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

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

3.0

This book was recommended on booktok, and I love stories incorporating mythologies from different cultures, so I decided to give it a shot...but honestly it fell a bit short for me. The premise was interesting and I enjoyed the beginning, but the middle and end of the story lost me a bit. There were a lot of characters and families and backstories that I had trouble keeping track of (though I know that’s partly because I was listening to the audiobook rather than reading it). For the most part, I liked Nahri and Ali as characters, but the prejudices and feuds between all the different groups became frustrating and tiring to read. Booktok recommended this as having enemies-to-lovers trope,
but I’m still honestly not sure which couple it’s supposed to be (I’m hoping for Nahri/Ali because I didn’t like the other guy). I assume it’s developed more in the other books in this series.
The book held my attention just enough for me to get through this book, but I don’t know if I’ll finish the rest of the series.

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the general vibe):
This is only the first book I’m the trilogy, so of course the ending isn’t a neat wrap-up, and it’s definitely not happy.
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