LOOK AT THE COVER. WE’VE BEEN BLESSED

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A lot of you probably know how much I struggled with reading this book. I was fortunate enough to receive an e-arc from Edelweiss, and after rereading the first two books, I finally decided to pick it up. I was really hesitant because Gretal had told me that there were things I probably wouldn’t like, so in a way I was dreading it because I didn’t want my heart to break, but I also didn’t want to get spoiled.

I got 76% of the way through my e-arc when I put it down. I remember the night when I first started thinking about maybe dnfing. It was a couple days before I actually set the book aside, but the days that followed were nothing short of miserable. That first night, I cried myself to sleep. I lay there in bed, curled up, thinking about how pathetic I was to be feeling so heartbroken and betrayed over a book. It wasn’t fair. Instead of me crying because of a really well-written, emotional scene, I was crying because of how angry and hurt I felt. The next day, I felt like I was walking in a dream, because there wasn’t anyone I could talk to about how I was feeling who would understand. Even then, I tried to push myself to continue, but I kept thinking and spiralling, and crying, until I finally decided to just set it down. I told myself, I’d read a few other books, wait for my physical copy to arrive, and then try and read it again from the beginning. I went back and forth though, between just never picking it up again or spoiling myself.

Just writing this out, makes me want to cry, because reading this book the second time around made me feel more numb than anything else, but remembering what I felt the first time makes this so much harder. I love Shannon so much as a person. Her first two books will always hold such a special place in my heart. Kingdom of Copper will always be one of my favourite books of all time. And it sucks to be writing this review, knowing she follows me on my social media, because I don’t want her to know, yet at the same time I think my thoughts are quite valid and I do want other people to see my point of view.

What I Enjoyed

The book starts off with Nahri and Ali in Cairo. Those first few chapters were so bittersweet; it was wonderful to see her reconnect with her home and with Yaqub, but it was also sad knowing, as the reader, that she wasn’t going to be staying there long.

I liked seeing how conflicted Nahri was about what she should do next. I understood her longing for a nice life in Cairo, away from the politics and madness of Daevabad. I understood how tired she was trying so hard to do what was right, for things to only backfire. It made sense for her to want to protect the little she had remaining, when everything around her seemed to constantly go up in flames. She was tired of hurting, of watching those she cared about hurting, and I think her reaction to settle down and build herself a life doing what she loves, without the added responsibility and weight of her title, was reasonable.

Ali, though, was his usual hopeful, righteous self, and despite how dark his world felt after the loss of his brother and his home, it only drove him further. And just like Nahri helped him get through those initial depressive episodes, Ali reminds her of her duty towards Daevabad, making her realize that she could never fully live with herself if she abandoned her friends and her people.

I loved the glimpse we got of what their lives could be like. Nahri, finally living her dream as a doctor, doing what she loves most. The scene where she decides to perform surgery on a boy, only to realize how great it felt to be able to do some good with the skills she’d gained the last few years, despite not having her magic anymore. Yaqub’s offer to give over his apothecary to the both of them was so sweet. I enjoyed Ali’s wide-eyed curiosity of the human world, and how much time he and Nahri spent just talking to each other. It reminded me of the early days of their friendship, when they would sit in Daevabad’s libraries, enjoying Egyptian sweets, and learning about each other’s worlds. It’s rare seeing characters in a book talk about their feelings and catching the other person up on what they’ve missed. It did make the first half of this book kind of slow, and I will admit, I was a little surprised at first to see Nahri opening up so much, since she’s a rather closed-off character. But overall, it was nice to see them bonding and getting closer since their friendship was kind of rocky in KoC.

I want to talk a little about the POV switches. In my reread of Kingdom of Copper, I wasn’t a fan of the Dara chapters. I would find myself so engrossed in what was happening in Daevabad with Ali and Nahri, that when it came to a Dara chapter I was just impatient to get back to the politics and scheming.

However, in EoG, I actually wanted more of Dara and Daveabad. I am not a huge fan of Dara, but EoG does a good job of showing what happens when someone young, impressionable, with an indoctrinated set of beliefs, is used by someone in power for their own gain. The scene when Dara goes to the throne room to see Manizheh and remembers the last time he was there in front of the Nahids did a perfect job showing how manipulative the Nahids really were.

“Their orders. So specific that Dara, who had spoken out of turn not once, drew in a sharp, shocked breath and glanced again at his father, an act that prompted the Nahids to start fretting about what might happen should another Suleiman return. How they’d all be stripped of their magic, their names, their family, their very identity––pressed into human service for untold centuries. How his mother and little sister might suffer in such a disaster.”

It doesn’t excuse any of Dara’s decisions from the past and the ones he made after this point in the book. But I get why he is the way he is, and how he got into this mess. I don’t think many people can understand how hard it is to turn your back on someone you love and respect. How hard it is to take that loyalty and faith and guilt, and throw it all away to do something that you could never have imagined doing. But Dara was given so many chances to change, to repent, to do something that would not end in thousands of people dying at his and Manizheh’s hands. And all those times, he ends up justifying his decisions. He makes excuses, he refuses help when help is offered. It’s common behaviour from someone who’s been abused and experienced so much trauma, but at the same time his decisions affected so many innocent people, people he knew didn’t deserve to be treated this way. And he knew himself how wrong it was. How creating more bloodshed wasn’t going to fix anything. Dara is a complicated character, and while I have no love for him, I do understand him more than I did in the previous books.

Besides Dara, I wish we could have gotten another POV set in Daevabad during Manizheh’s occupation. It would have been so cool to see what Zaynab was up to, how she was rallying the Shafit and Geziri together, what plans they had in mind to protect themselves from Dara, the ifrit, and Manizheh. Even being able to see what Muntadhir was up to once he was freed from his imprisonment. With Muntadhir playing a much heavier role in KoC, I was a little disappointed to see him pushed into the sidelines. I will admit though, the banter between him and Dara was just