It pains me to say this but A Master of Djinn is one of my more disappointing reads of this year. P. Djèlí Clark is a favourite SFF author and his novellas are some of the most meticulously paced and perfectly crafted stories I've ever read. But, his debut novel while filled with a lot of the imagination that made me fall for his work was, unfortunately, a bit of a bloated mess.

A Master of Djinn is set in Clark's Dead Djinn universe. In this speculative mystery, Special Investigator Fatma el-Shawari investigates the murder of an English dignitary. A key suspect is a man in black wielding dangerous magic calling himself the Master of Djinn. Fatma hunts down this murderer in the underbelly of Cairo with her new (unwanted) partner Hamida as the clock counts down to this Master unleashes chaos across the city.

Firstly, P. Djèlí Clark's worldbuilding was magnificent as always. I already fell in love with Clark's steampunk alternate Cairo in A Dead Djinn in Cairo and The Haunting of Tran Car 015 and the imagination and craft of his world is as riveting here as always. Clark's worldbuilding is rooted in a meticulous attention to detail that brings early 20th-century Cairo to life. I am in awe of the research that must have gone into building the city with such specificity. I also adore the magic of this world. Djinn are easily one of my favourite magical creatures and Clark calls upon the vast lore and mythology of djinn brilliantly. He seamlessly blends djinn magic and steampunk aesthetics to make a textured and multifaceted world that felt unique and specific to Clark’s imagination.

Fatma is a fantastic protagonist. She’s sexy and competent with a sharp wit and dedication to style that charmed me completely. Her intelligence and drive made her the perfect protagonist for this mystery because her curiosity and tenacity moved the plot forward. Seeing her flit across the city, cane in hand, hunting down clues was thoroughly entertaining. I especially adored her second-chance romance with Siti, an enigmatic priestess Fatma had a whirlwind love affair with previously. These two had amazing chemistry that flew off the page.

Unfortunately, this book had problems. Clark's trademark grip on plotting and pacing was seemingly absent in his debut novel. The story over time ballooned into a bloated slog. The latter half of the book lacked tension because we lingered on every beat of the mystery for far too long. The narrative spun its wheels as Fatma chased red herrings too obvious to played straight so late in the story. This made reading the final act feel like waiting for the story to end.

The story also struggled to balance interpersonal conflict and its mystery plot. Throughout the book, Fatma struggles with a new partner as well as complications in her love life. However, these conflicts didn’t weave into the story as seamlessly as I would have liked. Rather than these threads rising and falling alongside the mystery plot, it felt like Clark picked up and dropped these interpersonal conflicts haphazardly adding to the overall bloat of the story.

And finally, the ending of A Master of Djinn was less than satisfactory. The story transformed from an insular mystery to a spectacle-filled epic fantasy. The stakes of the story became world ending and the conclusion was drawn out and tedious because the scope of the story expanded beyond reason. What I feel was set up as an episodic murder-of-the-week spiralled drastically and felt completely out of step with the smaller scope of the rest of the series.

A Master of Djinn was a disappointment, but this book was by no means bad. Clark's worldbuilding was astounding as always and it was a fun romp for the most part. Hopefully, I’ll love whatever novel P. Djèlí Clark comes out with next because I have no doubt his imagination will continue to entrance me in the future.