Reviews with content warning for Cursing - The City of Brass

Fun and adventurous and well written.
Many complex themes are explored and the perspectives of several sides are presented. This is a smart book, more than an adventurous romp (which would’ve been great as well).
I keep telling myself not to fall into any more trilogies but then I return to fantasy and they’re inevitable…

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isleoflinds's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

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macknificent's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

It's not a great book but there was some fun to be had. Very much high fantasy with training wheels, especially entertaining if the reader is coming from a romance background.

I was fine with only reading one of the books until I got to the very end, now I'll need to read the next entry in the trilogy. I'm not mad it's just a rather cliche trick to pull.

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cameronreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

Y'all this book! I haven't read a book with such a complex cast and plot in a while. The characters were so immensely developed; each with their own complex backstory and motivations, all of which were thoroughly believable. The worldbuilding was amazingly done, and the politics and history was rich without being too complicated or hard to read. I loved the writing and the plot, and was completely gripped from the moment I read the first sentence to the epilogue. It was incredibly unique, unpredictable, and exciting. I did have a slight issue with the ancient immortal x young woman trope, as well as the mild queerbaiting (which I hope will be confirmed in the sequel), but otherwise I adored this.

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binayocheved's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

we do love djinni & political intrigue & morally complex characters & mutual pining & zealous young idealists & con artists & ~lies~.

all of that.
we love it.

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claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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? Yes

3.0

This book was recommended on booktok, and I love stories incorporating mythologies from different cultures, so I decided to give it a shot...but honestly it fell a bit short for me. The premise was interesting and I enjoyed the beginning, but the middle and end of the story lost me a bit. There were a lot of characters and families and backstories that I had trouble keeping track of (though I know that’s partly because I was listening to the audiobook rather than reading it). For the most part, I liked Nahri and Ali as characters, but the prejudices and feuds between all the different groups became frustrating and tiring to read. Booktok recommended this as having enemies-to-lovers trope,

but I’m still honestly not sure which couple it’s supposed to be (I’m hoping for Nahri/Ali because I didn’t like the other guy). I assume it’s developed more in the other books in this series.

The book held my attention just enough for me to get through this book, but I don’t know if I’ll finish the rest of the series.

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the general vibe):

This is only the first book I’m the trilogy, so of course the ending isn’t a neat wrap-up, and it’s definitely not happy.

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theespressoedition's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-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

I sort of wish I had a lot to say about this book, but I'm keeping this review simple, especially since it's the first book in the series and I do plan to continue reading.

I listened to the audiobook. It was really well-narrated and the voice actor didn't do any unnecessary accents or change the way each character spoke too much, which I really appreciated. My only qualm with the audiobook was that it was 17 hours long on double speed and I found myself waiting for it to come to a close over and over. I think if I had read the book, it might have been a little different. I kept getting distracted and losing bits of information as I listened.

The story itself was so interesting and the characters each had so much depth to them. I enjoyed that there were some great twists along the way and it ended on a cliffhanger. I can't wait to see what happens next.

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