Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - The City of Brass

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

10 reviews

_forestofpages's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.25

I absolutely loved this world. The characters were so interesting and complex, and I am excited to see where they go in the series. The world building was excellent and always delivered in a believable and not info-dumping way. I was immersed from the first page and intrigued with how everything would come together. The pacing was great! It never got too slow and there was just enough action, but the parts I liked best were inside Daevabad. The political aspect and the second POV was the real elevator for me. Ali and his whole family, the opposing ideals and his ridigness and how he grows was amazing to watch.

Now, why it isn't a higher rating:

I did feel at times that Nahri for all her experience with thieves and conmen, she was blind when it came to Dara and the royals. This character in particular, felt passive at times when she shouldn't be (based on her fiery personality) and aggressive when she REALLY shouldn't have been (like when she knew she was in danger and should keep quiet), which would have been fine except her whole career (as a con artist) was based on trickery and charisma, knowing when to speak and how. And yet, as soon as she was with Dara all of that was out the window. She was inconsistent, so as a character I didn't know if I really liked her or not since she went back and forth with her personality.

Also Dara being a liar the whole book made me unsure if I could like him either. I never knew where he would land, what side he was on, or what his real motives were and because this wasn't revealed in book 1 and he is (for now) gone, I can't really say how I feel about him. I can tell you the romance between Dara and Nahri also did nothing for me.

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seanml's review

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

There are many conflicting words and opinions that The City of Brass brings about. The most important one though is this: promising. It's marketed as adult fantasy, and yet you'll find many instances of tropes and ideas popular in young adult literature. The person of low social class thrust into a very powerful position of luxury, the romance between a normal person and a god-like but very dangerous but VERY hot individual, a healthy dose of normal person thrust into magical world they didn't know was there a la Harry Potter. Much of the dialogue sounds very modern despite the story taking place in the 1800s and many characters being hundreds of years older than that. Moving past all that, I would still recommend this book. Chakraborty understands her world and her characters well enough to give the reader investment and interest in this world. The novel's biggest selling point is the society she creates - the conflict between a pureblood upper caste and a mixed lower caste is nothing new in literature, but Chakraborty treats the plot with precision and care. No side is made out to be a faceless villain, but there's also no preachy sense of 'both sides are equally bad' going on. There's no sense of preachiness at all: the world feels lived in and at its natural conclusion of thousands of years of buildup rather than artificially held together for the plot. The pros outweigh the cons and I hear the sequels improve in spades. 8/10.

Content Warnings