A review by vicktorea
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

โ€œ๐™”๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™จ, ๐˜ฝ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ช ๐™‰๐™–๐™๐™ž๐™™๐™–. ๐™’๐™š๐™ก๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐˜ฟ๐™–๐™š๐™ซ๐™–๐™—๐™–๐™™โœจ๐Ÿ’ซโ€

INCREDIBLE! BRILLIANT! SHOWSTOPPING! AMAZING! UNIQUE! FIRST FIVE STAR OF 2020!

This was pure magical, fantastic excellence! From the world building, to the fleshed out characters, and constant dynamic imagery. 

Chakrabortyโ€™s storytelling is fantastic right down to the humour and wit embedded among the pages. Set in the Middle East with a vast number of characters of colour, The City of Brass is a whole new world โ€” an Islamic, Middle Eastern, West Asian inspired fantasy involving transcendent djinn, mystical creatures, a corrupt monarchy / political system, and characters with high tension and dark secrets, sworn enemies, loyal friendships and a slow burn romance ๐Ÿ”ฅ. 

This took me longer than usual to read as I wanted to fully absorb and immerse myself in the culture surrounding the story and, as a result, I found myself utterly intrigued and unabashedly attached to the characters. Some of my favs include:

our leading lady, ๐™‰๐™–๐™๐™ง๐™ž - an intelligent, sneaky, resourceful force to be reckoned with filled with strength and determination. Queen! ๐Ÿ‘ธ๐ŸฝWe: stan!

๐™ˆ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™™๐™๐™ž๐™ง - the charming, cocky, promiscuous heir to the throne who did not give af. The perfect contrast to his rigid, naive, hypocrite (albeit with good intentions) little brother Ali, whom he was always willing to protect at all costs ๐Ÿฅบ Oui? stan!

and best for last; ๐˜ฟ๐™–๐™ง๐™– - moody, broody, tormented, witty, kind, intricate, immaculate, poignant, teasing, firey, amazing, spectacular ๐˜ฟ๐™–๐™ง๐™–๐™ฎ๐™–๐™ซ๐™–๐™๐™ค๐™ช๐™จ๐™. My heart beat and broke for him throughout. He left us absolutely no choice but to stan! 

While I am admittedly newer to the fantasy genre, I think lovers of fantasy would enjoy this. The City of Brass was an exciting, whirlwind, cultural journey and introduction to the world of Daevabad and I canโ€™t wait to dive back into it with the Kingdom of Copper!