The City of Brass, S.A. Chakraborty | Book Review

I have had The City of Brass on my TBR for a long time, a detailed fantasy set in Cairo? Yes, please! I thought the premise of the book sounded great and a lot of people seemed to be loving it, so I thought I’d pick it up!

The City of Brass, S.A. Chakraborty

Themes: Fantasy, Young Adult, Historical

Reading Format: Paperback/Audiobook

3.5 STARS // 6.8 CAWPILE

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I went into this book not knowing much and honestly so much went on that I came out of it also not knowing much but in a good way. This book was full of excitement, magic and twists and turns that left me scratching my head. The start was quite slow with its pacing, taking time to get going as we were introduced to the narratives of Nahri and Ali. One is a royal and the other a girl with a magical ability to heal people.

It is an own voices novel following two different characters as they try to rebel against the system and survive. Nahri is a healer in Cairo and Ali is a djinn prince in Daevabad, a magical city. It very much appears that Nahri is swept up in something she doesn’t understand when she accidentally summons Dara, a rebel and daeva warrior. In the meantime, Ali is trying to do what he thinks is right in a city that isn’t under his control. So there are two different storylines going on here and I spent a lot of the start of the book waiting for them to collide!

I really liked the banterous relationship forming between Nahri and Dara, they were good fun to read about and I definitely enjoyed more of their chapters as Nahri discovered more about the world she didn’t know she was part of. I found Ali’s chapters a little slower, but I think these are setting up for what happens in the second book… I assume.

The setting felt rich and beautiful and left me feeling fully immersed in the story. I haven’t really read many books set in Egypt and I enjoyed this change of setting from what I was used to. The atmosphere of the book certainly contributed to how fantastical the magic system felt and made me want to keep reading.

So much went on in this book and at times I found it hard to follow, but overall I did enjoy reading it. It was certainly a rich fantasy, with an interesting and unique magic system. I do feel like I need to read through the plot properly somewhere before I move onto the second book though.

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