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A review by its_kievan
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
A fun read to close out the year, but not the book I was hoping it would be.
The problem is that the setting and plot are almost entirely separate, which is a real tragedy when the setting - alternate 1910s Cairo with djinns and angels - is so damn cool. Clark wants to have his cake and eat it too, and so he ends up with an interesting backdrop that never actually matters to the story. He tells us that sexism is more-or-less at 1910s levels, but at no point does anyone treat Fatma differently because of her gender - not in any way that affects the plot, at least. He tells us that homophobia is the same, and yet not only can Fatma go around in men's clothing but multiple characters know about her and Siti and no one even bats an eye. I get if you don't want to interrupt your fun adventure story with real-world bigotry, that's so incredibly fair, but in that case why even bring it up? Just be like yeah the djinns made us chill with gay women and leave it at that. The same is true of the fact that it's set in Cairo, and more broadly in the Middle East. Again, the food and clothes and architecture is interesting, but it's just set dressing - you could change Fatma's name to Faith and the djinns to ghosts (or whatever) and it fundamentally wouldn't change anything.
I want to make it clear, I still enjoyed this book. The reason I bothered writing all this is because I enjoyed the book enough to care about how it handled its setting. Clark is clearly a creative dude, and I I'm very excited to see what he puts out next.
The problem is that the setting and plot are almost entirely separate, which is a real tragedy when the setting - alternate 1910s Cairo with djinns and angels - is so damn cool. Clark wants to have his cake and eat it too, and so he ends up with an interesting backdrop that never actually matters to the story. He tells us that sexism is more-or-less at 1910s levels, but at no point does anyone treat Fatma differently because of her gender - not in any way that affects the plot, at least. He tells us that homophobia is the same, and yet not only can Fatma go around in men's clothing but multiple characters know about her and Siti and no one even bats an eye. I get if you don't want to interrupt your fun adventure story with real-world bigotry, that's so incredibly fair, but in that case why even bring it up? Just be like yeah the djinns made us chill with gay women and leave it at that. The same is true of the fact that it's set in Cairo, and more broadly in the Middle East. Again, the food and clothes and architecture is interesting, but it's just set dressing - you could change Fatma's name to Faith and the djinns to ghosts (or whatever) and it fundamentally wouldn't change anything.
I want to make it clear, I still enjoyed this book. The reason I bothered writing all this is because I enjoyed the book enough to care about how it handled its setting. Clark is clearly a creative dude, and I I'm very excited to see what he puts out next.