A review by foxonabook
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Synopsis: During an exorcism, known as a Zar amongst the religious of Cairo, Nahri, a talented conwoman, accidentally summons  the djinn warrior Dara. Never one to believe in magic, Nahri is forced to reconsider what she understood of the world, and of herself as Dara takes her to the magical city of Daevabad where she forms an unlikely friendship with Alizayd, one of Daevabad princes with an affinity for the human world. But tensions are brewing and Nahri will have to make a difficult decision between the djinn warrior who saved her life and the new home that has so much to offer.
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Review: This has been on my TBR for over a year since I bought the trilogy with a Kobo gift voucher I’d received. I’m ashamed it’s taken me this long to finally read it because I didn’t know how much I needed a book inspired and influenced by the Middle Eastern culture until I’d read this.
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The world building is great, the characters are well rounded and the plot is not short of any action, twists or turns. I did feel like sometimes things or a character’s mood/motive shifted a little too quickly, but that’s just a minor detail.
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The only reason I’m not giving this 5 stars is because at points you could tell that this book wasn’t written by someone from the Middle East, and that broke the immersion for me. Though there is no denying that this is very well researched and clearly a labour of love, and I may be more sensitive to these things because of my own background 🤷🏽‍♀️

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