Review: The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

The City of Brass

S.A. Chakraborty

(The Daevabad Trilogy #1)

Publication Date: November 14, 2017

Hardcover, 533 pages, Harper Voyager

Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical

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Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles.

But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.

In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.

After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for...

My Review

Wow. So I haven’t had any strong reactions to reading a book in years. But this book. Whew. This book’s ending made me ANGRY. In a fantastic way. And I loved every moment of it. Almost. I actually kind of felt like the little boy in The Princess Bride when Westley dies. Remember him? Yeah, that was me.

We start The City of Brass by following Nahri’s POV. She’s a con artist in 18^th century Cairo, so when she summons a djinn warrior with a snarky attitude, I was hooked. I love me some romantic tension. Things were a little jarring, though, when the POV switched to Ali. At first I was wary, since his chapters were taking me away from Nahri and Dara’s storyline, but I quickly grew to love his viewpoints just as much as theirs. Each time either Nahri’s or Ali’s chapters ended, I was sad. I wanted to stay with the character longer. I give major props to Chakraborty for being able to make me disappointed each time a viewpoint ended.

Basically, I loved all of the characters. Even the evil ones. Ghassan is the evil ruler every evil ruler in fantasy dreams of being. (He’s actually logical at times and that’s what makes him so bad.) Dara is the mysterious bad boy with a humorous side. Ali is a clueless cinnamon roll, and Nahri is a strong woman who looks out for herself. I love it. It also helps that these main characters aren’t the leaders of the revolt that’s happening within the djinn city. All of these characters are kind of just stuck in the middle of this terrible situation. Of course, this may develop differently in the second book, but I appreciated the idea that not every fantasy protagonist is the leader of the rebellion.

Now, I do have to admit that while the beginning was a very fun adventure, with Nahri running to the city of Daevabad and Ali navigating his political family, the middle of the story did slow the pace down quite a bit, as both characters were put into the political minefield and there was a dip in the action scenes. But that ending. Oh boy, that ending. HOLY COW! It was chaotic and insane. I had the most visceral reaction I’ve ever had reading a book. Chapter 27 was heart-stopping. Needless to say, I’ll be buying books two and three. I must know what happens to these precious characters.

One reason I’m not giving this book five whole stars, despite the fact that it’s the only book in a long time to make me so unbelievably worried for a character that I had to spoil myself by looking up the sequel’s description on Goodreads, is that the world-building was a little confusing at times. The djinn/daeva have a complicated history that I’m still not entirely sure exactly how everything played out and when. I wish there was a timeline in the book for reference. But some minor confusion didn’t stop me from devouring this beautiful story.

All in all, if you’re a fan of YA fantasy books, read The City of Brass. If you’re a fan of epic fantasy books, read The City of Brass. If you’re a fan of djinn and less mainstream fantasy creatures read The City of Brass. Just read it.

*Note: I received a copy of this book at BookCon 2018. This in no way affected my opinion/review.