A review by jasmineteagirl
The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty
adventurous
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
4.0
This series. Wow. It was a really enjoyable adventure. And tense. I will say, I’m not sure if it’s the writing style but something about this series never totally grasped me and enabled me to rate it above four stars. I think this review is probably best organized by character.
Nahri- she was so fun to read about! There’s 3 POVs, but she truly felt like the main character to me. And she was such a clever, enjoyable main character. I loved her sarcasm, and how she wasn’t perfect with her morals as she had previously been basically a con artist and thief. I think the author did really well conveying how her upbringing developed her into the person she was when she arrived in Daevabad. She was strong-willed and outspoken and imperfect.
Dara- it’s really hard to find words to talk about his character. For the most part, I found his conflicts so heartbreaking and tragic and interesting to read about. He was an older man with older views brought back to fulfill a purpose he thought was true and with that driven into him it drove him to great lengths of despair and confusion. However I will admit for some parts, his lack of ability to see past serving the Nahids, even after blatantly stating something was wrong, became redundant. But that was only a few times. The moral conflict of his character as a whole still has me reeling trying figure out how I feel about him & his ending.
Ali- Ali was so funny to read about. I loved his shyness and how the author incorporated lines that were almost directly the same as something Nahri thought or said. It really showed how similar and well matched they are. His mannerisms were sometimes comedic to read. I love how devoted he was. To his city, his people, his family, to nahri. His storyline with the Marids was also fascinating.
As for relationships, this may be spoilery so watch out I wish we got to see more of Ali and Nahri romantically, I hope maybe we do in excerpts or a novella by the author. I’m not a huge fan of love triangles, so yes Dara and Nahri’s fleeting romance was fine but afterwords even though it added to the tragedy of his character, I didn’t care much to read about him still loving her. It didn’t really bother me though, there’s not much reason for me mentioning it besides I just prefer those types of conflicts not to be there. However typing this out I can’t lie, it does add an interesting dynamic especially to the tragedy.
For criticism, again something about the series never fully grasped me. Maybe it’s the writing style, but I will say the worldbuilding was not for me. I think it may just be my intelligence level or I just missed something while reading but I never fully grasped the worldbuilding especially the conflicts between djinn/daeva/Qahtanis. Because some of them all had the same abilities and were just torn on ideology (I think) I think I just had trouble keeping track of it.
I’m glad I read the series regardless. It was interesting to read the incorporation of real world Egypt and middle eastern folklore into a fantasy book. And a badass heroine is always a bonus.
Nahri- she was so fun to read about! There’s 3 POVs, but she truly felt like the main character to me. And she was such a clever, enjoyable main character. I loved her sarcasm, and how she wasn’t perfect with her morals as she had previously been basically a con artist and thief. I think the author did really well conveying how her upbringing developed her into the person she was when she arrived in Daevabad. She was strong-willed and outspoken and imperfect.
Dara- it’s really hard to find words to talk about his character. For the most part, I found his conflicts so heartbreaking and tragic and interesting to read about. He was an older man with older views brought back to fulfill a purpose he thought was true and with that driven into him it drove him to great lengths of despair and confusion. However I will admit for some parts, his lack of ability to see past serving the Nahids, even after blatantly stating something was wrong, became redundant. But that was only a few times. The moral conflict of his character as a whole still has me reeling trying figure out how I feel about him & his ending.
Ali- Ali was so funny to read about. I loved his shyness and how the author incorporated lines that were almost directly the same as something Nahri thought or said. It really showed how similar and well matched they are. His mannerisms were sometimes comedic to read. I love how devoted he was. To his city, his people, his family, to nahri. His storyline with the Marids was also fascinating.
As for relationships, this may be spoilery so watch out I wish we got to see more of Ali and Nahri romantically, I hope maybe we do in excerpts or a novella by the author. I’m not a huge fan of love triangles, so yes Dara and Nahri’s fleeting romance was fine but afterwords even though it added to the tragedy of his character, I didn’t care much to read about him still loving her. It didn’t really bother me though, there’s not much reason for me mentioning it besides I just prefer those types of conflicts not to be there. However typing this out I can’t lie, it does add an interesting dynamic especially to the tragedy.
For criticism, again something about the series never fully grasped me. Maybe it’s the writing style, but I will say the worldbuilding was not for me. I think it may just be my intelligence level or I just missed something while reading but I never fully grasped the worldbuilding especially the conflicts between djinn/daeva/Qahtanis. Because some of them all had the same abilities and were just torn on ideology (I think) I think I just had trouble keeping track of it.
I’m glad I read the series regardless. It was interesting to read the incorporation of real world Egypt and middle eastern folklore into a fantasy book. And a badass heroine is always a bonus.