[Book Review] The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. 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.

But 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. 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.

In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.

After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for...

 4 STARS

The City of Brass was a book I recognized from the cover but hadn't heard many people talking about it. And then all of a sudden in the past month I was seeing it everywhere and it was getting rave reviews. So I decided it was time to request it from the library. And I'm happy I did! 

The main characters are all written so well. I felt like Ii easily knew them and I couldn't help but love Nahri, Dara, and even Ali by the end. Nahri is such a badass character. When we first meet her she's living in Cairo, Egypt stealing and conning people to survive. We learn she has this magical healing power but she doesn't know where it came from or even where she comes from. I think her motives and her character arc are realistic and I easily rooted for her the entire way through the story. I do not typically have fictional literary crushes, but Dara is definitely an exception. I enjoyed his individual plot when it came to his past and his own character arc but also him and Nahri had amazing chemistry. They stole the show every time they had a scene together. I liked their friendship and I really loved their romance. I would have loved to see more. The one main character I wasn't a huge fan of at first was Ali. He kind of drove me insane but by the end of the story he did warm up to me a bit more. I am not sure how I completely feel about him but he doesn't annoy me as much anymore either. 

I love that on the cover and in the story it is shown/described that Nahri wears a head wrap (and even there's a part where she wears one that covers everything but her eyes)  because there isn't many fantasy or even contemporary stories, at least in  YA where that kind of representation is front and center in the story. I am so happy for any readers who will see themselves on the cover or even in Nahri herself. She's an amazing character to relate to because of her strength and determination. Representation matters and I think this is a great example of that.

The plot was an incredibly rich and it was thick with these beautiful Middle Eastern settings. I have not read a lot of fantasy (or really, any genre) set in the Middle East so this whole atmosphere is very new to me. The added on Middle Eastern mythology, food, clothing, and culture made the reading experience come alive way more than a lot of fantasy novels I've read, especially the first in a series. I loved learning about this world and it's one of the best fantasy worlds I've read in a very long time. However, the pacing for this book did have me feeling a bit nervous I was entering in a reading slump territory. It took me longer than it typically would for me to really get hooked into the story and I found myself having to put my phone across the room so I wouldn't let myself get distracted at every new chapter. It wasn't until about 250 pages into the story where I actually felt hooked and needed to keep reading. I think taking your time reading the story may be the best way to read it because there are so many important details in the different djinn tribes and it could have been confusing if I tried speeding through the story. 

The writing,  like I mentioned earlier, is so well done with the setting and fantastical world Nahri is thrown into. I also love a lot of the dialogue, especially between Nahri and Dara because of their playful banter and how comfortable they are with each other. Although I enjoyed a lot of the dialogue and I loved the world, I also felt a bit of a disconnect emotionally when it came to the characters. It was weird, because on one hand I liked them a lot and I thought they were well written, but there was something detaching myself from being emotionally invested as much as I normally would have been. I think it may be because I was so focused on the political intrigue, the different tribes of djinn, and even the history of the djinn and the characters. As I was reading I noticed the kindle e-book edition was only two dollars so I snagged it immediately. So I plan on re-reading it before the release of the second one and I am hoping now that I have read it once I can be more emotionally invested in the next read.Unfortunately, that plus the pacing is why I gave it four stars instead of the five I would have given it if I didn't have those issues. 

I highly recommend this book. I think it is a beautiful fantasy story and I am definitely reading the second book the moment it comes out because I need to know what is going to happen next. If you're a fan of the fantasy genre, worlds rich with culture and mythology, an amazing cast of characters, and some terrifying villains, I recommend picking up The City of Brass. 

Thanks for reading!