The City of Brass (Daevabad Trilogy)

Product Information

Absolutely phenomenal. One of the most brilliant, razor-sharp books I've had the pleasure of reading that isn't just an alternative fantastical history, but an interrogative one; one that grabs colonial history and the Industrial Revolution, turns it over, and shakes it out, pointing out the rotten roots empire grows from and making damn clear the work, the sacrifice, and yes, as the title says the necessity of violence in ripping it all apart. This book was also just so damn CLEVER in how it applied the magical aspects. If I can be a total nerd, the linguistic stuff was not just profound in how it was used, it was really neat to learn! What’s more, the trilogy is very pointedly set in the early 19th century — Napoleon is mentioned very early in the first book — right before colonization of the Middle East by European countries began in earnest. At every level of her trilogy, Chakraborty is examining why so many people who believe they’re doing the right thing are willing to subjugate others in the name of what they perceive to be good.

In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences. You are my friend, Ali felt with his whole heart, and could not trace where the comfort in that belief crossed into ache. Nahri refuses to escape with Dara and the life she's trying to build in Daevabad, and Ali intervenes. Their battle ends with Dara threatening to kill Ali if Nahri doesn't agree to flee with him, and Nahri concedes. Ali is taken prisoner, and the three make their way to a secret boat by the lake shore. Their escape is soon interrupted by a hidden warship full of soldiers, and a massacre ensues when Nahri unintentionally unleashes Dara's slave powers and he murders nearly everyone on the ship, including Ali. Nahri manages to talk Dara down after he scourges Muntadhir, but their escape is hindered by Ali, who has been possessed by the lake marid. The marid kills Dara by severing his slave ring from his body, and King Ghassan and his soldiers retake the boat.

Customer reviews

Arranged Marriage: Ghassan plans to unite the Qahtanis and Nahids by marrying Muntadhir to Nahri. Both decide to be pragmatic about the situation. At the end, they happily burn their marriage contract and become Amicable Exes.

Meanwhile, Ali has been exiled for daring to defy his father. Hunted by assassins, adrift on the unforgiving copper sands of hisancestral land, he is forced to rely on the frightening abilities the marid—the unpredictable water spirits—have gifted him. But in doing so, he threatens to unearth a terrible secret his family has long kept buried. God Guise: One of the things the ifrit did to earn Suleiman's ire was convincing humans to worship them. In the aftermath, King Ghassan retaliates against the shafit in his search for those related to the Tanzeem, and retaliates against the Daevas and those who helped Dara's escape attempt or even question his death. Ali survives but is to be banished to Am Gezira in part for his mother's tribe's role in supporting the Tanzeem, and in part to hide his uncontrolled water magic. Muntadhir renounces Ali and grieves his gravely-injured love/bodyguard Jamshid while resenting Nahri and his marriage to her. Nahri deeply struggles with Dara's death, and has a meeting with King Ghassan where they continue their previous marriage agreement and is told about Dara and what happened in Qui-zi. She later is forced to denounce Dara to a gathered crowd of Daeva nobles who show deference to her, much to Ghassan's discontent. Kaveh and Nisreen discuss Jamshid and the Daeva situation, and hint how things could change if they can get Dara's recovered slave ring to Manizheh e-Nahid. Healing Hands: The Nahids are known for powerful healing magic and advanced medical knowledge. Nahids themselves even have a Healing Factor.Dara is a piece of poop :) I liked him for 0.45 seconds and then arrogance and idiocy flooded out of his pores and I died The story also follows Alizayd al Qahtani, "Ali" for short; a devout Muslim and second son of the djinn king whose family currently rules Daevabad, and whose ancestors had violently overthrown the Nahids. Torn between being loyal to his family and his duty as the future Qaid--the military leader that will serve his brother Emir Muntadhir; he also secretly supports the Tanzeem, a group of half-human djinn (known as shafit) that fight against the oppression and cruelty leveled against their kind by the Qahtani rulers and other pureblooded djinn. The City of Brass was a finalist for several science fiction and fantasy awards, including the Crawford Award, Locus Award, British Fantasy Award, World Fantasy Award, and won the Booknest.eu award for best Debut Novel. Chakraborty narrowly missed the final ballot for the John W. Campbell award by a single vote. But when Nahri accidentally summons Dara, an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior, to her side during one of her cons, she's forced to reconsider her beliefs. For Dara tells Nahri an extraordinary tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire and rivers where the mystical marid sleep, past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises and mountains where the circling birds of prey are more than what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass-- a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.