older than New York with equally diverse cultures and rich histories? New York may be important but it ain't the only game in town.
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- Val Barnes
- 05-16-20
Wonderful story, amazing production
Incredibly creative, characters you have to love and admire, perfectly paced. And, I think this is the best-narrated and best-produced audiobook I listened to since I joined Audible in 10-15 years ago. Brava, all!!!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Alex
- 06-20-20
Amazing performance !
Very fun listen and an outstanding performance by Robin Miles (the narrator). She deserves the Oscar equivalent of performances for audible. Her Brazilian accent could have been a little better but that was the only slight knock on her. This is the perfect example of when the audible is better than actually reading the book. N. K. Jemisin turns NYC into a whirlwind of out of this world visuals for the listeners/readers. Perfect homage to NYC. However, I don’t think I would have liked this as much as I did if I didn’t grow up in NJ right outside the city my whole life. Glad I gave this a listen!
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- Christine
- 07-22-20
Wow and Wow! Thank you For Another Special Series
I am a big fan of N.K. Jemisin and this book is at the top of my list of favorites!
Robin Miles' Narration was top notch and her ability to inhabit each character so fully was astounding!
The whole premise of the book is very timely in every way and I cannot wait for the next in the series!
I bought this as an Audiobook to listen to when I was driving and after having to pull over to shout at my car speakers I decided I might want to listen to it in a safer space!
I actually need to read this in print or on my Kindle, but Robin Miles voices will inhabit my head when I do!
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- sammyaction
- 05-05-20
N.K Jemisin is the fantasy reader you have to read
This unique and interesting book brings to life NYC like you've never imagined it. NK Jemisin is a master at building a world. Even a world you think you already know. She rhythmically weaves a spectacle you can easily get lost reading. I cannot wait for the next book in this series. She is a true master of her trade. Robin Miles brings books to life with an outstanding read. Music to your ears in book form. When these two combine its worth every second.
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- Aileen
- 05-30-20
So good
Loved everything about this book. The characters are interesting. The story is vivid. and the narrator is spectacular.
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- Christopher DiGregorio
- 07-06-20
Exceptional
This book did something I thought was impossible. It made me want to move back to New York
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- Andrea Jayne
- 06-09-20
Loved It!
The narration for this book was amazing. each character had a distinct voice which played perfectly into his/her personality!
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- Omar bonafoux
- 12-21-20
Jemisin gets New York
Thoroughly enjoyed this book, being a New Yorker the language and references were so spot on. Robin Miles captured the heart of this book with the accents and inflections. Fantastically fun and a great adventure. This is going into my bank of greats.
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- Anonymous User
- 11-15-20
incredible performance
awesome book. the performance by the narrator was nuanced and inspored and simply beautiful. brought so much to the story
I believe n.k. jemisin is one of the greatest sci fi authors of the times. I look forward to many more words from her prolific genius
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