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

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. ( )

Fall 2021 (September);
~ 2021 Hugo Novel Nomination
~ 2022 Jan, Sarah's BookClub

Prequel to [b:The City We Became|42074525|The City We Became (Great Cities #1)|N.K. Jemisin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585327950l/42074525._SY75_.jpg|54760675] it was nice to actually read these in the reverse of their publishing, so that coming into this I was suddenly actively getting to have more of 'New York' the main avatar after our intrepid adventurers had found them. I loved the way it came to him, music and street art. I definitely want to know more about this Great Cities series. ( )

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! ( )

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! ( )