I've only been to New York once, many years ago, so I'm speaking very much as an outsider; a stranger to NY.
I would agree with the sentiments regarding the bridges to some degree. Obviously the Brooklyn bridge and Manhattan bridge (if I recognize them correctly) are both iconic structures and would probably have a place in any cultural reference to NY, Brooklyn or Manhattan. However, I do wonder if they're a little "neither here nor there," in terms of placement within the overall book. They don't form a backdrop to virtually every image in some manner yet they are present enough to feel like a theme that hasn't been completed. As such I'm left feeling as if I'm being taken on a fairly well trodden tour guide of the area at times.
That feeling isn't helped by some of the repetition in image types either in my opinion e.g. the sunbathers in Brooklyn bridge park (a strong image IMO) followed a few pages later with a similar but less strong image of the man sunbathing on his own. There are several 'open water' shots that leave me with little or no 'sense of place,' whether these are immediately recognizable to New Yorkers or Americans I don't know. Having said all that, there are images here that showed so much more of New York and the area you photographed. Things that to me, an outsider, gave an impression of a real place with its high and lows, its industry and its leisure etc. The pages with the swing bridge and fortress like concrete tower gave me an insight into the area that was far more meaningful to me than some of the more usual imagery within the book. Again, the pictures of people using these spaces (the baseball, music video shoot, religious procession etc) alongside images of birds and flotsam, concrete towers, two trees against a glass wall of skyscrapers etc allows me to gain an idea of what the area may really be like than some of the other imagery.
The first impression is a very good one in terms of the cover and first page in my opinion. The cover, alongside the title, gives a clear impression of what to expect inside and the first page image is both a dramatic page filler and lends itself to the idea of the title too...I just wish that impression continued throughout the course of the book.
Overall, well its impressive simply that you get off your backside and do this (these, as you've clearly done this before from looking at your Blurb page) projects and simply for that I'm amazed you have two votes rating this a '2.' I loathe ratings as they seem quite arbitrary but as you asked I'd suggest a five for just doing it, perhaps a seven as it stands and the ability to go 8 or even 9 if there were a little rejigging along the lines I mentioned.
All my opinion of course and my genuine congratulations for doing it.
