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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)._savannahreads_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Rape and Terminal illness
achingallover's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Genocide, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Slavery, and Violence
kelpmattson's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Medical content, and Violence
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
totallyshelfaware's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Religious bigotry, Grief, and Genocide
Moderate: Gore, Child death, and Torture
Minor: Rape
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: Blood, Child death, Death, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Torture, and Violence
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: Blood, Murder, and Death
Minor: Child death, Grief, Rape, Sexual content, and Torture
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: Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Medical content, Slavery, and Violence
ehmannky's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Absolutely stunning. Just the right balance of romance, high fantasy, and political intrigue for my tastes. I loved everything about it. The book follows Nahri, a young con artist who gets pulled into the dangerous world of the djinn after accidentally summoning an ancient warrior. It's fast-paced and I found all of the characters engaging. I love that Chakraborty delves into the moral ambiguity of all the characters here. Even the ones who seem like they'd be on the side of justice (like the religiously devout Ali, who annoys me most because he knows the injustices and is horrified by them and goes along with everything anyways) stray from doing what they know is right in defense of the honor and love of their family and ideology. Nahri is one of my favorite female protagonists I've read in years, and I cannot wait to get my hands on the sequel.
Just as stellar on a reread.
Just as stellar on a reread.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Slavery, Gore, Grief, and Genocide
Moderate: Sexism and Religious bigotry
Minor: Torture, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault
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