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A review by princessrobotiv
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
4.0
The City of Brass is a fantastic debut novel and an engaging fantasy read, period.
Having heard glowing things about this series, I was skeptical but intrigued. The setting being non-Western and the cast posessing diverse faiths (both real and imagined) was immediately compelling. These expectations were marginally unsettled by the realization that Chakraborty is a white American woman who converted to Islam in her teens. Not being Muslim myself, I honestly can't speak to the representation here.
I will say, however, that I found the world vibrantly and lovingly crafted and the characters beautifully flawed. Nahri began as a somewhat archetypal "YA fantasy" lead, at least where her initial character arc began, but quickly (and I mean within pages) proved to possess captivating and sympathetic depth. I really enjoyed being in her head, experiencing the brashness of her decision-making process paired with her loneliness, her yearning for family, and her love of knowledge and healing.
Likewise, Dara and Ali were two uniquely-rendered, deeply flawed characters, each with their own difficult histories and situations. Ali, in particular, was fascinating to me. Watching him struggle to balance his faith with his devotion to his family and experiencing all the many ways his choices, while made with the honest intensity of a young man attempting to cause as little harm as possible, led him closer and closer to his own moment of reckoning was really delicious.
The side characters were also well done. Muntadhir and Ghassan especially could have been flat archetypes used only to propel the plot, but they felt real and often sympathetic or genuinely charming in a way that I really commend.
I'll also say that the plot, while not perfect, really subverted my expectations. So many things happened towards the end of this book that left me reeling, shocked that Chakraborty had taken the story in the direction she did. This was a really pleasant surprise, and set up the series as something that isn't easy to pigeonhole into common plot beats or tropes. I really appreciate the momentum built up in those final chapters and the way the chaos of the battle was balanced against quieter moments of grief and reckoning directly after.
I quite liked the writing style; it's descriptive, sometimes trending towards purple, but almost always clear and digestible.
The book isn't perfect, however. I think all the various djinn groups and their histories and prejudices could have been more cleanly presented. The role of the shafit in the story, too, appeared to be more purposeful in the beginning when we believed Nahri to be shafit. This dissolved somewhere around the middle point of the story as more focus was given to the Daeva, the ifrit, and the Nahids. It felt very much like a loose thread, not because it isn't or won't be important, but because Chakraborty just packed so much conflict and intrigue into this first book that something had to give, and it was the shafit's plight.
I'm starting the second installment now, and I honestly have no clue what will happen. I'm fully down for the ride, though.
Having heard glowing things about this series, I was skeptical but intrigued. The setting being non-Western and the cast posessing diverse faiths (both real and imagined) was immediately compelling. These expectations were marginally unsettled by the realization that Chakraborty is a white American woman who converted to Islam in her teens. Not being Muslim myself, I honestly can't speak to the representation here.
I will say, however, that I found the world vibrantly and lovingly crafted and the characters beautifully flawed. Nahri began as a somewhat archetypal "YA fantasy" lead, at least where her initial character arc began, but quickly (and I mean within pages) proved to possess captivating and sympathetic depth. I really enjoyed being in her head, experiencing the brashness of her decision-making process paired with her loneliness, her yearning for family, and her love of knowledge and healing.
Likewise, Dara and Ali were two uniquely-rendered, deeply flawed characters, each with their own difficult histories and situations. Ali, in particular, was fascinating to me. Watching him struggle to balance his faith with his devotion to his family and experiencing all the many ways his choices, while made with the honest intensity of a young man attempting to cause as little harm as possible, led him closer and closer to his own moment of reckoning was really delicious.
The side characters were also well done. Muntadhir and Ghassan especially could have been flat archetypes used only to propel the plot, but they felt real and often sympathetic or genuinely charming in a way that I really commend.
I'll also say that the plot, while not perfect, really subverted my expectations. So many things happened towards the end of this book that left me reeling, shocked that Chakraborty had taken the story in the direction she did. This was a really pleasant surprise, and set up the series as something that isn't easy to pigeonhole into common plot beats or tropes. I really appreciate the momentum built up in those final chapters and the way the chaos of the battle was balanced against quieter moments of grief and reckoning directly after.
I quite liked the writing style; it's descriptive, sometimes trending towards purple, but almost always clear and digestible.
The book isn't perfect, however. I think all the various djinn groups and their histories and prejudices could have been more cleanly presented. The role of the shafit in the story, too, appeared to be more purposeful in the beginning when we believed Nahri to be shafit. This dissolved somewhere around the middle point of the story as more focus was given to the Daeva, the ifrit, and the Nahids. It felt very much like a loose thread, not because it isn't or won't be important, but because Chakraborty just packed so much conflict and intrigue into this first book that something had to give, and it was the shafit's plight.
I'm starting the second installment now, and I honestly have no clue what will happen. I'm fully down for the ride, though.