In the acknowledgments of this book, NK Jemisin talks about how difficult it was to write, and I could feel that strain throughout. In her Broken Earth trilogy (which I now want to reread), there's so much imagination and craft in her world-building, but in reimagining New York City, a place that already exists, she felt stilted to me. The first book in the duology felt like a big build-up to a big battle, and then the pacing of this second book was so strange and uneven. I was ready for it to be over, sadly. For the author's sake, I'm glad the series is not a trilogy. Of course, the writing is sharp, and the dialogue is clever. I just think the concept should have maybe stayed in short story form. 

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Any New Yorker can feel like a god whether they're an avatar or not. ... They just need a rooftop and time. (172)