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the_bees_books's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, and Fire/Fire injury
avacadosocks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Racism, Violence, Blood, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Slavery
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent and Classism
Minor: Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, and War
anni_swanilda's review against another edition
- 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
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
ha1yan's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexism, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation
ashwaar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I have read Clark’s previous novel, Ring Shout, and his short stories set in the same universe as A Master of Djinn. You don’t need to read the short stories before this novel, but there are recurring characters and callbacks to previous events. I always find Clark’s worlds and ideas to be incredibly interesting, but I always end up feeling a bit left out, as it seems that everyone else adores this book and his stories, and I always end up disappointed.
My main issue with this book is the writing style. Although the premise is interesting, the descriptions and dialogue are wooden and uninspiring. Some fantasy novels I’ve read don’t provide any information about the world and still keep you hooked. In comparison, Clark feeds you spoonfuls of exposition at every opportunity, and it's just too much. Fatma describes every aspect of Cairo as we go through the novel, and it's so unrealistic. It's like if I walk past St Pauls Cathedral and say ‘ah yes, St Pauls, a Baroque-style structure built in the 17th Century by…’. Literally, no real person thinks the way Fatma does in this novel, and it really threw me off being able to connect with her.
I also found a lot of the themes to be very poorly explored. Clark brings up issues of wealth gaps, inequality, feminism, discrimination and social divides and it doesn’t seem like any of our characters really care about addressing that. It's like Clark is throwing everything at a wall and seeing what sticks and again, it's just too much going on. I know the story is about magic and djinn and investigating crimes but still... I expected more.
Overall it's a really interesting, original story, but it was just too poorly executed for me to recommend it. Clark clearly has a lot of this world thought out, not just in Egypt but across multiple countries, and he tries to introduce some of that in A Master of Djinn, but it just leaves too many loose threads. The story doesn’t feel neat, the characters don’t feel developed and Fatma isn’t someone I really want to root for. It's pretty disappointing honestly but I know what sort of fiction I enjoy, and I just couldn’t get on board with this.
Rating: 2/5
Recommendations: Build Your House Around by Body by Violet Kupersmith, Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir, She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Alcohol
thoughtsontomes's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Racism, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Blood and Colonisation
aardwyrm's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
uranaishi's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Blood, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Sexual content, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Outing, Alcohol, and War
claudia_bow's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Addiction, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Blood, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail