The City We Became
Great Cities • Book 1
by N.K. Jemisin
Narrated by Robin Miles
Why Listen to This Audiobook?
Robin Miles voices five versions of New York like she grew up in all five boroughs simultaneously.
- Great if you want: fantasy that treats a city as a living, breathing character
- Listening experience: dense and mythic — rewards patience, not a breezy listen
- Narration: Miles shifts dialects and energy across boroughs with striking precision
- Skip if: you want grounded plot over vibes and allegory
About This Audiobook
Every great city, N.K. Jemisin argues, eventually births a human avatar who embodies its soul. New York City generates five: one for each of the boroughs. But the city's awakening draws the attention of an ancient, malevolent entity determined to corrupt and consume it. The five avatars, strangers to each other and uncertain of their new nature, must find each other and unite before the city they represent is destroyed from within.
Robin Miles delivers a virtuosic performance that captures the novel's wild tonal range, from lyrical and mythic to sardonic and street-level. Her vocal range across five very different characters is remarkable, and she handles the novel's shifting registers, present-tense urgency alternating with cosmic scope, without losing momentum. Miles won the Audie Award for this performance, and the audiobook makes clear why: she is as essential to the experience as Jemisin's prose.
