Reviews with content warning for Blood - A Master of Djinn

Such a fun listen on audiobook! Suehyla El-Attar was a delightful narrator and I loved hearing their improvement throughout the book! Super fun characters and worldbuilding with many moments that had me on the edge of my seat. Some plot moments/reveals could have had more buildup. Also, I could deduce certain parts of the mystery long before the characters themselves which confused me a bit.

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ashwaar's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious 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? No

2.0

Set in 1912 in Cairo, A Master of Djinn follows Agent Fatma el-Sha’arawi, who works for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities. Ever since the great mystic, Al-Jahiz, opened the veil to the magical world 50 years ago, Cairo has become a central hub of both technology and magic, and Fatma must navigate this new world as she investigates supernatural mysteries.

I have read Clark’s previous novel, Ring Shout, and his short stories set in the same universe as A Master of Djinn. You don’t need to read the short stories before this novel, but there are recurring characters and callbacks to previous events. I always find Clark’s worlds and ideas to be incredibly interesting, but I always end up feeling a bit left out, as it seems that everyone else adores this book and his stories, and I always end up disappointed.

My main issue with this book is the writing style. Although the premise is interesting, the descriptions and dialogue are wooden and uninspiring. Some fantasy novels I’ve read don’t provide any information about the world and still keep you hooked. In comparison, Clark feeds you spoonfuls of exposition at every opportunity, and it's just too much. Fatma describes every aspect of Cairo as we go through the novel, and it's so unrealistic. It's like if I walk past St Pauls Cathedral and say ‘ah yes, St Pauls, a Baroque-style structure built in the 17th Century by…’. Literally, no real person thinks the way Fatma does in this novel, and it really threw me off being able to connect with her.

I also found a lot of the themes to be very poorly explored. Clark brings up issues of wealth gaps, inequality, feminism, discrimination and social divides and it doesn’t seem like any of our characters really care about addressing that. It's like Clark is throwing everything at a wall and seeing what sticks and again, it's just too much going on. I know the story is about magic and djinn and investigating crimes but still... I expected more.

Overall it's a really interesting, original story, but it was just too poorly executed for me to recommend it. Clark clearly has a lot of this world thought out, not just in Egypt but across multiple countries, and he tries to introduce some of that in A Master of Djinn, but it just leaves too many loose threads. The story doesn’t feel neat, the characters don’t feel developed and Fatma isn’t someone I really want to root for. It's pretty disappointing honestly but I know what sort of fiction I enjoy, and I just couldn’t get on board with this.

Rating: 2/5

Recommendations: Build Your House Around by Body by Violet Kupersmith, Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir, She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

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thoughtsontomes's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-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

This was an absolute delight. The world is lush and expansive. The characters and their interactions are lovable while still being flawed and realistic. There is a sapphic relationship. The mystery kept me on my toes with enough foreshadowing to be satisfying. The villain had every ability to be 2 dimensional but turned out to have some substance. Everything was tied up perfectly. I'm be not so patiently awaiting the next novel in this series.

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aardwyrm's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny 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

4.0

A mystery is a balancing act, and overall this one does a good job of leaving clues the audience can follow and making sure it all pays off. Also djinn are cool as shit.

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uranaishi's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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claudia_bow's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

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hanz's review

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adventurous mysterious 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? No

2.0

So disappointed that I didn't really enjoy this, because I've liked everything else I've read in this world. The worldbuilding is incredible, but there are way too much descriptions that halt the plot and it feels like you're not really moving forward.
Fatma and Hadia are also not very good investigators, which makes progress on the mystery aspect very slow, even when the criminal was obvious less than half way through. Overall, not for me, but I'm clearly in the minority. Back to reading the short stories again!

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