Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

24 reviews

francestea's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

An exciting and enjoyable read! 

The first hundred pages were slow-medium paced while Chakraborty set the scene, but once I was accustomed to the world and characters I flew through the next 400+ pages completely engrossed.  She’s so clever at not giving everything away at once, there are some elements of the story we are kept in the dark about right up until the epilogue and others not resolved at all! This book is laying all the ground work for (what I hope is) very exciting book 2!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War and Violence

Minor: Police brutality, Slavery, Racism, Rape, and Trafficking

boba_n_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

If you’re looking for something magical, beautiful, and intriguing… you’ve found it in The City of Brass. 

This gorgeous novel takes readers on a fantastical journey throughout the djinn world in the Middle East: Daevabad. Told through two perspectives, one insider and one outsider, you slowly learn more about the politics and racial tensions between the different tribes of djinn and the half-breed shafit. 

Tensions run high, and allegiances will be tested as both POVs learn to navigate the world of Daevabad. Everything is not as black and white as it seems. Who can they trust? And how can they tell what is right? 

You will absolutely fall in love with this world and the characters who inhabit it. I’m immediately picking up book two because I have to know what happens right now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Racial slurs, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexism, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Grief, Trafficking, and War

Minor: Rape

hannah_and_her_stories's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Blood, Trafficking, Slavery, Sexual content, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Child death and Rape

ericageorge91's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.5

I LOVED IT! I FUCKING LOVED IT! 

It’s been about two months since I’ve been this invested in a book’s characters and their world. City of Brass might not be for everyone, BUT IT SURE AS FUCK WAS FOR ME 😭

The world-building was lush and intricate. If I’m honest, it might have been a little too intricate at times 😅. I fought for my life trying to understand the different djinn tribes and their characteristics and politics. Did it pull me out of the world at times because of that? Yes, but once I got the hang of this world, I was sucked in. This was set in a Middle-Eastern/Muslim-inspired world, which might be tough for Western readers but, I think if you can read Game of Thrones, you can make it through this book. 

Part of me wishes that Nahri and Dara had gotten to the City of Brass sooner. Another part thinks that we needed time for that relationship to grow from reluctant allies to something more. Because they took so long on this arduous journey, their feelings for each other felt earned. I got so into it, I could almost forget the age gap.

Almost 🥴

This story is full of magic, morally grey characters, and political intrigue. There is so much history and bad blood between various characters and groups of people that I don’t even know who to root for. I ate this shit up. I can’t wait to see what’s next!

TW: Death, violence, slavery, human trafficking, torture, age/gap romance, discrimination, rape (mentions/off page),

Rep: BIPOC characters, Middle Eastern characters, queer SC characters 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Trafficking, Classism, Alcohol, Medical content, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Rape and Child abuse

saric7's review

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.5

Great world building in a just ok plot.

Ali’s character kept this book from being terrible.  I would love to have seen him get his own book instead of being tertiary and part of a subpar love triangle.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, War, Slavery, Trafficking, and Racial slurs

Minor: Homophobia, Rape, and Abandonment

andemilytoo'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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Slavery, Gore, Cursing, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury

errie's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Blood, Death, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, War, Child death, Genocide, and Child abuse

nabecker13's review against another edition

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Police brutality, Grief, Death, Child death, Trafficking, Terminal illness, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Blood, War, Violence, Sexual violence, Self harm, Homophobia, Outing, Kidnapping, and Genocide

madamenovelist's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, War, Slavery, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Colonisation, Child death, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Racism, Misogyny, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

foxonabook's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Synopsis: During an exorcism, known as a Zar amongst the religious of Cairo, Nahri, a talented conwoman, accidentally summons  the djinn warrior Dara. Never one to believe in magic, Nahri is forced to reconsider what she understood of the world, and of herself as Dara takes her to the magical city of Daevabad where she forms an unlikely friendship with Alizayd, one of Daevabad princes with an affinity for the human world. But tensions are brewing and Nahri will have to make a difficult decision between the djinn warrior who saved her life and the new home that has so much to offer.
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Review: This has been on my TBR for over a year since I bought the trilogy with a Kobo gift voucher I’d received. I’m ashamed it’s taken me this long to finally read it because I didn’t know how much I needed a book inspired and influenced by the Middle Eastern culture until I’d read this.
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The world building is great, the characters are well rounded and the plot is not short of any action, twists or turns. I did feel like sometimes things or a character’s mood/motive shifted a little too quickly, but that’s just a minor detail.
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The only reason I’m not giving this 5 stars is because at points you could tell that this book wasn’t written by someone from the Middle East, and that broke the immersion for me. Though there is no denying that this is very well researched and clearly a labour of love, and I may be more sensitive to these things because of my own background 🤷🏽‍♀️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Trafficking, Classism, Kidnapping, War, Medical content, Slavery, and Violence