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tahsintries's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Torture, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Chronic illness
marissaboone's review against another edition
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!
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder
sagesapphire's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It took a bit of time and perseverance for this one to grow on me. The setting and premise interested me but something wasn't quite connecting right. The characters are so complex that it took me a lot to decipher whether or not I actually liked them or what they stood for, before I realised that "liking" them or not didn't matter, what matters is that they're well written characters with complexity and grey areas that I haven't seen in books I've read lately. So I love all the characters and how they are written, evil intent or no. By the end of the book I was begging for more and am definitely going to jump into the next in the trilogy. Super excited to find out what happens!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Rape and Self harm
emmjay's review against another edition
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.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Slavery
Minor: Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Torture, and Trafficking
beccahoughton's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Torture
Minor: Rape
baknata's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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
5.0
This book took me on such a journey. From the first moments of the book I was thoroughly invested, an uncommon occurrence for me. To begin, I found the world that was created absolutely fascinating. The main character, Nahri, is new to the fantasy world in the story, which allows us to learn about it as she does. This makes what we learn feel organic and not simply expository. The world is complex and well thought out, making it feel like a real place. It isn't just a complex world, it has an in-depth history with political and social issues that are rooted in that history. Every element of the world was considered, from clothing to language to special abilities and traditions, each race is complete and well rounded. The creatures are based on middle eastern stories, which I am not familiar with, but give the story a unique perspective.
The characters are just as well thought out as the world. What I found most compelling about the story is that, save for Nahri who doesn't share the preexisting prejudices and political foreknowledge, there are no truly good characters. Nahri herself swindles people to get by, which shows she isn't fully good. But every other character believes strongly that their position is the correct one, so much so that it is hard to tell who is truly in the right. Each side of the political tension has committed atrocities, not only that, but they each have questionable parts to their position. One side wants equality between the races, meanwhile, they oppress the mixed-blooded people and make it impossible to survive. The other side wants to overthrow the oppressive monarchy, though they have a history of discrimination and segregation. Each character does questionable things in the name of their side. Unfortunately, the author also does a great job making them all very human. They have friends and family, they make jokes and connections and feel like real people, which makes it so hard to root against them. When Ali and Jamshid and then Dara all were kinda fatally injured/died/turned to ash I was speechless. I didn't know whether to be upset that they died (which I was, deeply) or to be okay with it bc they all kinda were horrible (save for Jamshid he was an angel) and the same thing happened with every side character, each time I was heartbroken but also didn't know how to feel/react. This is super evident with Nahri's relationships with the characters. As the reader, we feel similar to her where there is a lack of trust at first, then you get attached to certain characters cause "her they aren't so bad" then we learn they are so bad, but now we're attached so maybe we should forgive them? Overall hard to decide which characters to root for.
In terms of plot, I was definitely on the edge of my seat. This was one of the few books where I genuinely could not guess a single element of what was going to happen. save for that whole thing with Muntadir and Jamshid, I saw that one right away Especially towards the end, I was being thrown left and right, each chapter had something new I wasn't at all expecting that totally shook me. What was cool though was that every twist and turn made sense. The characters made choices that were consistent throughout the book and with the growth that they had made. Nothing was thrown in just for the heck of it, it all had a purpose. The plot developed in a natural way and the character growth felt deserved and logical.
Overall, this book was put together so beautifully and was a joy (though very emotional) to read. I would definitely recommend this book.
The characters are just as well thought out as the world. What I found most compelling about the story is that, save for Nahri who doesn't share the preexisting prejudices and political foreknowledge, there are no truly good characters. Nahri herself swindles people to get by, which shows she isn't fully good. But every other character believes strongly that their position is the correct one, so much so that it is hard to tell who is truly in the right. Each side of the political tension has committed atrocities, not only that, but they each have questionable parts to their position. One side wants equality between the races, meanwhile, they oppress the mixed-blooded people and make it impossible to survive. The other side wants to overthrow the oppressive monarchy, though they have a history of discrimination and segregation. Each character does questionable things in the name of their side. Unfortunately, the author also does a great job making them all very human. They have friends and family, they make jokes and connections and feel like real people, which makes it so hard to root against them.
In terms of plot, I was definitely on the edge of my seat. This was one of the few books where I genuinely could not guess a single element of what was going to happen.
Overall, this book was put together so beautifully and was a joy (though very emotional) to read. I would definitely recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Death
Minor: Sexual content
dayday_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Grief
katrinarose's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I loved this book because it is a fantasy world with familiar magical themes but instead of basing it on medieval European cultures (as is typical for many traditional fantasy books), it's based on West Asian cultures. I had grown frustrated with the lack of originality in many traditional fantasy and for this alone, this book was a breath of fresh air. I thought the political intrigue was very well done. Often I feel fantasy politics are oversimplified - there's the "bad" guys who are the oppressors and love to starve and torture and enslave the poor outsider population and the "good" guys who just want to save the needy and restore justice. That's always a compelling story - who doesn't want to root for the underdogs? - but it lacks the nuance of real life. It took some time to become familiar with the politics and backstories of the different djinn (daeva) tribes and it was confusing at first, but it was so well done. There are no good or bad guys, everyone has done good and bad things in the name of the people's survival and freedom. Everyone is morally gray, and I love that.
While plenty of exciting things happened in this book, it did still feel like an introduction to this world, as there was so much history and culture to get caught up on. I think I will enjoy the following books more, now that the exposition is over. One thing that annoyed me was the budding romance between Nahri and Dara. He's over a thousand years old and she's twenty, he has no business even entertaining romantic thoughts about her! It just felt very YA-ish, and not in a good way. There is no need to force every opposite sex duo together, even if they are on some long difficult journey together where they have to sleep near each other by the firelight (eye roll). And hinting at a love triangle with Ali, which would create the dreaded good-boy vs. bad-boy dynamic, is also very much not appreciated. I'm hoping that this whole romance deal was a big red-herring and she actually develops complex relationships for Nahri without the romance. I think overall Nahri could get some more character-development, I felt like she got a bit cheated in that area in favor of Ali's development (although I loved his character development too).
Overall I really enjoyed this, and I'm excited to read the next books!
While plenty of exciting things happened in this book, it did still feel like an introduction to this world, as there was so much history and culture to get caught up on. I think I will enjoy the following books more, now that the exposition is over. One thing that annoyed me was
Overall I really enjoyed this, and I'm excited to read the next books!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Child death, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, and Grief
stevienielson's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
inspiring
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Torture, and Murder
Minor: Rape
sophieink's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
"You can't go back to the human world."
I had long been awaiting to read The City of Brass and going it I had expected it to be slow as I had heard it a fair few times.
It starts off following Nahri, set in 18th Cairo, when she accidentally summons a darkly mysterious djinn. After the events, they have to go to The City of Brass when the ancient djinn tribes live where Nahri might end up having quite a big role.
It is essentially about Nahri entering a politically charged city with ancient Djinn tribes all at each other throats and what her place in all of this means. If you are looking for a fantasy surrounded with magic, political intrigue, family court politics, old histories being brought up alongside the muddle of alliances and romances then I, personally, recommend it to you undoubtedly.
The writing is beautiful and I was able to sink into it easily, I could picture the landscape and I really felt dissolved into the world.
It starts off strong but I think the second quarter is a bit weaker as it feels dragged out, but then it picks up again leading to a really strong end. I was on the end of my seat as twists and turns happened.
I would also recommend if you are interested in what are the 'typical fantasy character types' as I think we have some really strong contenders here.
- DARA: the mysterious, brooding warrior
- NAHRI: the main girl with the potential power to save all us
- ALIZAYD: a nerdy prince who means well
and more. I found them all enticing and I really like seeing the relationships and interactions unfold as they were full of emotions. I think I was really interesting in seeing Dara and Alizayd's interactions, they were always exciting. I think Alizayd ended up being my favourite but that is honestly no surprise as the nerdy one always is.
I can kind of see why it has the mix of reviews that is does but for me, it really worked. It has so many of the fantasy elements that worked for me and I literally can't wait to carry on with this series !!
I can kind of see why it has the mix of reviews that is does but for me, it really worked. It has so many of the fantasy elements that worked for me and I literally can't wait to carry on with this series !!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Grief
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