The City of Brass: A Novel (The Daevabad Trilogy)
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Library Journal | Vulture | The Verge | SYFYWire
*Finalist for the World Fantasy Award: Best Novel
*Nominated for the Locus Award: Best First Novel
*Finalist for the British Fantasy Award: Best Newcomer
Step into The City of Brass, the spellbinding debut from S. A. Chakraborty perfect for fans of The Golem and the Jinni, The Grace of Kings, and Uprooted, in which the future of a magical Middle Eastern kingdom rests in the hands of a clever and defiant young con artist with miraculous healing gifts.
Featuring a stepback and extra content including a bonus scene and an excerpt from The Kingdom of Copper.
On the streets of eighteenth-century Cairo, Nahri is a con woman of unsurpassed skill. She makes her living swindling Ottoman nobles, hoping to one day earn enough to change her fortunes. But when Nahri accidentally summons Dara, an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior, during one of her cons, she learns that even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.
Forced to flee Cairo, Dara and Nahri journey together 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 birds of prey are more than what they seem, to Daevabad, the legendary city of brass.
It’s a city steeped in magic and fire, where blood can be as dangerous as any spell; a city where old resentments run deep and the royal court rules with a tenuous grip; a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound—and where her very presence threatens to ignite a war that has been simmering for centuries.
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Community Reviews
This story is told from the perspectives of Nahri, a con artist from Cairo with an amazing, yet uncanny talent for healing and from Ali, the prince of Daevabad, the second son of the king. From the moment I met Ali, I was fascinated with his story and I felt he had a great character arc ahead of him and I was not disappointed. I also have the feeling I have a lot of what would be considered unpopular opinions concerning him and a djinn warrior, Dara. LOL
Nahri is performing a ceremony as part of a con and accidentally summons Dara - a Daeva warrior who rattles her beliefs (or previous lack of) with outlandish tales of a magical city hidden by a veil from human eyes, wars and mythical creatures. The story starts out very light, but quickly turns dark and brutal once the pair reach Daevabad and become entangled in court politics.
I loved the story of the Daeva people - how djinn slaves were made, the different ins and outs of the magic and the constant unpredictability of where the story went. I started out thinking this would not be a book I would enjoy and ended up eager to read the next book in the series!
To be honest, this book felt slow but somehow also flew by. I was anxious to get back to it when I wasn’t reading it but it felt like it took forever for some real action. And I don’t know if it was by design but I went through the whole book confused as to whose side I was on. Who am I supposed to be rooting for because I kept changing my mind! And I loved that! I finished the book and I’m still not sure!
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