[Review] The City of Brass - S. A. Chakraborty

Titel: The City of Brass

Series: The Daevabad Trilogy #1

Author: S. A. Chakraborty

Publisher: Harper Colins

Format: Audio, english, 19h

Synopsis: GoodReads

Review: 5*, GoodReads, Amazon

Buy: Amazon

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 trade she uses to get by-palm readings, zars, healings-are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills, a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles and a reliable way to survive. But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she's forced to question all she believes. For the warrior tells her 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 not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass-a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.In Daevabad, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. A young prince dreams of rebellion. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she 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 ...

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Right on the last day of the year another book managed to land itself in my yearly favorites. I’d seen ‘City of Brass’ around before and planned to read it eventually, so when I was looking for a new audiobook to listen to I was happy to start with this one.

The only thing I have to say about the audiobook in particular is that there are quite a few Arabian (inspired?)names and titles and I had some trouble keeping everything straight. While I don’t own the physical book I’m pretty sure there is a glossary which would be really helpful. Still I don’t think it’s that much of a problem, I didn’t have any trouble following the story, but I sometimes got confused as to what was a name, a nickname or a title.

I absolutely loved the worldbuilding in this book. I’ve always been fascinated with Arabic (inspired) cultures and worlds, and this one is even more amazing than a lot of those I’ve read about in other fantasy books.  The author effortlessly manages historic cultures and events with century old tales and stories and adds her own unique twist to it.

Her descriptions are beautiful and everything is so well-written. It was so easy to follow the story and connect with the characters!

I really loved the main character Nahri, she is fierce and knows how to take care of herself, and I enjoyed the dynamic between her and Dara quite a bit.

It’s great how we had a characters from different tribes and more importantly with very different political views and cultural values, which made things very interesting.

I always love it when you have people from two sides of a conflict and you can see them from both sides. Not one is good and the other bad, but both have their reasons and their explanations and  you can come to like both of them even if you don’t necessarily share their views.

The plot was very interesting and exciting. Following Nahri on her journey and the seeing live in Daevabad was incredibly fascinating.

The end was bad though, I really just wanted to stop and go hide myself from the rest of the world and most importantly the rest of the book. Things evened out quickly though and everything is set up nicely for the next book.

All in all I absolutely loved the book and can’t wait for it’s sequel!