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amaia92's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
abbie_o's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
chefjones's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-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
3.75
mckaylamc's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
5.0
misosoupp31's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book took about 50% to get really going. The characters were very complex, almost too complex for me 😅 I kept losing track of who was motivated by what and on what side and with what history. A very well done and complex world, but idk if I liked it as much as I thought I would
i_a_asmussen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I just finished this book today and rushed out to buy the other books in the trilogy immediately. It was pouring rain but I couldn't wait a whole weekend to know what would happens next.
It this the perfect book? No. But it is engaging, entertaining og very hard to put down once you get into it. The characters are layered and interesting and the twists had just enough foreshadowing to feel real but not so much that it stopped you guessing and hoping.
I recommend this book.
It this the perfect book? No. But it is engaging, entertaining og very hard to put down once you get into it. The characters are layered and interesting and the twists had just enough foreshadowing to feel real but not so much that it stopped you guessing and hoping.
I recommend this book.
valereads2105's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
C- 8
A- 7
W- 8
P- 7.5
I- 9
L- 8
E- 8
A- 7
W- 8
P- 7.5
I- 9
L- 8
E- 8
daumari's review against another edition
4.0
I read this for r/Fantasy's goodreads book of the month for April 2019.
Really neat worldbuilding, and complex characters that interest me, though I don't know if I'd necessarily get along with any of them for extended periods of time (Nahri if anyone, but she'd probably fleece me). Dara is an ally for the most part, but he's got some shitty ideas on blood purity (could argue that's what he was raised with but when your magical being lives for millennia...?) and fantastic racism, though as I'm typing this I recognize most of Daeva society can be described as "shitty ideas on blood purity and fantastic racism". Prince Alizayid is our sympathetic reader-insert because of his naive nature, but he's also a zealot thinking about all the relative sins around him. In some ways, he reminds me of Moses-as-prince in Prince of Egypt where he lives in luxury but when he watches a slave get beaten realizes yiiiiiiikes, his society is full of inequality.
This makes me wonder about likability of characters, and whether or not I like a book- for example, I haaaaaaate Richard whatshisface in Sword of Truth, but I also hate the book because bleghhh multiple things frustrate me about it. City of Brass has an interesting enough world & fantasy politics that I can deal with characters baked in a society with complex social issues. The king of Daevabad is verrrrrry pragmatic and while easy to paint him as a villain, he could be so much worse and... shit's complicated!
It ends unresolved, so I'll look for the next book at some point.
Hesitant to call this #ownvoices because Chakraborty is a white convert to Islam, but she's done her homework and elements of Islamic mythology feel well researched (as she mentions in the acknowledgements, this kind of grew out of historical fan fiction) while living in Cairo.
Really neat worldbuilding, and complex characters that interest me, though I don't know if I'd necessarily get along with any of them for extended periods of time (Nahri if anyone, but she'd probably fleece me). Dara is an ally for the most part, but he's got some shitty ideas on blood purity (could argue that's what he was raised with but when your magical being lives for millennia...?) and fantastic racism, though as I'm typing this I recognize most of Daeva society can be described as "shitty ideas on blood purity and fantastic racism". Prince Alizayid is our sympathetic reader-insert because of his naive nature, but he's also a zealot thinking about all the relative sins around him. In some ways, he reminds me of Moses-as-prince in Prince of Egypt where he lives in luxury but when he watches a slave get beaten realizes yiiiiiiikes, his society is full of inequality.
This makes me wonder about likability of characters, and whether or not I like a book- for example, I haaaaaaate Richard whatshisface in Sword of Truth, but I also hate the book because bleghhh multiple things frustrate me about it. City of Brass has an interesting enough world & fantasy politics that I can deal with characters baked in a society with complex social issues. The king of Daevabad is verrrrrry pragmatic and while easy to paint him as a villain, he could be so much worse and... shit's complicated!
It ends unresolved, so I'll look for the next book at some point.
Hesitant to call this #ownvoices because Chakraborty is a white convert to Islam, but she's done her homework and elements of Islamic mythology feel well researched (as she mentions in the acknowledgements, this kind of grew out of historical fan fiction) while living in Cairo.
kistireads's review against another edition
5.0
✨4.5✨ stars for right now. I can’t decide between 4.5 or 5 but update to come.
What a great story! And the epilogue just makes me want to jump into the second book!
Dara has to be my favorite character, Nahri my second favorite or just equally a favorite. The richness of the writing, the culture, the lore, and so many thing I *still* don’t know about the world. My curiosity has been piqued!
What a great story! And the epilogue just makes me want to jump into the second book!
Dara has to be my favorite character, Nahri my second favorite or just equally a favorite. The richness of the writing, the culture, the lore, and so many thing I *still* don’t know about the world. My curiosity has been piqued!