The City of Brass: A Novel

I have been on a djinn kick lately, ever since learning a bit about the actual beliefs and mythology of them, and this was exactly the kind of portrayal of djinn I was hoping it would be! It was everything I wanted from the djinn and more. I sometimes read this author's [really interesting] Twitter threads about djinn-related stories, so it doesn't surprise me that she created a great version of them. But not only did she have different types of djinn with different abilities, she created this whole complex and well-thought-out history and society for them that included war, religion, tribes/families, economy, prejudice, and more.As for the characters themselves, they were just as amazingly well-written. They were complex and believable and three-dimensional. I found myself rooting for so many of them, even when they did bad things, even when they were on opposing sides. In fact, I want to talk a little bit (or a lotta bit) about some of them in particular. I won't share anything I consider a true spoiler, but you can skip the next four paragraphs if you haven't read this yet and don't like to know anything.*POTENTIAL MILD SPOILERS*DARA! Dara was *such* an interesting character. You know how sometimes in books we get this brooding love interest character, and we're constantly told what a monster he is, but we're never actually shown anything bad? Or he does things that seem bad, but then it turns out there's a perfectly good explanation for them? (Sorry for the mini rant, I get really frustrated by that.) Well, this was the perfect example of a character who really had done awful things, and the author didn't try to cover them up, and the reader even got to see some of his darker side firsthand. And you know what? *I still liked him.* He was a character who was not all good, but not all bad. You had this caring side of him and his side of the story about the past, then you had this cruel side of him and the opposing side of the story that made him out to be a monster. He had a lot of prejudice against shafit and the other djinn tribes, and he was a troublemaker sometimes. He never just laid low and kept his head down; his beliefs and desires were too strong for that, and sometimes his temper got the best of him. But the thing is, for the other djinn, the war and the things that happened were over a thousand years in the past. It was something that happened to their ancestors, not them. For Dara, it was like it just happened since he didn't remember his time as a slave. And his hatred of the Qahtani family was kind of understandable when you consider how they killed his whole family. And I think he regretted, or was starting to regret, some of his past. I also felt terrible for him, having been made a slave. He just had all these layers and all this complexity that I loved.I liked Prince Ali too, even though he and Dara were basically enemies. He was so caught in the middle between his family and his desire to do what was right and help the shafit. I felt like he actually did make the best choices possible, and yet no one on either side was happy with him or willing to understand, and it completely blew up in his face. I felt really bad for him, and I felt like he had a lot of realism and complexity too.I even liked Muntadhir. He liked to drink and fool around and avoid responsibility, but, in his defense, he didn't ask to be king one day. I think the poor guy just wanted to have a life with you-know-who, but he knew he never could. And he defended his brother and seemed to really care about him. I think he also had more depth than Ali realized. I don't like the decision he made at the end, but, when I consider things from his perspective, I can understand it.Last but not least, Nahri. She was believable, and I could completely understand her desire to stay in the place she called home, to not be forced into an entirely different lifestyle, culture, and religious faith. I felt for her when bad things happened. I thought she great when she took charge with that list of demands from the king. She was strong-willed, and I liked her.*END SPOILERS*I also liked the romance, but I feel it was overshadowed by the amazing characters and all the intrigue and complexity of the plot, which is not necessarily a bad thing, just the reason I almost didn't even think to mention it. I would've maybe liked to see a little more of Nahri and Dara's time together as their feelings were developing, but I still thought their feelings were believable enough, and they had a cute dynamic sometimes.What I loved most about this book though was that nothing was simple or black-and-white. The characters weren't perfect, and they were biased, and they didn't always know what was best, and they made mistakes, and they did bad things sometimes, but they also did good things sometimes. Their motivations, their desires, their backgrounds, their feelings, their relationships---none of it was clear-cut. And the whole situation in Daevabad with the Daeva and the shafit and all the characters involved was complex in a very realistic way.This book was a little long and somewhat slow-paced, and I may have skimmed some of the descriptions of rooms and gardens, but those were my only issues, and they're such small ones.I'm so glad Danya @ Fine Print and Becky @ A Fool's Ingenuity wrote such amazing reviews for this book because I'm pretty sure they were the ones who convinced me I needed to give this book a try!To wrap this up, if I had to pick one word to describe this book, it would be 'complex'. I'm pretty sure I used it like ten times in this review. Seriously, the history, the society, the djinn, the backstories, the characters, their relationships---all of it was so well-thought-out and detailed and well-written, and I definitely plan to continue this series!Rating: 4 StarsOriginal Review @ Metaphors and Moonlight (link in profile)

Building a believable and realized world is not an easy task. S.A. Chakraborty's debut fantasy novel, The City of Brass, is a near perfect world-building blend of myth, history, and originality. The layers of lore, myth, and back story is so thick and rich though that there is a slight price paid in plotting and characters.We are introduced early on to Nahri in as a young Cairo woman making her living as a con artist during the Napoleonic era occupation of Egypt. She gets by pulling little cons, mostly working marks over with fortune-telling scams and the occasional exorcism. He has magical abilities that she uses for her hustles but beyond that she really has no understanding of where they come from. She also does not understand her natural abilities to understand any language she hears. And in true mythological fashion, she is an orphan who has no idea of who her parents are or of anything else about her family.One day while performing an exorcism of a young girl she interprets as merely mentally ill, she livens it up by incorporating a summons in a language that she thinks she only knows. Little does she know it actually summons a Daeva warrior and awakens the Ifrit Iwithin the girl. That night she is hunted by the fiery Ifrit while Dara, the Daeva rescues her. Realizing that she is at least part Daeva herself (known as a Shafit) and that the Ifrit are now hunting her, they head to Daevabad, a magical city where only Deava's, Djinn, and Shafits may enter.Things aren't rosy in Daevabad, though as there is growing unrest among the Shafits against the pure blood Djinns. Meanwhile the upper-class nobles who still call themselves Daevas maintain a tribalistic disdain for the Djinn, whom they consider usurpers. The youngest prince of Daevabad, Ali, has sympathy for the Shafits who are treated as second class citizens in the enchanted city. He becomes secretly involved with the Tanzeem, thinking he is contributing to a benevolent organization but his naiveté  gets the better of him when they are not what they appear to be.There is quite a bit of naiveté to go around it seems as Nahri herself gets caught up in the internal politics of Daevabad and its history. She is believed to be the only surviving daughter of Manizeh, a legendary healer who died twenty years ago. She was the last of her kind and it was believed that she had no children. She is named Banu Nahidu, the great healer of the city. Yet she shows herself inept at healing creatures straight out of fairy tales.Dara, it turns out, is the ancient protector of her family, but with a tainted and bloody past that inspires fear, hatred, and even awe.  He is not only secretive of his bloody past, but his memories are foggy as well.Though the novel is lean on plot development and is a bit of a slow burn as far as narrative action is concerned, the author makes up for it by incorporating middle-eastern myths and modern world building techniques to bring to life an amazing world in her debut novel which is the first in a planned trilogy. There are layers upon layers of internal lore, mixing known myths about Djinns and Ifrits  along with the author's own creation. She also mixes in subtle Islamic myths about the prophet Suleiman (Solomon).Underlying the heavy lore of The City of Brass is subtle and subversive messages of racism, and especially tribalism. The difference between Djinn and Deavas are really in a name. And yet when Narhi calls Dara a Djinn, he is deeply offended by it. He also shows an illogical hatred for those that call themselves Djinn. And then there are the Shafits who are of blood mixed with humans who are treated poorlyThis beautiful novel is not without blemishes, however. Some of those are with the way the characters act or react to things, especially that of Nahri. As streetwise as she comes across in the beginning of the book, somewhere in the middle of the book, she seems to become less street smart and spends time having her heart flutter when in the presence of Dara to being extremely naive about the what it will take to survive in her adopted city. She shows little interest in learning about her family history, the history of the Deavas or of her supposed mother and family. This is a little frustrating since a good con artist would learn a few things about their surroundings just by instinct.Dara, himself does not come across as a very sympathetic character. He is quite short-tempered and bears a centuries old grudge against the al Qahtani, the ruling family of Daevabad. He is also elitist and rather prejudiced against those who have adopted to calling themselves Djinn as opposed to Daevas. And he is especially disdainful of Shafits.Ali's role comes across later as the good guy, in contrast to Dara's bad boy image. Though he is a competent warrior and member of the city's elite guards, he is also bookish and empathetic to the sufferings about him of the Shafits. He may have the bigger character arc as he will have to deal with his empathy for the suffering against his love and loyalty to his father.King Ghassan al Qahtani is a surprisingly nuanced character. Not evil, but pragmatic in his rule of Daevabad. He also loves his children dearly, yet will cut will not hesitate to cut ties with them if it became necessary.This is a very rich and lush book of will engulf you into a world full of Djinn, Ifrits, and many other magical creatures. And yes, there is even a flying carpet. S.A. Chakraborty's website has a helpful guide to the world of the Daevabad Trilogy. The book also has a glossary in the back. It can come in handy because there is a lot to digest in this world.The novel closes at a cliffhanger and I have the follow-up book The Kingdom of Copper on my too read pile already. This book is Highly Recommended.

assim que comecei esse livro entendi completamente porque tem tanta gente obcecada nele, ele simplesmente é MUITO bom, é um daqueles livros que o melhor é trajetória que você faz acompanhando os personagens. o caos dos últimos capítulos? IMPECÁVEL. não vejo a hora de ler o restante!!

Hace cientos de años seis tribus fueron creadas luego de una terrible guerra, Nahri está a punto de conocerlas. Por accidente ella convoca a un guerrero Djinn durante una de sus presentaciones, ahora ambos deben escapar del Cairo por el inminente peligro en el que se encuentran, el único lugar seguro es Daevabad, la legendaria City of brass. Nahri no sabe que ella está unida a esta ciudad y que su presencia ahí será toda una revelación.A pesar de los cientos de nombres de tribus que tuve que aprenderme, de ciudades, de criaturas míticas, de dialectos, de armas, de vestimenta, de palabras que se usan específicamente para algo, sin contar que tenia que estar adivinando si ciertas palabras eran inventadas o las podía traducir, realmente disfruté este libro. No saben lo bien construido que está el mundo en el que se desarrolla, todo es asombroso, quedé maravillada por el world building. La historia es realmente buena, porque en ocasiones se crea un buen universo pero la historia no es convincente, City of brass no es uno de esos libros, los personajes se ganaron mi corazón, la historia me mantuvo súper enganchada de principio a fin, y hace mucho no me pasaba eso, reí, sufrí, gocé, me enamoré. Tienen que leer este libro.Cabe aclarar que este es un libro introductorio a todo lo demás que sea que vaya a ocurrir, nos ponen en contexto con acontecimientos del pasado y con todo el mundo que conforma está trilogía, eso no quiere decir que sea un libro aburrido donde solo se enseña la historia de Daevabad.Yo le doy 4.8 de 5 ⭐ porque me hubiera gustado que se desarrollara un poco más la interacción de ciertos personajes antes de crear una amistad, digo, con 4 veces que interactúen no pueden crear un súper vínculo.La mala noticia es que este libro por ahora solamente está en inglés, si leen en inglés no duden en comprarlo.

This edition is so freaking gorgeous!The book is incredible and beautifully writing.Can’t wait to read the sequel that just been released.Uma história maravilhosa com uma escrita envolvente.Recomendo para quem gosta de uma fantasia super gostosa de se ler, com personagens fantásticos e com uma escrita super boa.

Tenía muchísimo tiempo sin leer una novela fantástica tan interesante, además con una mitología y folklore del que muy pocos escriben, que es el arábigo con tintes musulman. Los personajes, complejos y cautivantes, enfrentan cada uno sus propios dilemas desde sus puntos de vista. La novela está narrada desde el punto de vista de Nahri, una chica huérfana criada en el Cairo del siglo 18, quien involuntariamente invoca fuerzas desconocidas que la atraparán en un mundo que es mitad sueño y mitad pesadilla, y el príncipe Ali, hijo del Rey Ghassan de Daevabad, la ciudad fantástica de los djinn, que por más magia contenida en sus paredes no escapa de los mismos males que sufren la gran mayoria de las sociedades humanas: el descontento con la clase gobernante y la inequidad entre la población. Son puntos de vista en constante conflicto el uno con el otro y esto mantiene al lector al borde de la silla, deseando leer más y más. Un libro muy recomendado, tanto por el estilo de la autora que pasó muchos años preparando su debut y por la historia atrapante. No se arrepentiran.

It's like harry potter meets Genie (that one from Aladdin). But Harry is a girl and Genie is a hot warrior djinn.