This Tor fantasy novella (free online here at Tor.com) is memorable mostly for its setting: A magical steampunk version of Cairo, Egypt, in 1912. FortThis Tor fantasy novella (free online here at Tor.com) is memorable mostly for its setting: A magical steampunk version of Cairo, Egypt, in 1912. Forty years earlier a man managed to open a portal to the other magical side, and djinni, "angels" and other magical creatures streamed through to our world. The good news is, they helped the humans quickly kick the British government out of Egypt. But can you trust them?
Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha’arawi, an unusually liberated woman for her day, investigates the inexplicable death of a large, naked djinn. Her investigation leads her from one problem (carnivorous ghuls!) to another, and gradually an overarching Lovecraftian-type plot becomes clear to her and those helping her.
Full review to come. I have the second and third books on my Kindle, so more magical alternative-history Cairo also to come!...more
Nahri, a young woman living alone in 18th century Cairo, gets by doing minor cons, fake healing rituals and a little theft. She knows nothing about her parents or heritage but, in addition to being able to diagnose disease in others with a glance and occasionally truly heal them, her own body automatically heals of injuries almost instantly and she has the magical ability to understand ― and speak ― any language.
Nahri’s life gets upended when she accidentally summons Darayavahoush, a fiery, handsome djinn warrior, to her side while performing a sham healing ceremony. After he gets over his murderous rage at being involuntarily summoned, Dara saves Nahri from murderous ifrit and ghouls who have become aware of Nahri and her abilities. Dara quickly enchants a magic carpet and, dragging along the reluctant Nahri, he flees with her toward Daevabad, the legendary city of brass inhabited by magical djinn (or, more properly, daeva). But there are warring political factions in Daevabad among the six different djinn tribes, and appalling mistreatment of the mixed-blood, partly human underclass of shafits. Nahri and Dara each have trouble that may await them there in Daevabad, for different reasons.
The chapters of The City of Brass (2017), S.A. Chakraborty’s debut fantasy novel based on Middle Eastern mythology, alternate between two characters’ points of view: Nahri, the feisty young con artist with a mysterious magical heritage, and Prince Alizayd al Qahtani, the second son of the ruler of Daevabad. Ali is a rather tightly wound but honorable young warrior with a mixed heritage himself, has sympathy for those who are mistreated. But in trying to secretly (and illegally) fund needed educational and medical services for the oppressed shafits, he may be stirring up even more trouble.
Chakraborty, who spent years studying Middle Eastern history and developing the magical world in which this story is set, has created a vibrant and exotic setting in The City of Brass. (There’s a helpful glossary at the end of the book that defines some of the Middle Eastern terminology and magical beings). Some of the setting details are memorable, like the palace in Daevabad that mourns its missing founding family, the Nahids. The gardens are an untamed wilderness, stairs go missing, water in fountains frequently turns to blood. When Nahri, a lost member of the Nahid family, arrives in the city, the palace magically begins to spiff itself up. In this exotic setting, Chakraborty examines some timeless human issues, like prejudice, torn loyalties, and the effect of violence on a person’s heart.
The City of Brass has a fast-paced beginning that sucks the reader right in, as Nahri and Dara flee through the desert toward Daevabad, pursued by deadly enemies, and develop a relationship based on equal parts irritation and attraction. Once they reach Daevabad, the great city of brass, the plot slows down and gets a little muddled. There are too many competing factions and conflicts: between pureblood djinn and shafits, between the different djinn tribes and other magical elementals, and between those who support the currently ruling Qahtani family and those who are intent on bringing back Nahid rule, using Nahri.
Additionally, there are conflicts within the hearts of each of the main characters. Dara isn’t really certain he wants to take Nahri to Daevabad, where capture or death may be his fate, and where his violent past, which still haunts him, may catch up to him. Nahri isn’t at all convinced she wants to go there either; she rather liked her life as it was, and she doesn’t intend to be anyone’s pawn. And Prince Ali is caught between warring factions and loyalties, trying to balance both.
“You won’t be able to continue like this, Alizayd,” he warned. “To keep walking a path between loyalty to your family and loyalty to what you know is right. … Because on the day of your judgment, Alizayd … when you’re asked why you didn’t stand up for what you knew was just …” He paused, his next words finding Ali’s heart like an arrow. “Loyalty to your family won’t excuse you.”
It’s a conflict-driven plot, with both physical violence and subtler conspiring and conniving. While some of the more tangential factions and contentions are hazy in their nature and motivations, overall The City of Brass is a compelling read. Chakraborty won back my enthusiasm with a rousing game-changer of an ending. I didn’t even care that it was a cliffhanger! Now I’m anxiously awaiting the next book in THE DAEVABAD TRILOGY, The Kingdom of Copper, expected to be published in 2018.
The City of Brass, while it isn’t being marketed as a young adult fantasy, has crossover qualities. It has two younger main characters and, despite the web of conflicts, it’s written in a fairly straightforward style. It’s likely to appeal to older teenagers as well as many adults.
Totally tangential issue: I've seen this book praised for being #ownvoices. While it's true that S.A. Chakraborty is Muslim, she's a convert to that faith. She's originally from New Jersey and of Irish Catholic heritage. Personally I don't think it matters; she's clearly immersed herself in this culture and done a lot of study, and if she wants to call herself S.A. rather than Shannon and write about Middle Eastern mythology even if it's not her heritage or race, I don't have any issue with it as long as she (and other authors) do that thoughtfully and after doing a due amount of homework. We should judge this book on its own merits, not because of who the author is or isn't.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss. Thanks!!
Content notes: A fair amount of violence that might be disturbing to some readers, discussion of sexual and other types of slavery, scattered F-bombs. Personally I wouldn't recommend it for the younger teens or preteens....more
Mara, Daughter of the Nile holds up amazingly well for a 60+ year old YA book. Set in ancient Egypt, it's the story of Mara, a bright, feisty slave giMara, Daughter of the Nile holds up amazingly well for a 60+ year old YA book. Set in ancient Egypt, it's the story of Mara, a bright, feisty slave girl who unexpectedly finds herself forced to act as a spy for both sides of a conflict over the throne of Egypt. Either side is likely to immediately kill her if her duplicity is discovered. And then her heart starts to get involved ...
I had very fond memories of reading Mara years ago, and I was delighted and, frankly, relieved when my re-read lived up to my memories, which isn't always the case when I re-read favorite books from my teenage years. (*coughrobertheinleincough*) It's not a perfect book, but I'm upping my rating to five stars, dang it, just because I can, and because I so enjoyed Mara and her duel of wits with Sheftu. Sheftu is my favorite kind of book hero, an intelligent, extremely capable man hiding behind the mask of a charming, lazy courtier in order to achieve a greater goal. (I'm such a sucker for that Scarlet Pimpernel kind of trope.)
Tomorrow, by Amon, she would have revenge. She would treat him with a smiling indifference he wouldn't be able to break through no matter how hard he tried. She would be gay—aye, charming—but oh, how remote! . . .
Mara found Sheftu's manner the next morning just as gay, just as impersonal, and so much more convincing than her own that she was out of sorts before an hour had passed. There was no outdoing him at irony, that was clear. She would have to find some other means of punishing him.
But this is more than a simple adventure and love story; the book has some surprisingly profound ideas about living for a greater cause, the power of love for your country, and how a country is made up of people, the poor and humble as well as the rich and powerful—all of whom are important.
This one's a keeper and a total comfort read....more
Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽
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