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

I loved the worldbuilding and the headstrong, powerful loose cannon of Nahri, as well as the Middle Eastern fantasy setting. I found myself yearning for the expert pacing, intrigue setup, and rich character development of my beloved Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by the same author.

Nahri makes a living on the streets of eighteenth-century Cairo, skillfully thieving and honing her skills as a con artist. The only thing that isn't a lie is her mysterious ability to instinctually, instantaneously heal others and herself.

During a con she accidentally summons a djinn warrior, Dara, and the two must flee across the desert to Daevabad, a magical city whose most powerful citizens rely on fire. But the city is split between two groups, those holding the throne and palace and those eking out a living on the streets. Centuries-old resentments and conflicts threaten to bubble up into war--and Nahri and Dara's arrival only serves to feed the flames of conflict.

I loved the headstrong, powerful but untrained main character Nahri, the complex cultural backgrounds clashing in the book, and the Middle Eastern-based, fantastical worldbuilding.

I was in for the political inrigue, mythology, magic, and battles--but I'm not sure I fully grasped the intricacies of the political histories, conflicts, and intentions; the Nahri-Dara relationship felt difficult for Nahri to settle into, and therefore left me uncertain as well; and the pacing left me feeling somewhat unsettled, moving from event to event without gaining steady footing.

I listened to The City of Brass as an audiobook. It's the first in a trilogy, followed by The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold.

More Chakraborty love

Chakraborty is also the author of the wonderful novel The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, the first in the series of the same name; she published that book under the name Shannon Chakraborty.

I listed Amina in the Greedy Reading List Six Four-Star (and Up) Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads I Loved in the Past Year.