Reviews with content warning for Murder - The City of Brass

The City of Brass is a refreshing YA fantasy story. This is one of those series that has garnered so much hype over the last few years, and it is well-deserved. There are still a lot of familiar (and tired) tropes, but the world is different and the magic excellent… and I really enjoyed the way Chakraborty slowly peeled back bits and pieces of the land’s history.

Nahri is an interesting protagonist. She has some snark and big dreams and is surviving by her wits alone – fairly common in a YA fantasy heroine. She’s likable enough, but I think that The City of Brass benefits from being multiple POV.. I think on their own, both Nahri and Ali would have gotten tiresome, especially in such a long books. Ali is pretentious but kind. He has spent most of his life training to guard his brother, who will someday be the king of Daevabad. Nahri has lived on the streets in the human world most her life until she accidentally raises Dara. The two together compliment each other well – one with a well of understanding about the world and one who is slowly learning it.

As is to be expected in YA fantasy, there is a love triangle. I found it fairly inconsequential and annoying – it neither added to the story nor took away from it too much, although that may change as the trilogy goes on. If you don’t particularly care for the romance, it’s easy enough to ignore up until near the end where it becomes pretty important for a few scenes. The action took a long time coming, but I really liked the way Chakraborty developed Nahri’s magic. Unlike most characters in her position, Nahri struggles to pick up the art and makes major mistakes. It’s refreshing to see a Chosen One style character treated in that way – not everything came to her perfectly.

It’s the world of The City of Brassi that captured me most as a reader. This novel uses Arab mythology and tradition to build a world that starts in Cairo, Egypt and expands to a djinn city. Chakraborty explores legends around the djinn in a new, refreshing light while weaving in modern issues. There were a lot of things introduced in this novel that I’m hoping will be expanded upon and revisited as the story goes one.

If you have been sitting on The City of Brass, I highly recommend giving it a read. The world is interesting and alluring. Even though thesis of the book may be off-putting, the story itself captures the imagination and it’s easy to get invested.

Content Warnings

moooooshell's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was recommended on booktok, and I love stories incorporating mythologies from different cultures, so I decided to give it a shot...but honestly it fell a bit short for me. The premise was interesting and I enjoyed the beginning, but the middle and end of the story lost me a bit. There were a lot of characters and families and backstories that I had trouble keeping track of (though I know that’s partly because I was listening to the audiobook rather than reading it). For the most part, I liked Nahri and Ali as characters, but the prejudices and feuds between all the different groups became frustrating and tiring to read. Booktok recommended this as having enemies-to-lovers trope,

but I’m still honestly not sure which couple it’s supposed to be (I’m hoping for Nahri/Ali because I didn’t like the other guy). I assume it’s developed more in the other books in this series.

The book held my attention just enough for me to get through this book, but I don’t know if I’ll finish the rest of the series.

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the general vibe):

This is only the first book I’m the trilogy, so of course the ending isn’t a neat wrap-up, and it’s definitely not happy.

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theespressoedition's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I sort of wish I had a lot to say about this book, but I'm keeping this review simple, especially since it's the first book in the series and I do plan to continue reading.

I listened to the audiobook. It was really well-narrated and the voice actor didn't do any unnecessary accents or change the way each character spoke too much, which I really appreciated. My only qualm with the audiobook was that it was 17 hours long on double speed and I found myself waiting for it to come to a close over and over. I think if I had read the book, it might have been a little different. I kept getting distracted and losing bits of information as I listened.

The story itself was so interesting and the characters each had so much depth to them. I enjoyed that there were some great twists along the way and it ended on a cliffhanger. I can't wait to see what happens next.

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marissaboone's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A solid mix of slow paced, political challenges and quick adventure. I couldn't put it down truthfully and found myself rooting for all the characters despite their differences and rivalries. Excited to read the next novel in S.A. Chakraborty's trilogy!

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emmjay's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes

5.0

A slower start to the most intense political intrigue. A main female character of color who is real with flaws but also a badass. No weird sexualization of children or constant threats of/depictions of sexual violence that is present in so many other high fantasy stories. I thought about this book when I wasn’t reading it. I already bought the whole trilogy. Heavy on the world building (not always a big draw for me but it was well done and impressive), intense, very dark and gruesome at points, diverse, interesting and complicated characters, elaborate. The first words out of my mouth when I rushed through the last page were “so f***ing good.”

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bookswithjk's review against another edition

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adventurous tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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