The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty (Daevabad Trilogy #1) – Book Review

I was completely engrossed and utterly confused by the time I finished this book!

This book wasn’t on my radar to read initially in March, and I hadn’t even heard of it, until I started coming across multiple glowing reviews to the second book in the series – Kingdom of Copper, in the book blogging community.

Then, as serendipity would have it, I found the first book of the trilogy sitting nicely on the front shelf of my local library! And you know how I feel about signs 😉 So, I borrowed the book and devoured it in a week! At one point, my husband actually chided, ‘Do you plan to finish this book today?’ And I said sheepishly, ‘Well not todaaaayyyy, but definitely by this weekend’..Lol It is a blessing when your partner understands your love for books can sometimes surpass all other things. 😀

So, coming back to the book, I’m not going to write a detailed and lengthy review, because

A) I don’t like writing lengthy reviews, I prefer discussing books face to face instead, or over a letter

B) The more obvious reason is that, I’ll be unable to write a review for this book, because I’m not sure how I feel about it! 😀

This doesn’t mean I think its a book I wouldn’t recommend. On the contrary, the fact that I was so drawn into the world of Daevas, Djinns, Nahinds, Qahtanis, Marids, Shafits, Ifrits, Peris, Shedus, and many more tribes and clans, that I could not and did not want to put the book down until I reached the end!

BUT, the problem I have, is with politics. My brain seems to be incapable of dealing with politics and understanding the nuances of politics, both in real life and in fiction apparently <rolling eyes> And there is a lot of political drama entwined with the subject of family, tradition, and loyalty in this book.

I couldn’t decide whose team I was on. There were constant arguments on how each tribe or clan thought that they were the downtrodden or the sufferers and should find someone to avenge them or to elevate them to a better status. And ALL the stories sounded plausible and defend-worthy to my ears.

I couldn’t decide whether I should side with the Daevas turned Djinn, with their condemned yet ferocious warrior – Darayaevoush. Or if I should side with the Shafits and Prince Ali (well, even Ali seemed to be as confused as I was I think..lol), or side with the Qahtanis – the current royalty.

Everyone seemed to have a dark side in the book. That actually added to the quality of the story, in my mind. The characters are not black and white, and you are constantly wondering, who is the hero and who is the villain, in the first book at least. Just like some of the characters in Game of Thrones. Everyone seems to have a valid justification for the crimes they have done in the past or are going to do.

The romance felt fleeting to me, but I think that’s because I thought that Dara and Nahri were going to be a pair, but now I’m not so sure.

I think by the end of the book, the only character I felt something for, and wanted to support was Nahri 🙂 That ending scene, made me smile too. So, I’m really looking forward to reading the next book in the series 🙂

Questions to you guys:

Have you read this book and the second one too? Were you as conflicted as me in choosing your team/side/hero, or do you have a team/hero decided already?