Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Kingdom of Copper

I will be honest that it took me a while to completely read this book. It took me longer then I was hoping for but I did manage to get it read. I really enjoyed this follow up to the first one even better than the first one itself!

This book picks up five years after the events of the first one. Nahri is now trapped in a loveless marriage under the thumb of King Ghassan. Ali is banished from Daevabad trying to build a better life for himself in a foreign land. Dara has been resurrected to once again be used as a weapon for the Nahids to take over Daevabad. This book has a much darker tone with some very heavy themes presented. The theme of war, how both sides are fighting for what they believe is right and no matter what happens no side truly wins a war over something like this.

Having the multiple perspectives really aided this book! I loved the addition of Dara's POV, I thought it added a lot to see his side of the conflict and why he was doing the things he did in the first and second book. Out of all the stories I really enjoyed seeing Ali's story! Seeing him grow and come into his own. How he learned to stand up for himself against his family, how he was firm in his beliefs and his need to help people. He was still fearful of his magic but he wanted to understand them and why he was granted them in the first place.

The world itself was still beautiful while there was less magical creatures in this one the city of Daevabad was still a beautiful place to see written in a book. This was a very politics heavy and character driven book! I enjoyed seeing the politics at play and getting to see the characters have to do some less than savory things to get things accomplished!

I am looking forward to finishing this book and finishing the series as a whole! I cant wait to see how the Daevabad trilogy is going to end!

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spacerkip's review against another edition

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adventurous tense

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

Knowing that there's still another book in the series was honestly the most stressful part of reading this. Watching all the different plotlines come together and knowing it all must go catastrophically wrong had me yelling in my car on multiple occasions. (I read this via audiobook on my daily commute. Apologies to those who thought I was road raging at them at red lights.)

I really fell in love with Ali as a character in this book. The timeskip provided him with the appropriate room to grow and come into his own as an active force, rather than a reactive one. I loved seeing him spark loyalty in those around him and rise as a leader. I think the author does wonderful job of showing how a character sees themself and internally justifies their own actions. You can follow the logic of a POV character and understand why they act the way they do, then switch POV and feel completely different about them once you see their actions from the outside.

I am once again going against my usual habits and picking up the next book as soon as I can. As soon as I finish some other library books...it is SO over for me.

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ka_ke's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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ko_rax's review against another edition

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adventurous tense 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

Chakraborty's The Kingdom of Copper continues the tale left off in its prequel The City of Brass, following the protagonists who have settled five years after Dara and Nahri's failed attempt to escape. This novel focuses even further on domestic policy in Daevabad and introduces strategic warfare.

Love the execution of political turmoil! For a few scenes, I wished that Chakraborty refrained from telling than showing, but those moments were so sparse that they did not rip me out of the flow.
If the first novel was Nahri's arc, then this one is most definitely

Alizayd

's. Albeit slower than Nahri, it was heartwrenching to watch this character's growth, and I hold them dear. And again, every character is believable and I cannot bring myself to hate the majority of them.

I am delighted by the twists and turns! I have already picked up The Empire of Gold.

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saracat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

While there are some characters I disliked but felt like I could understand their actions, there were others I wanted to slap very hard regularly for acting so irrationally and purely on emotion. The three main characters I continued to feel for, though not equally. There were two I definitely sympathized more with because it felt like they were making efforts and looking for how to do better. Though, trauma and having ideology put before a person from a young age cannot be any easy thing to change.

There were a lot of twists in this. And I liked how sometimes one character’s perspective was purposely not gone back to regularly to keep the suspense for the reader about how all things were progressing.

Chakraborty conveyed the complexity of emotions and relationships between people very well as things progressed in this book. And I’m very interested to see how things continue into the third book.

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mice_are_nice's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense 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

4.5

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rjwilde's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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readinginthegrey's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense 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

My brain has left my body after that ending.
It was so good! All of the political messiness from the first book is in the second.
I wasn't in love with any of the characters (except maybe Ali), but that's becaus they were all flawed individuals that were quite fleshed out, everyone's actions made sense.
While it does start off a bit slow, there were enough twists to keep you on your toes.

Definitely wory a read.

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