snuzzbobble's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
kblincoln's review
4.0
I am always reading an ebook and a hardback in tandem. Sometimes the two books end up informing eachother in interesting ways. I ended up reading this with a YA fantasy (We Hunt the Flame) also set in the Middle East with references to magic, etc, written by authors with connections to countries on the Bay of Bengal.
Saad Hossain is Bangladeshi, and most of Djinn City is centered around parts of Bangladesh and Dhaka. It starts out with a young boy named Indelbed, the offshoot of the rich Khan Rhamans, the son of a ridiculed minor member of that family who is attacked and goes into a coma. This leaves Rais, his cousin, and his Aunt Juny in charge of him. The promptly lose him to an officious and official looking man, Dargoman, who gives him to his Djinn benefactor.
Indelbed gets put in a murder pit along with the crazed, heartless, deviant enemy of the elder & powerful Djinni– Givaras the Maker, the Broken One.
Rais ends up becoming an emissary between the Djinn and humans, and enters a complicated political world full of rules and contracts and really crazy powerful beings.
All of this sounds quite fantastical, but the story is really grounded in everyday, banal existence spiced with human and Djinn carelessness for life and willingness to inflict pain. There’s quite a lot of pain inflicted in this book. Whether its Indelbed being burned in dragon fire or corrupt security officers raping and burning alive homeless vagrants.
Givaras spends ALOT of the book telling Indelbed his philosophy and theories on life, magic, and the nature of the university. Rais runs around trying to convince people to let him be their servant/ambassador and finding out information and the history of the Djinn.
There’s also a somewhat confusingly vague and strange (I sometimes skimmed these bits) parts featuring Indelbed’s comatose father as he is thrust into a new existence related to the main mystery of the Djinn.
The ending is fun, but ultimately unsatisfying and does not tie up many lose ends. And poor, poor Indelbed. As a reader, we feel for him, but he is tortured so incessantly by Givaras that at some point I had to turn off my feelings for him, it was just too terrible.
Quite interesting glimpse into Bangladeshi culture, very pessimistic about human nature, occasionally amusing tale. The author definitely loved his own creations of airships and floating hubs, the nature of Djinn distortion field magic, etc. Definitely gave off Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell vibes, if that were set in Bangladesh the characters endured a lot more abuse.
Saad Hossain is Bangladeshi, and most of Djinn City is centered around parts of Bangladesh and Dhaka. It starts out with a young boy named Indelbed, the offshoot of the rich Khan Rhamans, the son of a ridiculed minor member of that family who is attacked and goes into a coma. This leaves Rais, his cousin, and his Aunt Juny in charge of him. The promptly lose him to an officious and official looking man, Dargoman, who gives him to his Djinn benefactor.
Indelbed gets put in a murder pit along with the crazed, heartless, deviant enemy of the elder & powerful Djinni– Givaras the Maker, the Broken One.
Rais ends up becoming an emissary between the Djinn and humans, and enters a complicated political world full of rules and contracts and really crazy powerful beings.
All of this sounds quite fantastical, but the story is really grounded in everyday, banal existence spiced with human and Djinn carelessness for life and willingness to inflict pain. There’s quite a lot of pain inflicted in this book. Whether its Indelbed being burned in dragon fire or corrupt security officers raping and burning alive homeless vagrants.
Givaras spends ALOT of the book telling Indelbed his philosophy and theories on life, magic, and the nature of the university. Rais runs around trying to convince people to let him be their servant/ambassador and finding out information and the history of the Djinn.
There’s also a somewhat confusingly vague and strange (I sometimes skimmed these bits) parts featuring Indelbed’s comatose father as he is thrust into a new existence related to the main mystery of the Djinn.
The ending is fun, but ultimately unsatisfying and does not tie up many lose ends. And poor, poor Indelbed. As a reader, we feel for him, but he is tortured so incessantly by Givaras that at some point I had to turn off my feelings for him, it was just too terrible.
Quite interesting glimpse into Bangladeshi culture, very pessimistic about human nature, occasionally amusing tale. The author definitely loved his own creations of airships and floating hubs, the nature of Djinn distortion field magic, etc. Definitely gave off Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell vibes, if that were set in Bangladesh the characters endured a lot more abuse.
ashleykitkat's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
themildlyeccentricprofessor's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
husnaibrahim_'s review
4.75
I absolutely adored this book, and it’s such a shame that we might not get a sequel because it ended on such a thrilling cliffhanger! I’m a Muslim, so I grew up hearing stories about djinns, so the whole ‘half-bred djinns and humans’ fantasy concept really captivated me. It was fascinating to see the author integrate these familiar concepts with science and technology.
Now, these djinns in the book aren’t your typical ones. They’re portrayed as unique fantasy creatures with advanced technology and apparently even airships! They exude fierceness, yet it’s like there’s a melancholic undertone to their being. The setting in Bangladesh added a delightful feeling to it all, and I appreciated how the author humanized the story by exploring the relationship between djinns and their mutant human attributes. However, I must confess that I’m uncertain about where the story will go next, given the ambiguous ending for literally all the characters.
Speaking of the ending, it was truly all so sudden! There was no closure at all. It felt as if the author simply reached the end of a chapter and decided to call it a day. Just when we were reaching the high point , everything came to a halt. Like, chaos just seemed to consume everyone and everything! Indelbed spiraled, his cousin Rais spiraled, control was lost, the Givaras found itself trapped once again, Matteras also actually emerged victorious, Aunt Juny met her demise, and Kaikobad remained in a coma. It’s all bewildering, and strangely enough, some of my problems with the book and the concepts only added to its intriguing nature. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Although I did find myself struggling with the story at times due to it becoming overwhelming at times, I came to realize that those were integral to the concept and didn’t remove from the characters. Personally, I wished for more exploration of Indelbed’s perspective, as other storylines felt somewhat untouched after his spiral. But despite these concerns, this book has an abundance of captivating things. It’s imaginative, well-written, and just full of wit. Some The characters are also really fantastic, though I must acknowledge there were a few offensive moments from them that could have been excluded.
tony_tony_chopper's review
5.0
Dark, funny, intriguing, awesome. Black comedy?
The djinns here are not traditional djinns, rather they are like a separate fantasy creature with technology and airships! They are MEAN! They go to the bar, uses taxies and stuff. It is also kind of sad. It ends on such a cliffhanger, oh, I hope there will be a sequel. The plot twists are great and the writing style is brilliant. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book!
The djinns here are not traditional djinns, rather they are like a separate fantasy creature with technology and airships! They are MEAN! They go to the bar, uses taxies and stuff. It is also kind of sad. It ends on such a cliffhanger, oh, I hope there will be a sequel. The plot twists are great and the writing style is brilliant. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book!
morilette's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence