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dealingwithdragons's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Cancer, Blood, Alcohol, Religious bigotry, Rape, Racism, Medical content, War, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Outing, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia
emilyplun's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
(warning for very general spoilers, nothing specific)
I loved the world/setting, but the book overall left me frustrated. The whole story is full of "mysteries," but half of those are the main character just not knowing the basic workings of the magical world or its society, or an event in magical history that every other character is aware of. There are a lot of "who's behind this event?" mysteries too, but it's hard to get into that when the reader is only given a tiny trickle of info about how anything works. The ending was frustrating-- many mysteries weren't solved (which is fine) but a few that were solved weren't satisfying, and then more questions were introduced. I felt like I was drowning in things I didn't understand. As a reader, I wanted to know at least the basic facts that are relevant to a situation (like how x magic works, what happened during x event that everyone keeps referring to), even if the main character doesn't know.
This is really unfortunate since I love the world-building and the basic plotline. I might have to read the plot somewhere and intentionally spoil myself so I can read the sequels.
I loved the world/setting, but the book overall left me frustrated. The whole story is full of "mysteries," but half of those are the main character just not knowing the basic workings of the magical world or its society, or an event in magical history that every other character is aware of. There are a lot of "who's behind this event?" mysteries too, but it's hard to get into that when the reader is only given a tiny trickle of info about how anything works. The ending was frustrating-- many mysteries weren't solved (which is fine) but a few that were solved weren't satisfying, and then more questions were introduced. I felt like I was drowning in things I didn't understand. As a reader, I wanted to know at least the basic facts that are relevant to a situation (like how x magic works, what happened during x event that everyone keeps referring to), even if the main character doesn't know.
This is really unfortunate since I love the world-building and the basic plotline. I might have to read the plot somewhere and intentionally spoil myself so I can read the sequels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Hate crime, Medical content, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Alcohol, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Trafficking
Minor: Rape and War
kyladenae94's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
we do love djinni & political intrigue & morally complex characters & mutual pining & zealous young idealists & con artists & ~lies~.
all of that.
we love it.
all of that.
we love it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Trafficking
Minor: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
THE CITY OF BRASS is a fantasy balanced on a knife's edge, with a prince and a con artist working at occasionally-aligning purposes in a city filled with djinn and Daeva, with the partially human underclass just trying to survive.
This generally avoids infodumps by making sure that, when exposition is necessary, it comes in the form of telling someone information that’s truly new to them. Sometimes that’s a briefing for an unfamiliar situation, other times it’s a story around the fire. A lot of these explanations happen early on, and it seemed like a bit much at first (there are a lot of tribes, for one), but the main narrative only demands consistent recognition of three or four tribal names so it wasn't overwhelming once the story got going. The two main characters have very different lives and knowledge bases, and that works together to give the reader a fuller picture of the world and the secondary characters.
I love the political wrangling and intrigue. Ali is pretty blunt, surrounded by much more subtle players with complicated aims, and there are a few places where people use insider terms to tell him what’s going on but he doesn’t realize that a double meaning is involved. Later when Mahri becomes immersed in it she's a much savvier player with the information she does have, and I'm looking forward to how she handles things as the the trilogy progresses. I love heists and thieves, so having Mahri the con artist as a protagonist is a treat. She's self confident but wary of the situation, and that blend of prowess and uncertainty is truly delightful. There's something great about taking a person highly skilled in one arena and dropping them into a wholly different one that brings out their known and unknown strengths in intriguing ways. Dara isn't a point of view character, and I think that's because he knows too much to be a good narrator. The story is so much richer for his presence, but he's stingy with information, doling it out only when he thinks Mara needs to know something, which is often well after he's acted on the knowledge. This leaves her to pick up the pieces each time, in turns fond of and exasperated by him as he drifts in and out of the scene.
The ending is rather shocking, managing grief and triumph as Mahri and Ali have to deal with sudden changes in the last chapters. It's not a twist of plot as much of the inevitability of consequence, as things that had been a little bit wrong for a while suddenly get out of control. I'm excited for the next one, I need to know what happens now.
This generally avoids infodumps by making sure that, when exposition is necessary, it comes in the form of telling someone information that’s truly new to them. Sometimes that’s a briefing for an unfamiliar situation, other times it’s a story around the fire. A lot of these explanations happen early on, and it seemed like a bit much at first (there are a lot of tribes, for one), but the main narrative only demands consistent recognition of three or four tribal names so it wasn't overwhelming once the story got going. The two main characters have very different lives and knowledge bases, and that works together to give the reader a fuller picture of the world and the secondary characters.
I love the political wrangling and intrigue. Ali is pretty blunt, surrounded by much more subtle players with complicated aims, and there are a few places where people use insider terms to tell him what’s going on but he doesn’t realize that a double meaning is involved. Later when Mahri becomes immersed in it she's a much savvier player with the information she does have, and I'm looking forward to how she handles things as the the trilogy progresses. I love heists and thieves, so having Mahri the con artist as a protagonist is a treat. She's self confident but wary of the situation, and that blend of prowess and uncertainty is truly delightful. There's something great about taking a person highly skilled in one arena and dropping them into a wholly different one that brings out their known and unknown strengths in intriguing ways. Dara isn't a point of view character, and I think that's because he knows too much to be a good narrator. The story is so much richer for his presence, but he's stingy with information, doling it out only when he thinks Mara needs to know something, which is often well after he's acted on the knowledge. This leaves her to pick up the pieces each time, in turns fond of and exasperated by him as he drifts in and out of the scene.
The ending is rather shocking, managing grief and triumph as Mahri and Ali have to deal with sudden changes in the last chapters. It's not a twist of plot as much of the inevitability of consequence, as things that had been a little bit wrong for a while suddenly get out of control. I'm excited for the next one, I need to know what happens now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Torture, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Grief, Xenophobia, Racism, Colonisation, Genocide, Child abuse, Child death, Slavery, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, and Death of parent
Minor: Antisemitism, Excrement, and Rape
CW for major character death (graphic).chattycali's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
One of my favorite books in a long time. The main characters development is just omg the best thing ever. The ending will make you buy the rest of the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Torture, and Xenophobia
the_rainydayreader's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Xenophobia
claudiamacpherson's review against another edition
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.
Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the general vibe):
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Violence, Xenophobia, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, Genocide, and Death
Minor: Cursing and Rape
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: Blood, Violence, Xenophobia, Slavery, Racism, Grief, Genocide, and Death
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Rape and Self harm
smashlyn09's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Slavery, Self harm, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Body horror, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Torture, and Rape
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: Violence, Xenophobia, Racism, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Torture, Murder, Child death, and Animal death
Minor: Rape