Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - The Kingdom of Copper

Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty

16 reviews

eeeeva's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring 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

5.0

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readandfindout's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 4 stars
Characters: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4.5 stars
Worldbuilding: 4.5 stars

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hanarama's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The Good:

Expanded world building
Tense political intrigue
Good use of dramatic irony
Character motivations expanded and explored more closely
Intense final act.

The Bad:

Some character's decisions feel contrived/convenient

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Complicate characters
Opposing POVs
Political intrigue
Looming threats

A massive improvement over City of Brass. I really fell in love with this book and I was lukewarm on CoB, which felt very slow and many characters felt unsympathetic.

Chakraborty has fixed many of these issues with KoC. She takes greater care to make all of her characters feel more sympathetic in this book, while keeping their moral complexities in tact. And she again delivers an absolute gut punch of an ending.

KoC takes place five years after the events of CoB. Even as Ali is exiled, Daevabad seems intent on drawing him back into its political machinations. Nahri has taken her place as Banu Nahida and struggles against the yoke of King Ghassan's rule. With a once-in-a-century celebration looming and an unseen enemy plotting revenge on the city, the characters' lives weave together as everyone angles to achieve their own goals.

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achingallover's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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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leahsbooks'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

5.0

I seriously adored reading The City of Brass, so I obviously knew I had to get my hands on this book as soon as possible. However, once I did, I sat with this book on my shelf until I couldn’t renew it any more times through my library for some reason. Does anyone else do this, or is it just me? I think part of the reason was because I wanted to prolong my enjoyment of the series, and another part was because I was a little worried that it wouldn’t live up to the incredible memories I had of the first book. However, I had absolutely nothing to worry about.

Within the first few pages of the book, I felt like I had stepped right into a doorway that transported me back to this magical world of flying carpets and djinn, complete with political intrigue and characters that I couldn’t help but love. The descriptive writing made me feel as though I was also in Daevabad, rather than just reading about it.

“But this ship was nothing like any of those. It looked large enough to fit hundreds, its dark teak dazzling in the sunlight as it floated lightly on the lake. Teal banners adorned with the icons of studded golden pyramids and starry silver salt tablets flew from the masts. Its many amber-colored sails — and Nahri counted at least a dozen — dwarfed the glimmering decks. Segmented and ribs, the sails looked more like wings than anything that belonged on a boat, and they shivered and undulated in the wind like living things.”

The story is told from the POV of the three main characters, Nahri, Ali, and Dara, and after the prologue, it picks up 5 years after the events in book 1. For the majority of the book, the characters aren’t engaged with each other, and deal with their own struggles, but the entire book was building up to a major climax. And when it happened, I still wasn’t prepared.

Each of the characters have their own flaws, and they’re so morally gray (although Ali isn’t morally gray so much as rigidly upstanding), but also so endearing that I wanted to see them each wind up happy, even though each of them is trapped in circumstances beyond their control. I honestly didn’t see a way for any of them to get out of their individual situations, but I still hoped.

Nahri’s still a character that is amazing. She’s smart, strong, and tough, even in a place that doesn’t feel like home, isn’t safe, and where she is surrounded by people she can’t trust. And being alone for so long is causing her to question herself, even as she’s forced to become a pawn in the political maneuverings in the royal family of Daevabad. Her character arc is definitely one of the most striking in this series.

“Nahri had once quietly feared that it was her, that growing up alone on Cairo’s streets with abilities that terrified everyone had broken her, shaped her into a person who didn’t know how to forge a genuine bond.”

Ali changes a little less throughout the series, but he grew a lot in this book. His whole life changed as a result of the events in the first book, and there’s something about him that just drew me in. He’s a major player in the book, and I respect his courage to stand up for his values, no matter how difficult that is.

Dara is the other piece of the puzzle. I truly empathized with his struggle. All he wants is peace and to be free, but he’s forced into a life of service. He wanted to do something different, but wasn’t able to. It made it even more clear that rather than being seen as a person, he’s viewed as a weapon instead, and he’s really starting to resent that role. Hopefully, he’s realizing that only Nahri ever saw him differently.

The story weaves a variety of plot threads together to create a stunning tapestry, combining character arcs, politics, romance, emotions, intrigue, surprising plot twists, and elements drawn from a range of cultures. I was hooked immediately and couldn’t stop reading. I’m planning to get my hands on the next book soon, and I have already promised myself that I won’t wait long before starting it.

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annalisaely's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

A bit slow in the middle, and some characters *cough* Dara *cough* are a little hard to listen to winge after a while, but overall I liked seeing the continuous world building and getting to know our characters more and seeing how what has happened to and around them has shaped them. It's definitely interesting to look at the question of how to stop racism when everybody hates everybody and all three groups have done horrible things whenever they have been in power. Usually in books these issues are simplified a lot, so it's nice to see S.A. Chakraborty really going in on them.

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