But alongside this new world, the old stories linger. Tales of djinn and spirits. Of cities hidden among the swirling sands of the desert, full of enchantment, desire and riches. Where magic pours down every street, hanging in the air like dust.

Many wish their lives could be filled with such wonder, but not Nahri. She knows the trades she uses to get by are just tricks and sleights of hand: there's nothing magical about them. She wishes only to one day leave Cairo, but as the saying goes....

Be careful what you wish for.

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Listening Length	19 hours and 36 minutes
Author	S. A. Chakraborty
Narrator	Soneela Nankani
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	08 March 2018
Publisher	HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07B13B6NC
Best Sellers Rank	2,581 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 6 in Occult Horror Fiction 30 in Historical Fantasy (Audible Books & Originals) 54 in Occult Stories

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Rollicking fantasy!

Reviewed in Australia on 16 July 2020

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This was a pretty great fantasy tale! It has all the elements I love about the fantasy genre – magical world building, flawed but interesting characters, and a pace that keeps you turning page after page. I particularly loved the world building. Chakraborty has created a rich, full, world set in middle eastern culture which is a refreshing change from a lot of medieval fantasy settings. You have clashing tribes, fascinating djinn magic, and a rather spectacular sounding city in Daevabad.

Of the three protagonists, I think Nahri was my favourite. As a con artist from the streets of Cairo thrust into a world where she is djinn royalty, she’s fantastically interesting to read. Alizayd, too, is a great character who constantly wrestles with the right thing to do and doesn’t always come up with the right answer. Dara I’m a little on the fence about. I was really enjoying him until closer to the end where he really started to lean in on the less wholesome parts of his personality, and I’m really interested to see where Chakraborty takes his character in the next week.

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Fractal

Great read, exciting, imaginative and well written

Reviewed in Australia on 22 July 2020

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The character building was excellent and I felt involved in the action. It had an imaginative story-line and there were plenty of plot twists and suspense to keep me turning the pages. I completed the trilogy and thoroughly enjoyed it. I would strongly recommend it to anyone who enjoys well written fantasy with plenty of action and very believable and relatable characters.

One person found this helpful

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Immanuel

Infuriating

Reviewed in Australia on 3 September 2018

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I'm at a bit of a loss. It's been a while since I read a book that made me as frustrated as this one has. Many of the characters are immature and act in a belligerent manner unbecoming of adults. But it actually does fit the setting and, urgh, that is exactly how people from today would act if they were put in the same situation. So yes, the book is good, the situations are plausible and the characters believable, though many of them are actually unlikable. I don't blame the author, though. Clearly it makes for a more interesting story, but I just can't get rid of the feeling of frustration I got at the end of reading it.

3 people found this helpful

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Natski13

Great read

Reviewed in Australia on 16 October 2019

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This story is refreshing for the genre. Beautiful imagery, great multidimensional characters and original. I shall continue reading with glee! Highly recommended.

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

A rare and wonderful feast of fantasy

Reviewed in Australia on 19 February 2019

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This is a wonderful book. Beautifully written and cleverly constructed, the detail and complexity of plot and characters will surprise you.

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Amazon Customer

Good read, interesting new world

Reviewed in Australia on 31 July 2018

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Solid book, really interesting new world for fantasy. Enjoyed most of the characters, offers a lot more in book 2.

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Jacqueline McBride

Brilliant loved the storyline well thought out loved that it was about the dijin

Reviewed in Australia on 22 January 2021

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Any fantasy or sci fi reader should love this story and love the twists and turns on the story thoroughly gripping

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Jennifer Michelsen

The City of Brass

Reviewed in Australia on 18 July 2020

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A good book...well written and exactly what I love to read... fantasy, magic, myth

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Arkham Reviews

Diverse but overly-complicated

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 May 2019

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Actual rating: 2.5 out of 5

The City of Brass is another of those novels that disappointed me because I wanted to fall in love with it. Yet, sadly, I find that I am incredibly on the fence about whether or not I actually enjoyed reading this novel.

To begin with the positive, The City of Brass really stands out stylistically due to its setting and diversity. The novel is set in Northern Africa, moving from Cairo to the fantasy city of Daevabad. Because of this, it had a very different feel to your typical YA fantasy novel. The cast was entirely made up people of colour and the setting was deeply inspired by myths and legends of the East, from flying carpets, to wish granting djinni and fiery ifreet.

While it was this world-building that attracted me to the novel, it was not without issue. Chakraborty bombarded the reader with all manner of concepts. While the novel does contain a brief glossary in the back to explain certain words, it does not help the reader to keep track of the allegiances of the several daeva tribes, each with their own set of slurs to describe their rivals. I was over half way through the novel when I realised that djinn was being used both as an insult and the name of a religion, and that daeva was sometimes used to describe one particular tribe but other times to describe the race as a whole!

While some readers I am sure will dig how immersive and detailed Chakraborty's world is, I expect an equal number will find themselves very lost. Personally, I found the story to be a bit of a mess of subplots - many of which presently seem to be going nowhere and could really have been edited back to better streamline this first instalment.

Yet my biggest issue with the story was its pacing. For a debut novel, The City of Brass is very long and took well over 200 pages to find its feet. Nahri and Dara take a horribly long time to reach Daevabad and their journey becomes a repetitive cycle of bickering and the odd Ifreet attack. Although the novel rapidly speeds up in its second act, I felt that it then flipped too far the other way. A lot of character development occurs off-page, only to be related to the reader later, and Nahri and Ali's friendship is exposited more than it is seen.

The ending of the novel is rather abrupt, though did culminate in a rather surprising incident (no spoilers here) which left me curious to see what will happen next. Yet, at the same time, I was a little disappointed. The final battle really comes out of nowhere and seems to be sparked by the tiniest of arguments. It also leaves many loose threads hanging - especially with regards to the Ifreet who virtually fade from the plot after the half-way mark.

In terms of character, I was also left very disappointed. While Nahri initially seemed to be intelligent and self-sufficient, she lost all of this as soon as she left Cairo. In the second half of the story, she becomes a bit of a shrinking violent. Despite her high talk about scamming the royal family, she is virtually dependant on Ali and Dara, does not develop any new skills of her own and ultimately proves to be unable to hold her own against the wills of the male protagonists.

Ali and Dara had their own problems. While Dara started out more likeable than the stuffy, religious prince, this flipped once all characters were introduced to each other in Daevabad. While I did find the differing ways that Ali and Nahri viewed Dara to be interesting, he grew increasingly violent and detestable in the second act. While Ali was naive and prone to doing very stupid things, he was at least more likeable. However, I wasn't sure why every other character was so insulting of his religion. While he was described by others as being a zealot, this didn't really come across in the text.

Anyhow, I think that about covers it. While I am curious to see where this goes next, I was disappointed by this book. While The City of Brass was diverse and complex, the novel was badly paced and some of its themes were made more complicated than they really needed to be. Hopefully, the next instalment will iron out some of these issues.

44 people found this helpful

Book Babe Extraordinaire

Absolutely stunning debut...highly addictive.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 March 2018

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Absolutely stunning fantasy debut from S A Chakraborty. I am a total fantasy addict, and this has me nearly as excited as I was when I first read Patrick Rothfuss’s Name of the Wind. It’s not only very well written, very intelligent and extremely original, but it also has the key elements of a gripping plot along with a truly excellent, witty main female protagonist in Nahri, all of which keep you turning the pages faster and faster. I read it — gulped it actually — in one sitting, and loved the fact that it had a Middle Eastern setting and characters. That was very refreshing. Highly recommended, highly addictive, and I’m not sure how I’m going to wait till next January for Kingdom of Copper. Buy it now — you won’regret it.

26 people found this helpful

Muse

Amazing! Filled with magic, politics, exceptional world building and unforgettable characters

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 January 2019

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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.

15 people found this helpful

Neelam

Book Review

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 May 2019

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The City of Brass is a book that had me hooked from the first page! I read the first page and literally squealed because the main character, Nahri, was wearing an abaya and I finally got to see a character dressed like me! So after that I had really high expectations and I loved the references to middle eastern culture and Islam. It was wonderfully woven into the story.

The story is told from two different points of view. Nahri, who grew up in the human world and was a con artist and worked as a healer and as someone who exorcised djinns from humans. She doesn’t really believe in any of this but one day she accidently releases a real djinn called Dara. And this is where her adventure begins and leads her to the world on djinns. She travels to the City of Brass (Daevabad) with Dara which is where the djinns live.

The second point of view is told from Ali who is a Qahtani Prince. His story starts with him being shown a world within his city of the lesser class. He is shown the injustices done to them just for being born a shafit and not a pureblood djinn. This is where his story progresses and he has to battle between his loyalty to his father (and king) and doing what is right and just.

I adored both their characters! Nahri is such a badass and definitely capable of taking care of herself. She has great character development from the selfish girl who puts herself first to someone who puts a whole tribe first by the end of the book. I loved that she wasn’t perfect or able to develop her abilities easily, instead she struggles with using her powers which made her so much more relatable and a much more interesting character.

Ali is a cinnamon roll and I will not be able to deal with anything happening to him in the next book! He is someone who wants to help the lesser class of people in the city but to do so would be to betray his family and risk being killed as a traitor. His conflict happens throughout most of the book and although I loved him I just wish he would have acted a bit more on doing what is right. Though I did feel for him as other people on both sides put him in difficult positions.

Dara who was another main character, although we don’t see his point of view, we still learn about his history through both Nahri and Ali and at first I found him really interesting but as the story progressed I found him less likeable and I am not actually sure where I stand with him though I am interested to see where his story will go in the next book.

One of my favourite parts of this book was the incredible world building! I loved this world so much and felt totally immersed in this world. The backstory and the politics of why the city is the way it is was so intricately and well done. It made me feel for both sides and it was hard to see who was truly at fault and who was telling the whole truth. I also loved seeing the rich culture of 18th century Egypt and it was such a different setting from the usual fantasy settings in fantasy books.

This story despite having some tropes we are familiar with the story was still unique and original and I cannot wait to continue with this story! There was so many plot twists and some I did not see coming at all! The ending especially left me dying and just wanting the next book straight away! And then the epilogue left me wanting more!

This book was enchanting and I was drawn in from the very first page and this book left me wanting more! There are amazing characters, a wonderfully complex and interesting story and such incredible world building. If you haven’t been able to tell already I adored this book from the story to the cover to characters. And I am so excited to see where the story will go next, especially with that epilogue!

You should all go read this book! You will not be disappointed!

9 people found this helpful

Samantha Redworth (Booktiamo)

A Mythical Adventure!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 March 2019

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On the streets of 18th century Cairo a 20 year old woman is trying to survive the only way she knows how..
Nahri doesn’t believe in magic. All the charms and chants she uses to trick people into believing she is curing their loved ones of possession and illness, she believes is nonsense. Everything is going well for Nahri she is asked to-do a Zar ceremony for a young woman whose family believe she is possessed by a demon/ifrit. The ceremony goes well until she changes the language of one of the songs she sings and something changes. She brushes it off and continues with the ceremony, collects her payment and goes home. On the way she decides to go through the cemetery, where she meets a Djinn, which isn’t possible is it?!

This story takes you on an adventure, of flying carpets, Djinn, wishes and a whole world hidden from view and creatures you could only imagine. A wonderful world is built here, all the magic and wonder of Aladdin but in a much crueler world, this story doesn’t hold back on the violence of war and what kings will do to ensure their reign and world with conflicting religious beliefs. There is oppression where the pure bloods believe they are better than their half human counterparts and they will kill them for no more than the colour of their blood. Nahri enters a whole she believes is a safe haven, but it is not the case its just another place where she has to survive on a whole new level, she has to play the politics of the kingdom and everyone is lying to everyone.

I loved the characters and the depth we got into with them, although without spoilers I feel some characters were built up and we were expecting so much more from them that didn’t come, I feel that some more romantic action could of taken place instead of teasing us the whole way through, also the possibility of a same sex couple but never confirming (maybe all this will be addressed in book 2?) And some very surprising revelations at the end that just made me full of more question than the answers I was desperately seeking! Hurry up book 2!!

This book had me constantly reading and when I wasn’t I was thinking about it, every spare second it had my attention and to me that is a great book!

7 people found this helpful

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