The City of Brass

By S.A. Chakraborty

Book Overview

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Library Journal Vulture The Verge SYFYWire

Step into The City of Brass, the spellbinding debut from S. A. Chakraborty, an imaginative alchemy of The Golem and the Jinni, The Grace of Kings, and Uprooted, in which the future of a magical Middle Eastern kingdom rests in the hands of a clever and defiant young con artist with miraculous healing gifts.

Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of eighteenth-century Cairo, she's a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trades she uses to get by--palm readings, zars, and a mysterious gift for healing--are all tricks, both the means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles and a reliable way to survive.

But when Nahri accidentally summons Dara, an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior, to her side during one of her cons, she's forced to reconsider her beliefs. For Dara tells Nahri an extraordinary tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire and rivers where the mythical marid sleep, past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises and mountains where the circling birds of prey are more than what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass--a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.

In Daevabad, within gilded brass walls laced with enchantments and behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments run deep. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, her arrival threatens to ignite a war that has been simmering for centuries.

Spurning Dara's warning of the treachery surrounding her, she embarks on a hesitant friendship with Alizayd, an idealistic prince who dreams of revolutionizing his father's corrupt regime. All too soon, Nahri learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.

After all, there is a reason they say to be careful what you wish for . . .

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0062678108
• ISBN13: 9780062678102
• Release Date: November 2017
• Publisher: Harper Voyager
• Length: 544 Pages
• Weight: 1.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Exceeded expectations

You will not regret purchasing this book! From chapter two (which takes no time to get to) it was hard to put down. S. A. Chakraborty has a gift for vivid description without overusing words to make you see into her world. The world building was amazing, the pacing perfect, the action fast paced, and a few times I found myself laughing out loud, cringing at the naivety of Ali, or gasping at something totally unexpected befalling a major character. Although it does not end on a cliffhanger (in my opinion), there are several questions posed that need to be answered in the sequels. I look forward to finding out! What I also liked is that, without trying too hard, the author makes you care for the characters without knowing everything there is to know about them just yet. Things I disliked: there was some “tell instead of show” regarding the development of relationships between characters. We’d be in a moment and then told in so many words that weeks have gone by and now they care for each other when it would’ve been cool to see that slowly develop throughout the book. I did like how strong the female lead is, how human-like Dara was, and how the plot was not easy to predict. Can’t wait to devour book two!