As I slowly start falling in love again with reading, I took a look at my bookshelves to see which books I had bought some time ago but hadn’t gotten around to reading just yet. The one that stood out the most to me was The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty. A story of a con artist and djinn? Yeah, I’d like that please! So I dove right in, and here are my thoughts!
Nahri is a con woman on the streets of Cairo, using tricks to swindle nobles. But then she accidentally summons a mysterious djinn warrior and has to face the fact that the magical world from childhood stories is real. Together with the warrior, Nahri sets off to Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, to which she is irrevocably bound. But in Daevabad, old resentments are simmering, and magic cannot shield Nahri from all danger.
Confused
The City of Brass is the first part of a trilogy that is inspired by islamic mythology. In this book, there are six djinn tribes who live together in Daevabad, but conflict is always around the corner. And that is without mentioning the shafit, who are half djinn and half human, and therefore inferior in the eyes of most djinn.
I found the world Chakraborty created in this book a bit confusing at first. Ifrit, shafit, djinn, Daeva, etc. And all the mentions of past conflicts between these factions felt a bit too much at once. Especially since the first part of this book focused a lot of world-building – or in this case, info-dumping – with some added romance that felt a bit too insta-love-y.
Once Nahri arrived in Daevabad and the story properly picked up pace, I really enjoyed it. But it took a while to get there, especially since I am chronically exhausted and can only seem to read 40-ish pages in one sitting.
Conflicted
The City of Brass is told through two points of view: Nahri’s, and Ali’s, who is a prince in Daevabad. In the beginning, I didn’t really like Ali and I’m still not sure what to think of him. He’s a bit of a zealot at times, but at the same time he is not blind to the suffering of the shafit. And then there’s Dara, the ancient warrior Nahri meets summons in Cairo. We don’t get to read his POV, so I have no idea what is actually going on in his mind. But he is a fascinating character!
Which is actually how I feel about most of the cast in this story. I have no idea who the good guys are and who the bad guys. Even at the end of this first book, I am not sure who to root for just yet. And I actually love that! It means Chakraborty has created complex, layered characters who struggle with their loyalties and past actions. Characters who are believable and 3-dimensional, just what I love!
And while Nahri is clearly *the* main character, even she is not purely good. She definitely has her not-so-positive sides. Which is not surprising for someone who has her whole life and worldview uprooted, of course. I did miss some of her con artist skills when she was in Daevabad and kept making strange, foolish decisions. But honestly, I have no idea what I would do in her place. I think my brain would be fried from all the new information (I mean, it nearly was from just reading all this information, let alone living through it while fleeing monsters out to kill me).
Conclusion
Like I said, the first part of The City of Brass wasn’t easy to get through, but I’m glad that I did. Because the ending was epic and the epilogue was just perfect! In fact, I ordered the second and third book in this series as soon as I turned that last page. So look out for those reviews! And in the meantime, make sure to pick up The City of Brass, which gets 4.5 stars from me!
Fiction
Voyager
July 3, 2018
544
Discover this spellbinding debut from S.A. Chakraborty. 'An extravagant feast of a book - spicy and bloody, dizzyingly magical, and still, somehow, utterly believable' Laini Taylor, Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author Among the bustling markets of eighteenth century Cairo, the city's outcasts eke out a living swindling rich Ottoman nobles and foreign invaders alike. But alongside this new world the old stories linger. Tales of djinn and spirits. Of cities hidden among the swirling sands of the desert, full of enchantment, desire and riches. Where magic pours down every street, hanging in the air like dust. Many wish their lives could be filled with such wonder, but not Nahri. She knows the trades she uses to get by are just tricks and sleights of hand: there's nothing magical about them. She only wishes to one day leave Cairo, but as the saying goes... Be careful what you wish for.
