NK Jemison has made it onto a very small list of published authors that have succeeded in making me cry. In the author’s note, Jemison wrote about how this series was originally planned to be a trilogy but was bumped down to a duology because she was running out of steam and real-life events were way worse than anything she could’ve possibly written. I can believe that.

The last couple of chapters felt rushed, and a lot of subplots didn’t end to the satisfaction of my personal tastes. I think the Ur gave up a bit too easily after they’d been played up as these scary, multiverse-killing beings that are beyond the scope of human understanding.

And Neek and Manny… I love them but their relationship ends on such a foreboding note that can’t help but think that they aren’t made to last.

Despite all of this, there was so much more that I enjoyed. I loved how everyone was characterized. The dialogue and interactions were so fresh and rolled through my head so easily. Like I said before, there isn’t one character that I hated. I loved everyone.

The more I read, the more I became interested in the manifestations of other US cities. As a born and raised DC native, it did my spirit a lot of good to see that the avatar of my city would be a black woman of seemingly East African descent. At the moment of reading that line, I literally screamed, “You already fucking know!”

Anyways, very good. I’m very sad that I’ve reached the end, but this series has created a very nice sandbox that I think I’ll play in for a while.