World-building 101, immerses the reader into an imagined world with as much imagery as possible without long boring descriptive sentences littered with metaphors and similies. This book gets itand creates this world in the first 3 pages. It reminds me of Bright in some small way (without the Will Smith character) and the otherworldy dimensions echo "The Conjunction of Spheres" idea. But there are a few unique elements to this story as well.

So what we have is a world that is multicultural in both mortal and supernatural terms.

1. A mysterious dead djinn complete with horns, talons and humanoid face and the color blue.

2. Lower-Order Djinns. Zombies (different name, same premise), sorcerers and Ancient Egyptian Gods.

3. Secretive and sometimes scheming power-hungry "Maybe-Angels" and not the visuals of hot winged human form ala Tom Ellis in Lucifer...nope; these are multi-limbed, winged and mechanical celestials but enchanting nontheless.

4. Mortal realm:Coptic Egyptians, Islamic Egyptians, Albanians, Greeks, Turks, Abyssinians, Soudanese and the remnants of English Settlements in Cairo.

5. Time and Era: turn of the century, end of Ottoman rule, dirigibals, gliders, gas lighting ( not to be confused with gaslighting) and carriages abound. Very atmospheric. Feels Steampunkish.

Makes for an interesting landscape..

Character Development

Fatma (somewhat androdgynous looking) is steadfast, calculated and bares all the hallmarks of the first women allowed onto the police force once equal rights were afforded to both genders at the time: she contends with the male gaze despite donning men's tailored English suits complete with a cane typical of that era.

Aasim is her partner and represents the bigots and misogynists littered throughout her society. They work well together because she doesn't rise to his instigations. This dynamic is familiar in our world today; so I would like a Ghul to feast on her partner's still beating heart ( okay yes, that's a bit extreme - well, Aasim is bloody annoying).

There are wrought tensions between the ethnic groups of the mortal realms and it's really just a powder kegg waiting to be lit by the more cunning supernaturals.

I do love a story that brings to life cultural folklore and contemporary ideas of fantasy and just subverts them. This was a pleasant surprise.

*I hadn't realized that I'd been listening to Natalie Holt's "The Princess" motion Picture Ost/Score whilst reading this. It gave it a decidedly epic and busy atmosphere. I might just do this for all my upcoming books on my TBR list*