The Great Cities Duology
#6073.88 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 2 books Status Complete 2020–2022 Reading commitment Low N.K. Jemisin Last reviewed 2026-08-15
Overview
The Great Cities Duology is a contemporary urban fantasy by N.K. Jemisin, published as The City We Became (2020) and The World We Make (2022), and her fourth admitted universe here, wholly separate from The Broken Earth, The Inheritance Trilogy, and The Dreamblood Duology. Its premise holds that every great city, on reaching a critical mass of identity and history, is eventually born as a living entity, choosing human avatars for itself and for each of its boroughs to defend it against the thing that wants to strangle it in its crib. The two novels follow New York City's newborn avatars, one for the city as a whole and one for each of its five boroughs, as they learn to work together against an ancient, Lovecraftian enemy that has already destroyed other great cities before they could finish being born. The City We Became was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.
Urban fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (2 works) counts toward ranking
The Great Cities N.K. Jemisin
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The City We Became | 2020 | 1 | core | 3.83 (81,017 ratings) |
 | The World We Make | 2022 | 2 | core | 4.08 (19,681 ratings) |
Complete 2-book duology; sfadb's own bibliography lists no further entries in this series.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Great Cities Duology? The Great Cities Duology's Core Canon is 2 books.
- What is the reading order for The Great Cities Duology? Publication order, starting with The City We Became. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Great Cities Duology finished? Complete (2020–2022).
- How much reading does The Great Cities Duology take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 2 Core Canon books · ~794 pages).
- How is The Great Cities Duology ranked? #607 in this site's official ranking, based on 100,698 reader ratings across 2 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #607?
Ranked #607 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.88 across 2 core books.
- Backed by 101k reader ratings.
- Less than 0.01 behind #606, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 2 books · Complete · 101k ratings · Ranks #607 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment urban fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (2 Core Canon books)
- The City We Became (2020)
- The World We Make (2022)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- BSFA Award (Best Novel), 2020: won: The City We Became
- Locus Award (Fantasy Novel), 2021: won: The City We Became
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2021: finalist: The City We Became
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2021: finalist: The City We Became
Related universes
- Same author The Broken Earth: Both by N.K. Jemisin; The Great Cities Duology (a living-New-York urban fantasy) is a 4th, independent universe with no shared characters, setting, or continuity.
- Same author The Inheritance Trilogy: Both by N.K. Jemisin; The Great Cities Duology (a living-New-York urban fantasy) is a 4th, independent universe with no shared characters, setting, or continuity.
- Same author The Dreamblood Duology: Both by N.K. Jemisin; The Great Cities Duology (a living-New-York urban fantasy) is a 4th, independent universe with no shared characters, setting, or continuity.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what The Great Cities Duology and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Sixth World Urban fantasy / Dark fantasy · Ongoing · Low commitment · 4.02
- Tea with the Black Dragon Urban fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.92
- Djinn City Urban fantasy / Comic fantasy · Ongoing · Low commitment · 3.76
- Moonheart / Spiritwalk Urban fantasy / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.07
Official resources
- sfadb: N. K. Jemisin Titles
- The Hugo Awards: 2021 Hugo Awards
- The Nebula Awards: The City We Became
- BSFA: Past Winners
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.88 across 100,698 ratings on 2 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: The Great Cities Duology admitted; Core = The City We Became, The World We Make accepted 2026-08-15
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Related universes: see the Related universes section above.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-15
Rule: Core Canon = the complete 2-book duology: The City We Became (2020) and The World We Make (2022); sfadb's own bibliography lists no further entries in this series.