5 Reasons Why You Should Pick Up ‘The Daevabad Trilogy’ by S.A. Chakraborty: Middle Eastern Magic, Complicated Families and A Con-Woman

• Series Title: The Daevabad Trilogy
• Author: S.A. Chakraborty
• Books in the Series:
  • #1: The City of Brass
  • #2: The Kingdom of Copper
  • #3: The Empire of Gold
  • Novella: The River of Silver
• Publisher: Harper Voyager
• Pub. dates: 2017 – 2020
• Genres: new adult, fantasy, adventure, romance

Step into The City of Brass, the spellbinding debut from S. A. Chakraborty, an imaginative alchemy of The Golem and the Jinni, The Grace of Kings, and Uprooted, in which the future of a magical Middle Eastern kingdom rests in the hands of a clever and defiant young con artist with miraculous healing gifts.

Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of eighteenth-century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trades she uses to get by–palm readings, zars, and a mysterious gift for healing–are all tricks, both the means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles and a reliable way to survive.

But when Nahri accidentally summons Dara, an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior, to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to reconsider her beliefs. For Dara tells Nahri an extraordinary tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire and rivers where the mythical marid sleep, past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises and mountains where the circling birds of prey are more than what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass–a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.

In Daevabad, within gilded brass walls laced with enchantments and behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments run deep. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, her arrival threatens to ignite a war that has been simmering for centuries.

Spurning Dara’s warning of the treachery surrounding her, she embarks on a hesitant friendship with Alizayd, an idealistic prince who dreams of revolutionizing his father’s corrupt regime. All too soon, Nahri learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.

After all, there is a reason they say to be careful what you wish for . . .

Content warnings: alcohol consumption, death, executions, forced marriage, genocide, graphic violence, murder, slavery, talk of superior race, torture

I have always wanted to pick up The Daevabad Trilogy but what finally prompted me was a buddy-read that didn’t really go as planned. Thanks to Dini @/booksandcoffeelk, Inosh @/lostingreymortality and Aysha @/shelfobsessed.ash, I ended up buying all three books in preparation for this. Dini and I even held an IG liveshow to discuss how good the books were!

The story begins with con-woman Nahri’s abrupt introduction to all things Daeva and djinn when she unintentionally summons the great Daeva warrior, Darayavahoush e-Afshin, during one of her zars that is supposed to be a sham. Nahri undergoes a dizzyingly amazing but dangerous and scary venture into a magical world that claims she is the last of a line of elite djinn healers.

1. The amazing characters that will become your favourites in mere pages.

The characters had a death grip on my heart from the beginning and even after the last page I was still in love with them. The levels of depth and complexity each character, including the villains and side characters, had was just commendable and everyone felt so real in their authenticity. At the end of the story, I could not even fault the villain for being a villain.

2. Complex worldbuilding embedded with a bloody history and ugly politics.

Nahri pretty much falls into a djinn world that already has thousands of years of history that has already been made and lived, so there is a steep learning curve for both her and the reader. And it is both terrifying as well as fun! I have never been so deeply invested in the political systems and drama of a fictional world after reading Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter series until I came across this trilogy. The worldbuilding itself was absolute magic!

3. Just Dara!

This feels like a deeply subjective matter since depending on who you ask, people tend to either grow tired of his neverending mistakes or love him to stupid extents. I am obviously at the “loving him to stupid extents” end of the spectrum since he is a major part of why I love this series. He is just a sad little cinnamon roll who deserved more love, period. Even though he could probably snap a person in half without even trying but yeah, deserved a lot more love… LOL!

4. Heartache that will tear you to shreds in the best way!

Chakraborty does not shy away from tearing her readers to shreds and I love it. My sadistic heart self needs a lot of help obviously but I love a good story that does not shy away from doing the hard, realistic things that a story needs to display authenticity and move the plot and characters forward. I loved that. I respected the author’s decision to proceed that way. And I am very impressed my this storytelling.

5. Genuine representation that stretches from the mere cities to the characters.

I obviously cannot speak to the full extent of the genuineness and authenticity of the Muslim and Middle Eastern representation in this story but I have so far come across no review that spoke bad of the rep in this trilogy. Here is Neelam’s take on Daevabad‘s Muslim representation.

But otherwise, this trilogy made huge strides in portraying strong women and breaking down patriarchal government structures. I loved the foray into queer romance that the books took with its side romances as well!

The Daevabad Trilogy is a beautifully-constructed, fundamentally important piece of fantasy literature that I am so glad I finally picked up to read after this many years! From its characters and setting to its plot and representation, everything was so well thought-out and excellently written. I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of a good fantasy series with an excellent, twisty plot and heart-wrenching endings.

More Daevabad Trilogy content: Shouni’s series review and Anne’s review of the 1st book

Shannon Chakraborty is the author of the critically acclaimed and internationally best-selling The Daevabad Trilogy. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages and nominated for the Hugo, Locus, World Fantasy, Crawford, and Astounding awards. When not buried in books about medieval seafarers and con artists, she enjoys hiking, knitting, and re-creating unnecessarily complicated historical dishes. You can find her online at www.sachakraborty.com or on Twitter and Instagram at @SAChakrabooks, where she likes to talk about history, politics, and Islamic art. She currently lives in New Jersey with her husband, daughter, and an ever-increasing number of cats.

Have you read The Daevabad Trilogy or do you plan on picking up these books?