Book Review:
Title: The City of Brass
Author: S.A. Chakraborty
Publisher: Harper Voyager UK
"Often the mightiest things have the humblest beginnings."
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...
After 3 years of it being on my TBR, I finally read The City of Brass.
And it was…okay.
If I really broke it down, I’d say that for me the first 50% was 2 stars, the next 25% was 3 stars and then the final 25% was 3.5 – 4ish stars – so overall, roughly a 3 star read for me, which isn’t a bad rating at all. I think it was probably a ‘it’s me, not you’ situation, since I know most people absolutely love this book and trilogy.
And I can see why. This book contains so much culture – it’s a middle eastern fantasy with ownvoices Muslim rep - and there is so much to learn from it. I found the world incredibly fascinating, with all the Djinns/Daeva, the writing had some beautiful and intricate descriptions and the last 20% of the book was gripping as hell.
However, other than that, I did struggle through this book. It took me half of the book to feel anything for the characters. I just couldn’t connect with them. After the 50% mark, I became somewhat interested in them and by the end I cared for some of them, but ultimately, it took way too long for me to connect with them. (I was honestly so ready to fall in love with Dara, like everyone else is, and I can’t tell you how distraught I am it didn’t happen! Although I did quite enjoy seeing Ali’s growth throughout this book.)
Another thing was the pacing. It was just too slow for me, especially during the first half. It felt like nothing was happening and all the reader was getting was some extremely dense world building. It definitely picked up in the second half and, as stated before, the last 100 or so pages were thrilling and kept me engaged which helped bump up my star rating from 2 to 3, but I would have liked it to be a bit more evenly paced to help keep me interested all the way from start to finish.
I don’t know what else to say, other than I’m really upset I didn’t love this book more.
I’m currently internally debating on whether I should carry on with this series. On one hand, the ending of The City of Brass definitely intrigued me and I do want to see what happens next since everyone says the books get so much better. But on the other hand, I don’t want to go through another chunky book just to feel the same way. Decisions, decisions…
I think I might just give it some time and if after a couple of weeks/months I’m still interested in finding out what happens next, I might pick up the sequel. *fingers crossed*
Overall, The City of Brass is a rich Middle Eastern Fantasy with Djinns and an imaginative setting, but unfortunately fell a little short for me. However, I can see this just being a ‘me’ thing, so I’d still recommend picking up this book if you love stories that slowly grow with each chapter, leading to an explosive end.
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