The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
“They shall control the winds and be lords of the deserts. And any traveler who strays across their land shall be doomed.”
Nahri is a con artist, and essentially fakes it till she makes it. Literally, it’s her pretending that leads her to ultimately summon a djinn and discover that the entire time, she actually had some form of power. Except now she must make her way to Daevabad where she belongs. Where she discovers more than just her own power, but of that of her new djinn friend and that of her fearsome ancestors.
The Story
It’s been a few days since I finished this fantastic book and I am still having a hard time putting words together. I will in no way do this book any justice with this review, but I have to write something. I love that a debut novel can be just as good as a veteran writer, and this book deserves so much more hype. Why aren’t more people reading this? Truly, The Kingdom of Copper has bumped up to one of my most anticipated released for 2018. When I initially read the synopsis I thought, hmm, this sounds like it could be along the lines of Rebel in the Sands or The Star Touched Queen (both of which I thoroughly enjoyed) meets a con artist, but it ended up exceeding more than those simple expectations.
The story is much more complex than one about a girl who accidentally calls a djinn warrior and discovers that the magical world she was pretending existed actually existed. This book also had me drawn in from the beginning as within 10% the exciting action had me at the edge of my virtual seat wringing my hands as Nahri starts her adventure out near death…literally.
The World Building
This story was beautiful. Even though it is essentially set in Egypt in the 1800’s it transports you to an intricately woven magical world that is in parallel with the real one that we know. Let me be honest though. Even though there wasn’t an info dump, there were a few times that I felt a little overwhelmed by the culture of Daevabad (The City of Brass). The differences between the different djinn tribes was intriguing but left me hoping that the next book would dive a little more into their history and differences.
The Characters
The book is told from two POV. I love how intricately their two different stories collided and melded together. I really look forward to see how Nahri plays into the politics from here on out as she holds such a precarious position.
The Soundtrack
I feel like I must point out that this is one of my favorite songs to blast in my car. The climactic ending is fantastic and I reminisce seeing these guys live and what an amazing show they put on, especially this song. Anyway, it pleases me to attribute this jam to such a fantastic book.
mewithoutyou – O, Porcupine
