I am almost speechless. This book… Holy smokes it’s good.

The City of Brass can easily be called a fantasy epic - the first in a trilogy that I can’t wait to continue reading. Chakraborty has taken djinn mythology and turned it on its head, plunging the reader into a world of magic, politics, and eventually… darkness.

The title refers to the central city of the djinn, Daevabad. It’s a complex metropolis full of contradictions, with wealth and poverty existing side by side. You could almost call it a character unto itself - Chakraborty’s world building skills are on full display in this book.

But it’s not just the setting that impressed me, her characters are fascinating as well. Nahri is a con artist and thief with a mysterious past. She’s not the most loveable of people, but you can’t help but hope that things work out for her. And the djinn Dara? His odd behaviour left me guessing the entire time.

I will admit, about halfway through I became concerned that the plot was leading into some tired YA trope territory - Nahri was starting to look like a MarySue. I’m so glad I was wrong - the plot had so many twists and turns (and a hell of a climax), that any concerns I had about tropes was thoroughly put to rest. Really, the only thing that I would possibly change is the length of time Nahri and Dara spent travelling to the city. But it’s such a minor thing that it really doesn’t affect my rating.

The next book is called Kingdom of Copper, and I already have it waiting on my Kobo. I’ll definitely be reading it soon.