A review by halfextinguishedthoughts
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced
When I find myself immediately checking to see if there are more books in a series, I know it was a winner.

A Master of Djinn hits all the points to create an epic fantasy, an engaging story, and an atmosphere that brings you right into Cairo. There is something for everyone in this novel. The history is fascinating, the magic comes alive, there’s romance, and the mystery powers the characters through the book.

As a mystery, the book is solid. There are twists and turns filled with unique characters that add to the world-building. I think from my experience and the reviews I’ve read, that the mystery is guessable by most people maybe 70% through. BUT I don’t think this detracts from the story. The journey through the investigation and to the reveal has enough to keep you engaged.

I think where this book really shines is as an alternate-history adventure. Every lead Fatma and her partner, Haida follow leads to ancient artifacts, magical machinery, or djinn, some of whom absolutely don’t want to be bothered. There was so much mythology, literature, and history employed to saturate this world. I wasn’t overly familiar with the mythology but I looked it up as I went, which worked out fine!

This reminded me a bit of a Sherlock Holmes story if both Holmes and Watson were women and in love (canon already?) I loved Fatma and Siti’s relationship. The secrets between them add so much tension to the book but I felt like the consequences for those secrets could have been explored more. In saying that, they were trying to save the world so those issues may not have come up.

The social and political commentary affects most of the characters. We see this running commentary of misogyny and gender biases between Fatma and her coworkers. The book also delves into racial prejudices and the relationship between the intersectionality of identity in Cairo and its people. This looks into colonization and Europe’s (England’s) imperialism. There is so much going on in this book but it doesn’t draw away from these more serious topics.

What I loved:
  • Atmosphere
  • World-building
  • Fatma and Siti’s relationship (I loved the characters)

What I wanted more of:
  • Haida! She needed more page time
  • Fatma’s backstory
  • A bit more consistent pacing about 100 pages in

tw: Violence, police violence, fire, racism, slavery, colonization, prejudice, slurs, colorism