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

adventurous mysterious 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? No

5.0

In a word this book was Fun with a capital F. 

A steam punk plus urban fantasy plus mythological murder mystery set in an alternate universe Cairo where colonisation efforts of the European countries have been brought to a standstill with the help of Djinns and Angels? That itself was enough to get me hook, line and sinker into this book. 

From the very first page it kept me glued to the pages  and reminded me just why exactly I love to read. 

We follow Fatma el-Sha’arawi investigator extraordinaire for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Suprnatural Entities trying to catch a mass murderer who claims to be Al-Jahiz, the master of Djinns who opened the portal that introduced other worldly creatures into Earth and managed to change the entire sociopolitical structure of the world. She’s assisted in this endeavour by her mysterious assassin girlfriend Siti and her newly appointed partner Hadia. 

I can’t tell you how madly entertaining this whole read was. I wasn’t bored for even a moment and as soon as the book ended I was left wanting more and more and more of this world and these characters.

Clarke does a brilliant job of creating an immersive, vivid and magical world that’s on the cusp of modernity while also incorporating the sociopolitical setup of the early 1920s turned on its head. He also addresses the suffragette movement, colourism, racism and other prejudices prevalent in the community and seamlessly weaves it into the narration thereby making it all the more vibrant. 

The characters were soooo charismatic that I have become a forever fan. Fatma, Siti and Hadia are my absolute favourite badass heroines of all time and I cannot wait to read more of their adventures. 

Now was this book perfect? Objectively, no. It had some pacing issues, a few places were the story meandered a bit and there were definitely some loose ends to be tied up. But you know what? I don’t care. For me, subjectively, this book was perfect. I didn’t want it to end, I didn’t want to leave this world, I just wanted to keep on reading and that’s what a 5 star read is. So yeah, this get the full five stars and more from me and I cannot recommend it enough. 

P.S for those who are planning to pick this up( you better be picking this up) please make sure to read the prequel novellas and short stories as some of the world building and character intros are done there and they will definitely enhance your reading experience