Review: The World We Make

The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even YA isn't immune to the ongoing strange trend of duologies being all the rage, as N.K. Jemisin indicates with her latest novel, her first in almost three full years. This series was initially announced as a trilogy, but it became clear this year that Jemisin was going to end it with the second book, which makes a lot of sense once you've read the acknowledgments at the end of the book. Jemisin was understandably burnt out writing such a series, with its stressful thematic relation to the real world as it grapples with terrible increases in racism, xenophobia, and a general disregard for human life.

And, to hear Jemisin tell it, truth truly is stranger than fiction, because some of her initial plans for this book wound up hewing a little too closely to the way things went in reality. So she set this book in a world that's recognizably modern and plagued with all the aforementioned social ills, and yet still makes very subtle and oblique references to some of the worst of it. Covid isn't a thing in this book, but there are still some anti-Asian slurs referencing viruses which Padmini gets hurled at her a time or two. And while Jemisin pivoted away from her plans to have the human villain (under the influence of Lady Lovecraft herself, the Woman in White, R'lyeh) be a Trump-like President Evil out to destroy his old hometown, elements of such a a character still show up in the openly racist, openly Trump-bastardizing mayoral candidate Panfilo - an unholy mashup of Rudy Giuliani and Andrew Cuomo, with a dash of the much-reviled Eric Adams for texture.

Unfortunately, one side effect of Jemisin wrapping things up one book early is that the book is very heavy on the buildup and very rushed at the actual end - not unlike Book 1, if it had any major flaws. But the ending still comes off as neat as you might expect, albeit quite open and making it very clear that there truly is no easy solution to the problems faced by New York City and its avatars.

As for the avatars, they all get some interesting character development. Neek (the prime avatar who narrated the original short story) is as obnoxious and insufferable as ever, and Bronca just as much, if not more so, though at least she gets a lot less attention in the narrative this time around. Aislyn remains woefully ignorant and bound by fear, but with the right encouragement, she starts coming out of her shell and taking steps to rectify her past wrongs (and really recognizing just how screwed up her bigoted family is, along with so many other Staten Islanders.) Manny's still pretty chill, though the recurring story thread of his romantic feelings for Neek really make me question his taste in men. Brooklyn heads up the main challenge to Panfilo's sickening mayoral campaign, and Padmini, a severely underdeveloped character in the first book, gets a very welcome increase in spotlight time and a ton of attention paid to her plight as an immigrant under constant threat of deportation. But the real MVP is our Jersey City, Veneza, who truly earns her place among the NYC avatars by rivaling Brooklyn and Padmini for sheer heart and helping better counterbalance Neek and Bronca and their abominable personalities.

All in all, while Jemisin doesn't quite stick the landing on this one as well as I was hoping, she still delivers a very relevant book. And fast-paced too - I was able to read it all in one sitting.

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