Speaking of characters…the story is told from two points of view, Nahri’s and Prince Ali’s, Daevabad’s king’s second son. In a vibrant yet dangerous setting, her characters are pawns in games they don’t fully understand. She weaves a world of wonders, but also of old and still-festering grievances and new political schemes. Not only is it a change of scenery from the more “traditional” settings the genre can offer, but it resonated with me as I was excited to feel a sort of familiarity about the world.Ĭhakraborty is a talented storyteller. The first one might sound a bit silly to some, but I was just so happy to have Arabic and Muslim lore in a fantasy universe. There are quite a few elements that made me fall head over heels for this book. Often darkly enchanting, because despite the rags-to-riches theme of the story, it’s hardly a fairy tale. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.Īfter all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for… That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal.

In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. 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. 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.īut 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. Certainly, she has power on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent.

The city of brass author