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

 

Goodreads Summary: 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...

Goodreads Ratings: 4.13 Stars with over 71,000 reviews

Genre Listing: Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Magic, Mythology, Romance

Goodreads/ StoryGraph Challenge: 3/48

2022 Reading Challenge: #10 Read a book from NPR's The 50 Best Science Fiction Books of the Past Decade https://www.npr.org/2021/08/18/1027159166/best-books-science-fiction-fantasy-past-decade (find the entire challenge here)

Life Updates and Book Review:

Hello readers! It's been a long time since I've been able to post, which is unfortunate. I've been unable to do much since around the start of January. We traveled back to Indiana to spend time with the family for Christmas, and then a couple days after we got home, I fell down the stairs and broke my arm. Except, I didn't know I had broken my arm until two weeks later. I just knew that I was in pain and something wasn't right, but I was too stubborn to have it looked at. My right arm was already in a brace for a torn tendon, and because of the fall, my left arm ended up in a splint and sling temporarily. On top of that, I still had to focus on finishing up Grad School. Needless to say, January was ROUGH. 

I ended up reading two books in January but really couldn't handle doing a blog post. I had started the City of Brass during that time but had to put reading it on hold because  I couldn't really hold a physical book and could only hold the Kindle for a limited time. I'll quickly update the other two books I read and then get on with The City of Brass

The Egyptian Mystery by Emily Organ- Read a newly published book (within a year). I think this was the first book I read this year. I liked it, as I always like Penny Green books; however, I didn't have anything insightful to say about it. It's the 11th book in a series, and they tend to follow a bit of a pattern. Enjoyable, but not really anything new to say about the series that I haven't already said ten other times.

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett- A book by an author whose first or last name has five letters. I love the Disc World. I randomly started a long time ago with The Hogfather and followed the books about Death. However, I was not in the right headspace for Disc World when I read this. Parts made me laugh, but I rarely knew what was going on because I was so stressed and tired. There were many times when I thought about not finishing it and trying again later. But it's relatively short, so I stuck with it. 

Okay, now this brings us to my actual review of The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty. The husband got me this book for Christmas, and I must say he did a good job picking it out. I fell in love with this story on page one. I don't know exactly what it was, but Nahri just drew me in immediately. The imagery that S.A. Chakraborty provided was beautiful, and I felt like I was taken to an entirely new world. I found Dara incredibly interesting and wanted to know more about his back story. The magic and mythology involved were also really fascinating. I wasn't as excited to read Ali's part of the story. He just came across as a whiney spoiled brat most of the time. He wasn't terrible; I just wanted to read more of Nahri's story and would have liked seeing things from Dara's perspective. There was also this whole Aladdin vibe, including some genie magic.

What kept this from being a five for me was that there were different tribes, and they each had their own words for things. Culturally, I get the reasoning behind it. However, it took me a little out of the story as a reader because it required me to think about the connections between what one tribe called something and what another tribe called it and why. It was just a lot of history to remember when I wanted to read what happened next. 

I was completely surprised by the ending. I always try to predict what will happen, and I was not even close with this one. I might have audibly gasped at some point during the final chapter or two. I nearly forgot to discuss what I loved the most about this story. It is heavy with sarcasm. It makes me happy. I'm pretty sure if I was reading it on Kindle, most of the pages would be yellow with highlights. I've definitely got to get the next book and read it at some point. If you are looking for a YA Fantasy/Romance, I highly recommend this one.