The City of Brass - S. A. Chakraborty (The Daevabad Trilogy #1)

When City of Brass popped up as a Book of the Month selection for December, I was super excited.  While magical realism books have popped up a few times recently in their selections, it's been a while since I've seen an actual, traditional fantasy novel available.  And The City of Brass is not just a great traditional fantasy novel--it features main characters of whom none are white.

The story follows two main characters: Nahri, a young woman with mysterious healing powers who makes a living as a thief and con artist in Cairo, during the time that the city was besieged by Napoleon and who accidentally summons a djinn; and Ali, a djinn prince who is training to be the Qaid (essentially the head of the guards) for the djinn city of Daevabad and who is secretly funding a rebellion by the shafit, or those of mixed djinn and human blood.  When Dara, the djinn Nahri summoned, whisks her off to Daevabad in pursuit of her mysterious heritage, she and Ali are set on a collision course.

I was excited to see a fantasy set in Egypt in this era, but unfortunately it moved away from Cairo pretty quickly.  However, the city of Daevabad was wonderful.  The book is full of lush imagery, from the brass walls surrounding the city to the different djinn districts, garb, and rituals.  The divisions, racism, and bigotry between and amongst the groups felt very real.  Chakraborty has managed to create a world that feels real, incorporating just enough "human" elements to not completely alienate readers--many of the djinn practice a form of Islam, though she doesn't really dig into it--but still having it feel foreign and disorientating and magical.  The conflict between Nahri's ancestors and Ali provides the crux of the book, as does the djinn king's machinations for what's happening in his city regarding both Nahri and the shafit.  There is a minor element of romance between Dara and Nahri, which I liked, but I suspect it won't last--and probably shouldn't; I wouldn't blame Nahri for not forgiving Dara for some of his actions--and I hope the love interest doesn't swivel to Ali instead, though I suspect it would.  I liked the friendship that Nahri and Ali had, sincere despite both of them knowing that each had ulterior motives.  There are also layers of history here, though I felt like I didn't understand all of them; I would have liked some more information about the peri and the marid, for example.

This is a very promising first book for a fantasy series; the world, the characters, the magic all seem to have a lot of possibilities set up for future books.  I'm just disappointed that I'll have to wait for the next one!

4.5 stars out of 5.