Reviews with content warning for Racism - Miasto mosiądzu

I have always been interested into stories that feature djinns and take place in sandy environments.

Now finally, I made it to this trilogy.

Loved to go to Daevabad and discover the many layers of the city and its inhabitants.

Was at the beginning rather lost with all the specific names and concepts that were thrown at me. After a while the story took over and it became a read that just wanted to be finished.

Now, I am curious to see how the story continues.

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emilyplun's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

(warning for very general spoilers, nothing specific)

I loved the world/setting, but the book overall left me frustrated. The whole story is full of "mysteries," but half of those are the main character just not knowing the basic workings of the magical world or its society, or an event in magical history that every other character is aware of. There are a lot of "who's behind this event?" mysteries too, but it's hard to get into that when the reader is only given a tiny trickle of info about how anything works. The ending was frustrating-- many mysteries weren't solved (which is fine) but a few that were solved weren't satisfying, and then more questions were introduced. I felt like I was drowning in things I didn't understand. As a reader, I wanted to know at least the basic facts that are relevant to a situation (like how x magic works, what happened during x event that everyone keeps referring to), even if the main character doesn't know.
This is really unfortunate since I love the world-building and the basic plotline. I might have to read the plot somewhere and intentionally spoil myself so I can read the sequels.

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rae_bookmarkchronicles's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

I've heard nothing but good things about this book, and it absolutely deserves the hype! I love dual perspectives and while I loved Nahri's perspective, I didn't enjoy Ali's. Nahri has a really interesting storyline but it felt like Ali wasn't the main character of his own POV.
I also felt that the romance was unnecessary and even though this is adult it felt like YA - maybe because of some of the tropes used. But overall I did enjoy it and I can't wait to read Kingdom of Copper

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

THE CITY OF BRASS is a fantasy balanced on a knife's edge, with a prince and a con artist working at occasionally-aligning purposes in a city filled with djinn and Daeva, with the partially human underclass just trying to survive.

This generally avoids infodumps by making sure that, when exposition is necessary, it comes in the form of telling someone information that’s truly new to them. Sometimes that’s a briefing for an unfamiliar situation, other times it’s a story around the fire. A lot of these explanations happen early on, and it seemed like a bit much at first (there are a lot of tribes, for one), but the main narrative only demands consistent recognition of three or four tribal names so it wasn't overwhelming once the story got going. The two main characters have very different lives and knowledge bases, and that works together to give the reader a fuller picture of the world and the secondary characters.

I love the political wrangling and intrigue. Ali is pretty blunt, surrounded by much more subtle players with complicated aims, and there are a few places where people use insider terms to tell him what’s going on but he doesn’t realize that a double meaning is involved. Later when Mahri becomes immersed in it she's a much savvier player with the information she does have, and I'm looking forward to how she handles things as the the trilogy progresses. I love heists and thieves, so having Mahri the con artist as a protagonist is a treat. She's self confident but wary of the situation, and that blend of prowess and uncertainty is truly delightful. There's something great about taking a person highly skilled in one arena and dropping them into a wholly different one that brings out their known and unknown strengths in intriguing ways. Dara isn't a point of view character, and I think that's because he knows too much to be a good narrator. The story is so much richer for his presence, but he's stingy with information, doling it out only when he thinks Mara needs to know something, which is often well after he's acted on the knowledge. This leaves her to pick up the pieces each time, in turns fond of and exasperated by him as he drifts in and out of the scene.

The ending is rather shocking, managing grief and triumph as Mahri and Ali have to deal with sudden changes in the last chapters. It's not a twist of plot as much of the inevitability of consequence, as things that had been a little bit wrong for a while suddenly get out of control. I'm excited for the next one, I need to know what happens now.

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mads_reads_books's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious sad slow-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? Yes

4.5

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nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-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

4.0

The City of Brass is a refreshing YA fantasy story. This is one of those series that has garnered so much hype over the last few years, and it is well-deserved. There are still a lot of familiar (and tired) tropes, but the world is different and the magic excellent… and I really enjoyed the way Chakraborty slowly peeled back bits and pieces of the land’s history.

Nahri is an interesting protagonist. She has some snark and big dreams and is surviving by her wits alone – fairly common in a YA fantasy heroine. She’s likable enough, but I think that The City of Brass benefits from being multiple POV.. I think on their own, both Nahri and Ali would have gotten tiresome, especially in such a long books. Ali is pretentious but kind. He has spent most of his life training to guard his brother, who will someday be the king of Daevabad. Nahri has lived on the streets in the human world most her life until she accidentally raises Dara. The two together compliment each other well – one with a well of understanding about the world and one who is slowly learning it.

As is to be expected in YA fantasy, there is a love triangle. I found it fairly inconsequential and annoying – it neither added to the story nor took away from it too much, although that may change as the trilogy goes on. If you don’t particularly care for the romance, it’s easy enough to ignore up until near the end where it becomes pretty important for a few scenes. The action took a long time coming, but I really liked the way Chakraborty developed Nahri’s magic. Unlike most characters in her position, Nahri struggles to pick up the art and makes major mistakes. It’s refreshing to see a Chosen One style character treated in that way – not everything came to her perfectly.

It’s the world of The City of Brassi that captured me most as a reader. This novel uses Arab mythology and tradition to build a world that starts in Cairo, Egypt and expands to a djinn city. Chakraborty explores legends around the djinn in a new, refreshing light while weaving in modern issues. There were a lot of things introduced in this novel that I’m hoping will be expanded upon and revisited as the story goes one.

If you have been sitting on The City of Brass, I highly recommend giving it a read. The world is interesting and alluring. Even though thesis of the book may be off-putting, the story itself captures the imagination and it’s easy to get invested.

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taylah13's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely loved this read! I couldn’t put it down. The world building and characterisation was amazing. Honestly really beautifully written, I felt very immersed into the world, and the plot kept me on my toes. The two POV’s also provided an interesting aspect to the book. I have to immediately have to read the second book. I will say though it wasn’t until the first 100 pages that I really grasped the magic system but I was invested in the characters to push through. So if you are having trouble push past because this is an incredible book.

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