The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty

The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy, #1)

by S. A. Chakraborty

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.

Reviewed by alisoninbookland on

4 of 5 stars

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I love the feel of this world. It’s a richly vibrant Middle Eastern world. Then we mix in the magical world. It’s delightful. I don’t read many Middle Eastern/Middle Eastern inspired books so this was a refreshing change of pace on my reading list.

Our two POV characters Nahri and Ali are wonderful. Nahri is a con artist who turns out to to be a healer (Nahid). Her struggle trying to find her place in this world was great to watch play out. Ali is the younger son of the king who doesn’t fully agree with some of the beliefs held by his family. He works behind the scenes to help other beings. He’s torn between blood and beliefs. Surprisingly, Dara ended up being my favorite character of the lot. He’s a brooding warrior. I really enjoyed the his struggles. Like I said, he’s a warrior so he’s done some bad things. Then there’s the other things that he doesn’t fully remember.

The magic system is wonderfully rich. Thank goodness for the glossary of terms in the back of the book. I need lots of explanations and reminders of what things are. I love political fiction so it was fascinating to see how the ‘races’ interacted with each other as well as the prejudices within the magical world. I wasn’t always able to keep track of exactly who all the groups are in relationship to each other but I managed to keep up well enough.

The pacing is the book’s biggest downfall in my opinion. It moved at a glacial speed sometimes. It took over 200 pages for Nahri and Dara to reach the city and for things to finally get moving. The end really picks up. Those last 100 pages or so were awesome.

All in all, this was refreshing change in pace of my typically fantasy books. Can’t wait to eventually move on in the series

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 24 March, 2019: Finished reading
  • 24 March, 2019: Reviewed