From Powells.com
Our favorite books of the year.
Staff Pick
The City of Brass is an incredible debut. It features the sword fights, monsters, magic, forbidden romances, and betrayals that characterize all of the best fantasy novels, but these elements are set against the mythical city of Daevabad, populated entirely by Djinn. The politics in this book are more nuanced and relevant than most fantasy fare, and the world-building is fresh and enthralling. The City of Brass is the most exciting fantasy I’ve read in a very long time, and Chakraborty is single-handedly responsible for reigniting my love for the genre. Recommended By Ashleigh B., Powells.com
The City of Brass is by far the best book I read this year. Nahri is a gifted con artist living in 18th-century Cairo. She accidentally summons a warrior djinn and discovers that her nascent magical abilities are the legacy of her ancient, bloodthirsty family. This is a highly unique, completely magical story that had me hooked from the start. I can’t believe this is a debut novel! Recommended By McKenzie W., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th-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...
Review
“With this rich and layered novel, Chakraborty builds a fantasy world as intricate and intriguing as its Middle Eastern setting. Following the various subplots is like pondering vibrant Arabic design; readers will lose themselves in the wonder and complexity.” BookPage
Review
“The City of Brass is the best adult fantasy I’ve read since The Name of the Wind. It’s stunning and complex and consuming and fantastic. You must read it.” Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes
Review
“Chakraborty writes a winning heroine in Nahri — flawed but smart and engaging. And her portrayal of the cultural conflicts in the magical city of Daevabad and of Ali’s inner turmoil is compelling and complex, serving as a strong counterpoint to the thrilling action.” Washington Post
Review
"An extravagant feast of a book — spicy and bloody, dizzyingly magical, and still, somehow, utterly believable." Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of Strange the Dreamer
Synopsis
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 . . .
--Michael J. Sullivan,
New York Times bestselling author of the Riyria Revelations
About the Author
S. A. Chakraborty is a speculative fiction writer from New York City. The City of Brass is her first novel.