by S.A. Chakraborty
Series: The Daevabad Trilogy #2
Published on January 22, 2019 by Harper Voyager
ISBN: 9780062678133
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 621
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
S. A. Chakraborty continues the sweeping adventure begun in The City of Brass conjuring a world where djinn summon flames with the snap of a finger and waters run deep with old magic; where blood can be dangerous as any spell, and a clever con artist from Cairo will alter the fate of a kingdom.
Nahri’s life changed forever the moment she accidentally summoned Dara, a formidable, mysterious djinn, during one of her schemes. Whisked from her home in Cairo, she was thrust into the dazzling royal court of Daevabad—and quickly discovered she would need all her grifter instincts to survive there.
Now, with Daevabad entrenched in the dark aftermath of a devastating battle, Nahri must forge a new path for herself. But even as she embraces her heritage and the power it holds, she knows she’s been trapped in a gilded cage, watched by a king who rules from the throne that once belonged to her family—and one misstep will doom her tribe..
Meanwhile, Ali has been exiled for daring to defy his father. Hunted by assassins, adrift on the unforgiving copper sands of his ancestral land, he is forced to rely on the frightening abilities the marid—the unpredictable water spirits—have gifted him. But in doing so, he threatens to unearth a terrible secret his family has long kept buried.
And as a new century approaches and the djinn gather within Daevabad's towering brass walls for celebrations, a threat brews unseen in the desolate north. It’s a force that would bring a storm of fire straight to the city’s gates . . . and one that seeks the aid of a warrior trapped between worlds, torn between a violent duty he can never escape and a peace he fears he will never deserve.
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A Magical Story of Survival You Won’t Be Able to Put Down
I knew I made a mistake not reading The Kingdom of Copper as soon as it released. After finishing The City of Brass, I remember needing the sequel more than anything but by the time it released, I was so absorbed with other things that I never got around to it.
My mistake.
The Kingdom of Copper picks up 5 years after the events in The City of Brass and doesn’t pull punches when it comes to putting the characters through their paces. Where the first book centered more around discovery (in my opinion), this book was a story of survival and what one will do when pushed into impossible situations. I liked the shift because the characters had settled in the world with its new changes but still had to figure out who they were and what they stood for.
Which, of course, was impeded by all the court intrigue and political scheming. I loved that you couldn’t define good and evil. My favorite stories are the ones that question character and societal morality. What’s considered bad by one group isn’t in another. Do you save one or one hundred? Do you rule with emotion or reason (even though the two often are hand-in-hand at the end)? Chakraborty forced her characters to question everything they knew and I loved every moment.
As for the characters, Nahri and Ali were the primary points-of-view but Dara was added as a third periodically. All we saw of him in The City of Brass was through Nahri’s and Ali’s views, both biased for different reasons. But I really liked his chapters because he was forced to explore everything he was raised to be, everything he thought was right in the world, and how it may not have been as morally “good” as he thought.
I totally shipped Nahri and Dara in The City of Brass but after reading this book, I’m not sure I want her to end up with anyone. I just want her to come out of this relatively happy because wow this book is rough. Like I said, Chakraborty made these characters work for it.
Nahri spent the first book learning what she was but in The Kingdom of Copper I felt like it was more about who she wanted to be. This warred with her survival instincts and doing what was right versus what she could do without getting herself killed. She made the best of a bad situation and strived for more.
I think it was the same with Ali, estranged from his family and dealing with weird powers that he shouldn’t have. His actions are constantly called into question and he’s shot down at every turn but still persists. I think his extreme nature at times represents a larger societal imbalance in the books between the Daevas and shafits, and the centuries of tradition separating the two groups.
Honestly, I’m pretty sure Chakraborty must be a master storyteller. The way the characters lives and decisions are so interwoven but separate, the intricacies of the world explored through the narrow focus of only a few characters, with the overarching plot crossing the two books… it’s amazing.
This is, by far, one of my favorite adult fantasy series. The pacing has just the right amount of push and pull to keep you engaged from start to finish. The world-building has the perfect level of detail to immerse you without being overwhelming. And the characters are fabulously flawed and entirely relatable on some level or another. Everything is beautifully intertwined to create a story I couldn’t put down, and The Kingdom of Copper has solidified S.A. Chakraborty as an auto-buy author for me.
Obviously yes, I whole-heartedly recommend this book and the series overall. I’m both nervous and beyond excited to see where it leads in The Empire of Gold!
About Austine
I'm a 20-something research proposal developer with a background in the life sciences and education. Reviewer of books since 2011, amateur photographer by day, and aspiring author by night. I believe animals (and books) are better than people.
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