Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

15 reviews

bubbeleh's review against another edition

adventurous 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

A dapper butch detective in early 20th century Egypt in which Egypt is a ruling power, complete with mythical creatures. I was hooked from start to finisg

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

emily_mh's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? No

5.0

I was absolutely thrilled, 100% of the time, to be reading this book. It literally felt like I was Fatma and Hadia’s cat sidekick (which they don’t actually have in the story), rubbing my paws together after investigating a lead and asking “where to next, ladies?” I was just enthralled. I absolutely adored the alt-history, steampunk, supernatural Cairo the novel’s events are set in. You’ve got mechanical, thinking buildings, airships and aerial trams, secret bars, and in the midst of it all, a Ministry that is trying to keep all hell from breaking loose (literally). What is so compelling is that general knowledge of the existence of magic and its spread in society only happened 40 years prior to the events of the novel; it is still super new to everyone and not everything is known, so this Ministry doesn’t really know what it’s doing or what it’s up against - kind of like the reader!

I also loved the characters. Our MC Fatma is this prodigal agent who is super capable and practical, and goes around wearing outlandish English suits. She’s in a relationship with SC Siti, who is this unpredictable, confident woman with some mysterious otherworldly powers. Fatma is assigned a partner at the Ministry, Hadia, who is steadfast, passionate, and kind. Fatma’s development is about her relationships with Siti and Hadia; in the former they aren’t communicating well, while Fatma wants nothing to do with the latter. Both relationships end in a much, much better place than they began.

The fault with this book lies partially in some lines of cliche dialogue, and occasionally some clumsy world-building (”I think it’s X!” “X? You mean [insert exactly what X is here]”), that perhaps indicated the level of craft could have been improved overall. But it mostly lies in the fact that Clark could have introduced more suspects and hidden the perpetrator better, as the writing of the clues was heavy-handed for an adult mystery. The combination of these factors meant I guessed who the perpetrator was very early on. HOWEVER, I didn’t guess the motive or the mechanics of their crimes, which ended up being interestingly tied into the world-building. I would say I’d rate this book 4.25 for quality (still super solid!), but overall I couldn’t rate it less than 5 stars because I enjoyed it so damn much. I can easily see this series as a whole making my top 10 of 2024 list.

Rep: Muslim Egyptian MC, Sudanese LI, Muslim Egyptian SCs

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Police brutality, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Major: six uses of the Arabic anti-Black a-slur, self-injury, body control, mind control, blackface Moderate: two uses of the archaic anti-Black n-slur, colourism, bomb Minor: gambling, apartheid, fainting, one use of the archaic anti-Black b-slur, imprisonment

willow1113's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Colonisation, War, and Classism

kappafrog's review

adventurous dark funny informative 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

This. Was. FANTASTIC!! One of the best books I've read all year. I love the setting, the characters, the history, the folklore... Wow!! I want more books like this! A historian writing steampunk that centres entirely different cultures and histories than usual... I love it! Reading this felt like eating a delicious and varied meal you'd never tasted!

Fatima and Hadia made a great detective team, and I loved Siti. There were so many amazing side characters too, from a musician refugee from Jim Crow calling himself Mansa Musa, to a haughty djinn librarian, to a master of thieves feeding hungry children while keeping some wealth for herself. The world building was so rich, with so many strands woven together to make an engrossing tapestry. I'd love to see more of this world!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Blood, Islamophobia, Dementia, Cannibalism, Abandonment, and Alcohol

novella42's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was beautiful, the worldbuilding was excellent, the characters were multi-dimensional, their problems and responses were believable, and Clark explored social issues with nuance. I loved so much of this book!

The story began a little slow for me because I'm not into mysteries, but by the second half I was having a hard time putting it down as the pacing built more and more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Sexual content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

taroroot's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

i'm not really an audiobook girl but this was a really fun time! i enjoyed all the narrators and learning all the proper pronunciations for all the Arabic words. i thought the world building was really intriguing and well done. i loved how the MC's queerness was just a part of her. i also loved the way racism and colorism is acknowledged but never debated because it's obviously wrong in the MC's mind even as she explains the views of other people.

one star off just because i guessed the twist near the end fairly easily so i was kind of waiting to see how Fatma, Hadia, and Siti figured it out

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery

Minor: Death, Sexism, and Colonisation

ggwweenn1's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

5.0

An excellent book. El-Attar does stunning work on the audio version. The mystery maybe goes a bit longer than I would like, but the characters are so enjoyable that finishing the book is a treat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Addiction

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Slavery, Blood, Police brutality, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Addiction and Alcohol

tigger89's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? No

4.0

This started off slow, but by the end I couldn't put it down. The layers of deception and mesmerization, not to mention the foreshadowing of such, were very well done. While a few short stories and a novella have been previously published in this universe, you don't have to have read them to understand A Master of Djinn. The one thing you might have trouble with is the Angels. I don't really understand what they were. I'm also not convinced that reading the previously published material would have shed any more light on that, as I think they're supposed to be a bit unknowable.

Unfortunately, I found the steampunk setting to be underutilized. I believe it might have played a significantly larger role in the previous stories set in the universe, but in this novel the focus was largely elsewhere. It's a shame too, because we all know about steampunk London, but I was really looking forward to steampunk Cairo.

I did really appreciate the dynamic between Fatma and her work partner Hadia, especially how their relationship grew over the course of the story. Most of the mysteries I've read lately have had the detective working mostly inside their own head, and it was refreshing to see a well-executed foil, even if it was reluctant at first! 

This is the second P. Djèlí Clark story I've read, and I'm noticing a few patterns. First, his wry skewering of colonialism and white people who are being ignorant is very appreciated, and utilized well in this novel. And second, he seems to have a thing for writing women in sexual relationships with other women. To be clear I don't have any complaint with how they were written here, but if you're someone who avoids sapphic content written by men on principle, be advised.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, Slavery, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Police brutality

talonsontypewriters's review

adventurous mysterious 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol

Suffocation/strangulation. Smoking. Mind control/alteration, mild unreality.