Reviews with content warning for Medical content - The Kingdom of Copper

This was a wonderfully magical continuation of the Daevebad Trilogy.

My one criticism was the pacing seemed to be quite slow in the beginning and quite fast-paced at the end. But though it started out a little slow, I understand where Chakraborty was going with the placement of each character and where they ended up when the book was over. The last 100 pages takes the reader on a journey at break-neck speed! It drew me in so fully that I couldn't stop reading.

I absolutely loved the second installment in this trilogy. It was a delight to learn more about the different tribes, the history of Daevebad, the true story of the marid, and the ifrit. I can't wait to see how it all plays out in the final book, but I'm also going to be quite sad to leave this world as it has me enraptured.

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readwith_e's review against another edition

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

5.0

After all of the beautiful world/character building and plot twists of City of Brass this book was already set up to be fantastic but it still surpassed my very high expectations.
Thank you, Chakraborty, for keeping me on my toes throughout this book and introducing me to some truly captivating mythology. I’m not done with the series yet, but I can already tell how heartbroken I’ll be to leave the breathtaking world of Daevabad.

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erebus53's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Wading back into the fraught and politically interwoven world of the Daeva, could begin to get overwhelming. I was very interested to see what happened to my favourite characters though.

This book finally sees people talking about what happens when the heir to the kingdom, Muntadhir, falls in love with a man art arms. Dammit why can't you all just let them be happy! And wait, in the last book didn't we find out that Jamshid has even more secrets about his person that even he is probably unaware of...? I had to find out more, and I do wish it took less that 20 chapters to unfold! But there is so much to unfold in a place where you arrange marriages for political reasons, and when everyone is lying to each other - things get messy in a great bit hurry.

Meanwhile back in the small desert town of Bir Nabat, the exiled prince finally seems to have stopped getting regular visits from assassins. He's knuckled down in serious service to the community as an irrigator and well builder and is starting to bring prosperity to a place that was dwindling into the dust. Less said about magical water powers the better, but everyone close to him knows that he doesn't come up for air nearly enough to seem.. normal, and he's awfully good at falling asleep in random places and accidentally waking up having "found" a brand new spring.

And then one of his rich cousins turns up with a year's worth of taxes in cursed salt, that only someone with their bloodline can return to Daevabad, and if it doesn't get there then there might be military retribution so .. he's wrangled back to his home city, consequences be damned.

Seems that everyone is preparing for the biggest festival in decades, and also that everyone who ever wanted to attack anyone is waiting for that time to do all their "plans".

Nahri petitions her father-in-law Ghassan, to bankroll a rebuild of the hospital her people once used, and to be able to treat the half-blood Shafit there as well as anybody else. She and Ali are working to try and patch up relations within the city, but their idealism can only get people so far..

Civil unrest is at an all time high, and meanwhile, plotting in the background Manizheh has her own plans, and central to them is re-re-resurrecting Darayavahoush. Again. Poor b*stard. We get to find a bit more about the history and magic of the land, the nature of Ifrits and the Marid.

Oooh this gets messy. I'm not a super fan of battles, but I do like big reveals. It's tense and frustrating when you have enough information to cobble together what's going on, but the characters haven't been told yet. Why do revolutions have to be so messy!!? That poor library. That tower... hey people were using that! I might ned a bit of a break before I delve into future volumes.

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ariel790's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional slow-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

4.0

Set 5 years after the events of the first, Nahri is subjugated to deal with the politics of Davabad in order to survive.

Book 2 is more about the ins and outs between royalty. Brothers torn between their father, Nahri pulled between them, the king, queen, and people of her heritage.

Compared to the first, the authors writing has matured. Conversations between characters have a better flow, descriptions of settings, objects have more details. I feel she really captured the essence of sibling rivalry. However, due to the change of focus, the pacing is a lot slower. It isn't until about 70% in where everything comes together and the action hits. Makes for a different, yet complimentary story. The 1st still my favorite of the two, but 2 was still exciting and has me wanting to read the 3rd.

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brynalexa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I was consistently shocked through the entire book. The story never goes where you’re expecting it to. Somehow a cast of treacherous characters making terrible decisions works. Brilliant.

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stevienielson's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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laurareads87's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

Well, I didn't expect this, but I liked The Kingdom of Copper even more than I liked The City of Brass. I feel like while the earlier book establishes the world, the second takes both character development and politics to a new level: more excitement, more tension, more complexity. I'm so glad I'm reading this series now, when all three books have been released, so that I don't have to wait for Book 3.

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mxpringle's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.75

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