Where do gods come from? Cities have had gods for millennia, but how do the gods of cities come into being? It’s a messy process and, like a turtle egg hatching on the beach, there are always predators waiting to devour a newborn. That’s the premise of N.K. Jemisin’s The City We Became, which promises to be the first in a fantasy trilogy.

The city in question is New York City with its many, diverse neighborhoods. Jemisin knows the city and, in some sense, has written a love letter to New York City. Though I hasten to add that her city doesn’t have the fuzzy veneer of cute perfection sometimes seen in books or movies (like a rom-com or a Woody Allen movie). Her city is a place where people live, work, and struggle – often within communities that protect and insulate them – against one another more often not. New York’s not a city for the faint of heart, but for those who embrace it, it’s home…

…until a trans-dimensional being tries to devour the city before the new-born avatars, the gods of the city, can figure out exactly how to be what the city needs and how to defeat the creeping and extremely creepy horror as it tries to colonize the five boroughs of the city.

Jemisin conducts a masterclass in plotting a suspenseful story as the city-avatars race to find each other and to get along with one another. Until the very end, I was left wondering how it would end.

The main characters stand out clearly as individuals with complex personalities that defy defy easy pigeonholing (they are embodying millions of people, after all). I didn’t necessarily like all the main characters, but they emerged as solid and believable. My only minor quibble was wanting to see more of Queens, one of the city-avatars who isn’t as well developed as the others.

I listened to the audiobook version, narrated by Robin Miles, who also narrated the three books of the Broken Earth trilogy (also by Jemisin). Miles created distinct, believable characters and her delivery was a match for the horror-suspense vibe of the prose.

The City We Became is the start of a trilogy. After this first book, I’m looking forward to another great ride.