The City of Brass: A Novel

Wow! This book completely had be captivated from start to finish! Summary : A Middle Eastern influenced epic Fantasy that starts with Nahri, a cunning thief in Cairo, with hidden healing abilities who (while pretending to heal a possessed girl) accidentally awakens the evil spirit in the girl, and also calls upon a mysterious djinn warrior - who then reluctantly (but also insistently) protects her from terrifying creatures like Ifrits and ghouls, and takes her to the hidden and magnificent City of Brass, Daevabad. Our second point of view is through Ali, the passionate and kind hearted second prince of a Daevabad - a city with 6 diverse tribes of djinn barely holding on to peace after a centuries’ old war. His secret sympathies for the ill-treated mixed blood Shafit (half human/half djinn) put him in a conflicting position with his father, brother and other tribes. * Actually, there is no way to even scratch the surface with a summary on this book! The reimagined history and vast world-building, the deeply complex conflicts where no one is completely right or wrong, deep and compelling characters characters, incredible twists and revelations that will make your heart pound - this book has it all and more! Characters: I absolutely loved the characters! Nahri and Ali (total cinnamon roll, this one) were main characters that made me completely root for and feel for them. And then there’s Dara... the moody and haunted ‘Daeva’ warrior with a seriously complicated past - I can’t even begin to describe him. I think the book itself needs more pages (where is the sequel?? I need it!) for me to wrap my head around this one! Wow. But they were all so amazingly developed, and I loved the dynamics between them so much! And I really liked that there was romance (no triangle) - it’s not the main focus but it’s the kind that makes things more interesting, and I’m really really curious about what’ll happen with that in the next book! The supporting characters are also so well written and complex too! Even the tyrant king so that sometimes you forget he’s not a good guy! The very complicated but deeply loving sibling relationship between Ali and his brother (the crown prince) Muntadhir really tugged on my heart. Actually everyone and everything in this book took turns squeezing my poor heart and even crushing it a few times! And also, as an Arab woman and muslim, it felt amazing to read a book like this - which is so well researched and written (recognizing correct and well used terminology was a delight!). And I really appreciated the positive portrayal of Islam through the character of Ali - whose faith urges him to be more compassionate and fair. But even he is a flawed character, torn and conflicted. It is a world where everyone has their own views, beliefs, and way of looking at events - there is no clear right or wrong side, everything is multilayered, and the book is never biased with the conflicts it presents. That just creates and builds a really compelling story. * I really appreciated the diversity within this world! It’s set in one city that encompasses a variety of cultures inspired by African, Arabian, Chinese, Persian and South Asian! It’s in the characters’ appearances, languages, but also in the magical creatures in the story! Most (the main ones like the types of djinn - with every facet of folklore explored!) I’ve grown up hearing stories about, but then there were also new creatures from Persian, Egyptian, and Greek (I think?) mythology! It was so fascinating and a lot of fun! Oh, and there are magic carpet rides - what more can I want? Overall , this book had me completely enthralled! If you like rich worldbuilding, gray and multilayered characters, epic and complex story telling that will make you question everything in it and blow your mind, scenes that will make your heart pound, and unique and marvelous settings - you don’t want to miss this book! I didn’t want it to end! And now I’m desperate for the sequel and have no clue what to do with this massive book hangover! Also, if you enjoyed The Grisha Trilogy, Throne of Glass series, An Ember in the Ashes, The Wrath and the Dawn — this book has everything you loved in those, but it’s also refreshingly unique at the same time!

I loved... Seeing fantasy in a non-Eurocentric world, with different mythologies, peoples, and cultures. The settings in The City of Brass range from Egypt to Anatolia, the fertile crescent to the edges of India. And that’s just visited locations. The story references a far more expansive world with numerous locations I’d love to learn more about. It's clear the author knows what she's doing here. Her research translates well to making the world of her story feel real. It was an absolute joy to experience. I liked… How I wasn't sure who to root for. Honestly, I'm still not entirely convinced the "big, bad guys" are the bad guys. I also have ever-changing opinions on the politics between the various tribes of djinn. All parties in the conflict are multifaceted and, aside from the "big, bad guys," have a chance to show their good sides. I appreciate that the author isn't trying to force us to cheer for any one side. I also appreciate that entire races of creatures are touched on, but not fully explored. It makes the world feel vast. That being said, I wish we'd seen a bit more of the "big, bad guys," but I suspect they'll be an overarching enemy for the duration of the trilogy. I also didn't mind the light romance subplot -- which is saying something as I normally quite dislike romance. (Something about the scars from having to churn out romance novellas as a burgeoning ghostwriter) In this story, though, I think the light romance worked. I didn't love the idea that the main character started to fall for literally the first person she meets of this new world (disregarding the demon who tries to kill her) -- but somehow, it still worked. I think the author handled things well here, despite my initial concerns. I didn’t love… That the main character was a bit too passive at times. She was dragged along by the story a bit too often for my tastes. There's a point in a story's structure where the characters need to shift from reactive to proactive. It's okay to be dragged along for the beginning of the book -- it's a common part of reluctant hero stories -- but for the readers to feel that the character has risen to the challenge, they have to step up and take the initiative. I felt a bit of that was lacking in this story. The ending seems to hint at more of that happening in book two. I'm hoping to see a great deal of that from the main protagonist. I disliked… That, come the end of the story, I didn't feel the readers were given enough answers. Too many questions were left unanswered. The reader should feel a certain satisfaction at the end of a book, then be left with new questions. Instead, I felt like only some of the story's questions were answered, while new ones were introduced. I certainly like the new questions, but would have enjoyed having a few more answers first. I think both this and the slightly too passive main character can both be chalked up to inexperience. The author shows great promise and I think her future offerings will be forces to be reckoned with. All in all… I found this book to be enjoyable, but not enough to warrant 5 stars. It gained a lot of favor from its world-building and unique setting. Those aspects were exceptional. In other areas, it still felt above average. In even fewer, it felt average. All that being said, I enjoyed this read and look forward to more from the author. I'll buy book two as soon as its out and dive on in.

There has been a recent slur of books especially YA that really lacked quality. Don't get me wrong easy reads are ok but the same story girl discovers strength , love story blah and some magic on top is getting VERY old. Some can deliver better than others. obviously writing style can potentially make a weak story better. When I read the synopsis of this I was like hmmm not another girl magic story paleeese but I promised a friend I read it. This book completely blew me out of the sky. Writing style: MATURE, intricate, definitly Adult. Story: AAAA++++ Reading a book is different than a movie, shallow entertainment rushing over you CAN be fun. Books however should engage you and boy this one does. There is SO much going on storywise you really have to think, imagine and anticipate. I don't get this very often in this intensity but this book was gripping. There is a lot of story threads to observe and keep in the back of your mind, they all come together though and none is just a filler, amazing really. The point of view story telling does work well in this book. One story line feels very much like GOT style, don't get me wrong this has nothing to do with GOT but the quality of writing is on par, honestly. This is about politics and gray characters, history past and how the future can develop because of it. Someone REALLY researched where this story was going before writing it down. Kudos to the author. The other story line does have that girl/magic element I have come to detest from the gray mass of books all following the same recipe BUT but but but...this is told in a much more adult, rational way, also touching history and political aspects of the world around, making it fun to read and wonder where this is going Worldbuilding: GRAND In the sense of it. I always detested the word worldbuilding, since im reading a book about characters not a world. So my personal opinion is the world builds around the characters, since this is what carries the story and not the other way around. I hate books where the author clearly constructed a world and then put some characters in it the actual story suffering. Here the sense of the story creating the world is strong and superbly executed. It is lush and rich you can imagine the surroundings so well. The world does build around the characters easily by itself ( guess that goes to writing style ) just as it should be and every now and then some extra bits of information are mixed in without creating the feeling of unnecessary information. It sure feels like the author had a plan beforehand but the creation of her wold comes naturally with the story and it is a fantastic world on top of that. Overall I can't stress enough what a GEM of a book this is if you are willing to be lead in this story. Sure there is a lot of terminology ( also explained at the end ) but this is just one of those books that's not like yeah I can skip 2,3 pages fast read and it doesn't hurt my understanding of the story. Im still ..amazed at this, such a clever clever well written book that completely engrossed me. if you are tired of FAE fantasy stories and incompetent stereotype heroines..this is for you.

I’d heard nothing but good things about this book and with the next book in the trilogy set to be released very soon, I felt like it was time to finally get to it. I will admit that I was somewhat daunted by the size of this book, but I was still very eager to jump into this world. And what a rich world it was, the world building in this was some of the best that I’ve ever come across. It didn’t feel like the author was forcing this world onto you, trying to cram these ideas into your head, it all felt so very natural and everything felt like it was so seamlessly connected, so when a new description or bit of information was given, I found myself saying, of course, because it all just fit so well. The descriptions of Daevebad in particular conjured the most spellbinding images in my mind, which was such a fantastic experience. Hand on heart, I could clearly see most of the scenes playing out in my head, because I had such a grasp on the setting and the characters. What was most impressive though, was that the descriptions didn’t seem to repeat themselves, they were freshly worded each time and yet every one created a very clear picture, “Fog shrouded the great city of brass, obscuring its towering minarets of sandblasted glass and hammered metal and veiling its golden domes. Rain seeped off the jade roofs of marble palaces and flooded its stone streets, condensing on the placid faces of its ancient Nahid founders memorialized on the murals covering its mighty walls” The history in this world was just as thoroughly constructed as the setting. Throughout the book we are given different bits of information about the war that happened a very, very, very long time ago. Each bit of information usually makes you see things very differently, as you are given various characters thoughts on it. As always is the case in wars, everyone feels that they were in the right and that they were doing what was ultimately best for everyone. A lot of the politics in Daevabad stemmed from the war that their ancestors took part in centuries ago. In this, I think that the author beautifully showed that although a war may technically ‘be over’, the ramifications of it are always still present. This is most noticeable in the tension between the ruling family, the Qahtani family who belong to the Geziri tribe in the Daeva/ djinn race and how they deal with the ancestors of those whose city they now govern. The politics and general history in this can get a bit confusing at times though, for example the daeva race is also referred to as Djinn. Some of them started calling themselves Djinn as they learned that that is what humans dubbed them, they are essentially “souled beings like humans, but we were created from fire, not earth…all the elements-earth, fire, water, air-have their own creatures”. Now, within the Daeva race there are six tribes: The Tukharistanis, The Agnivanshi, The Geziri, The Ayaanle, The Sahrayn and The Daevastana (Daeva). However, here is where it gets confusing, one of the six groups took the name of the entire race for their tribe name because they were in charge at the start, “What about your people?” “our people”, he corrected…”Daevastana,” he said warmly. “The land of the Daevas”. She frowned. “Your tribe took the original name of the entire daeva race as your own?” Dara shrugged. “We were in charge”. So, it’s basically like if within the Bird family you had, sparrows, crows, owls and then a group called birds. As you can imagine this was somewhat confusing at times, as I had to decipher whether someone was referring to the Daeva as a whole race or as that individual tribe. Then what made it more perplexing was that there were obviously different family names within those groups, and sometimes I kept thinking that they were the group name that person belonged to and not simply their last name. I did feel like I got to grips with this as I went along, but it did prevent this from being a full five star read. Another thing that prevented this from getting that 5 start rating was that in a book full of politics, naturally people had a lot of secrets. And as is the way, a lot of things came to light as the book progressed, however, sometimes I would think that something had already been revealed about a character, but then someone would bribe them about the entirety of the secret getting out, and I would be like, I thought people knew that already. I can’t go into detail without spoilers, but I just didn’t get how people didn’t work out someone’s full secret when they knew enough damning information about them. I could of just been mistaken, but I thought a secret had come out, but then there’d be a character using it as a bribe later on or confronting them with it, and so I didn’t see the big deal when they resurfaced. Despite those issues I had, the writing in this was exquisite, the author is without a doubt a very gifted writer, and so although this was quite a long book, it didn’t feel like I was sifting through mountains of text, it was very readable and I was fully absorbed the whole time. Although I enjoyed the world building in this tremendously, my absolute favourite thing about The City of Brass, was the characters. I may have found my best female protagonist yet in Nahri, and I may be just a little bit over the moon about it! I loved Nahri from the first time she made her appearance, her very dry sense of humour is made apparent from the start when she makes a remark on the Franks and Turks fighting over Egypt, “the only thing they seemed to agree on was that the Egyptians couldn’t govern it themselves. God forbid. It’s not as though the Egyptians were the inheritors of a great civilization whose mighty monuments still littered the land. Oh, no. They were peasants, superstitious fools who ate too many beans. Well, this superstitious fool is about to swindle you for all your’e worth, so insult away”. She is the embodiment of sassiness, but she also shows many different sides to her throughout the book, she’s gutsy and determined, but still craves some sort of stability for herself. She’s the first one to tell herself that she needs to get it together, but also allows herself to delve into her emotions, especially when it comes to a certain someone with emerald eyes. Nahri may not always take life seriously and makes smart remarks whenever she gets a chance to, but she is also extremely cunning and shrewd and thank the lord, didn’t always make a ton of stupid decisions. When Nahri first summons this djinn/daeva, much like Nahri, I didn’t quite know what to make of him. He was rightly annoyed that he’d been summoned by this human looking girl, who has no idea what she is doing and who turns out to be so much more than meets the eye. Initially the two don’t get along, but Dara feels like it’s his duty to his lost masters, to get what he believes to be one of their ancestors safely to the city of Daevabad, the city of brass. As the two embark on this journey to the Daeva’s homeland, they develop a sense of companionship and a physical attraction starts to build and build between them. Dara knows that enemies await him if he returns to Daevabad, but that sense of duty and this growing fondness for this “little thief”, as he likes to call her, drive him forward. I absolutely adore the relationship that these two have, especially the banter, “Ali?” He scowled. “You’ve nicknamed the sand fly?” “I call you by a nickname…wait.” Nahri felt herself starting to grin. “Are you jealous?” When his cheeks flushed, she laughed and clapped her hands in delight. “By the Most High, you are!…how does that even work for you? Have you looked in a mirror this century”. Dara has a whole host of secrets trailing behind him, which some were revealed (although I’m still a little confused), but I have a feeling that there are many more waiting to slither out of the closet. Out of all the characters, I feel like Dara had the most development in the book, he was amusing in the beginning as he would often entertain Nahri’s verbal sparring competitions, however, once they got to Daevabad we got to see a whole new side to him, which I might have enjoyed a bit too much. Surrounded by the ancestors of his sworn enemies, just how dangerous and powerful Dara is truly comes out, there were some very hostile and intense sparring scenes that had me on the edge of my seat, it was so amazing. Dara really seemed to come alive once he set foot back in his homeland, “A grin like Nahri had never seen before lit Dara’s face as he gazed upon the city. His cheeks flushed with excitement”. I thought that Nahri had a smart mouth, but Dara’s may just be that much more superior, “And now here I am getting a rather informative tour of my old home”, I greatly enjoyed this side to him, it was immensely entertaining to see him getting under the skin of and generally unnerving his enemies, “Did I really break it?” he asked with an impish grin. “I thought so. His bones made the most pleasant sound…”. Dara is also ridiculously good looking, so I challenge you not to fall head over heels in love with him, “He was beautiful-strikingly, frighteningly beautiful, with the type of allure Nahri imagined a tiger held right before it ripped out your throat. Her heart skipped a beat even as her stomach constricted in fear”. Prince Alizayd al Qahtani’s family currently rule over Daevabad, and the books chapters are split between him and Nahri. So we are following Ali around Daevabad whilst also on a journey with Nahri and Dara to get to the city, until their worlds eventually collide, I really liked how this was structured as it added a heightened sense of anticipation. Through Ali we get to see what life is like for those in Daevabad, and in particular – The Shafit, “What’s a shafit?” “It’s what we call someone with mixed blood. It’s what happens when my race gets a bit…indulgent around humans”. These people are treated very badly by their fellow pureblooded citizens and the ruling system. Ali is very sympathetic to the Shafit’s cause and he is desperately searching for a way to be able to help them have a better way of life, but he loves his family dearly, especially his brother and knows that any attempts he makes would be going against his fathers wishes. Ali is such an interesting character though, as he is constantly unsure of where his loyalties lie, as he doesn’t completely agree with any side. Again, the issues with the Shafit have links to the war, which Ali’s ancestors started in order to liberate the Shafit from the tyranny of the Nahid rulers, “I believe the shafit should be treated equally. That’s why our ancestors came to Daevabad. That’s why Zaydi al Qahtani went to war with the Nahids”, and yet today they may not be outright murdered, but they are still gravely oppressed. Ali truly believes that he can find a way to help them though, but he’s as clueless and self righteous as he is caring and wise, but his good intentions bring him a great number of problems, which he doesn’t deserve, “The shafit aren’t fools. They just want a better life for themselves. They want to be able to work and live in buildings that aren’t coming down around them. To take care of their families without fearing their children will be snatched away by some pure-“. This was an amazing fantasy book that was filled with magic, politics, questions of morality, exceptional world building and an unforgettable cast of characters. This book constantly kept me guessing and I reveled in every second of it. The City of Brass is unlike anything I’ve ever read, most notably in the fact that it’s an own voices Muslim fantasy and is consequently filled with characters of every shade of brown. I have so many things that I want to learn more about in the next book, I’m still trying to figure out a couple of characters, as so many of them have such blurry lines concerning their morality. This uncertainty also spills into the war and therefore, whose side I lean towards in the book. Both sides of those involved in the war seemed in the wrong to me, so it would be great to learn more specifics in the next installment, especially since there were so many loose ends! I am more than eager to get my hands on The Kingdom of Copper and suggest that you pick this up immediately.

I love it

assim que comecei esse livro entendi completamente porque tem tanta gente obcecada nele, ele simplesmente é MUITO bom, é um daqueles livros que o melhor é trajetória que você faz acompanhando os personagens. o caos dos últimos capítulos? IMPECÁVEL. não vejo a hora de ler o restante!!

This book warms the darkest recesses of my blackened heart. A lot of reviews will point to the middle eastern influences and mythology as the reason you should look at this book (which are all very good points and are under-represented in this arena), but I put forth that you need no reason to check this series out other than Nahri - a clever orphaned con artisan that puts all other con artists to shame, and after accidentally summoning the djinn whose mere name is invoked to bring fear into all other djinn, she's fully unimpressed with him and his insistence that she's the last member of a venerated line of high-ranking djinn holy persons. Everything else, from the complex political intrigue, the class wars, the intricate lore and hidden histories with all of the spectacular world building is beautiful drapery that gives this wonderfully memorable character a place to let herself loose and work her own special magic and weave her next con. I cannot wait to welcome her back in the next installation.