The Kingdom of Copper Review

GoodReads:

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 the battle that saw Dara slain at Prince Ali’s hand, Nahri must forge a new path for herself, without the protection of the guardian who stole her heart or the counsel of the prince she considered a friend. 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.

My Review

I am that person who always enjoys the middle parts best, whether it’s trilogies in movies, books, or games. Favorite Star Wars? Episode V, favorite Dragon Age? DAII [HEY DO NOT JUDGE ME], favorite Mass Effect? You guessed it, ME2.

*Here is my review for book one*

There’s a pattern here, what people sometimes see as filler on certain things, I see as my happy go to places.

I’ll tell you one thing though starting off, The Kingdom of Copper is no ‘filler’ book, this is completely full of its own plot, twists and turns, and massive heartbreak.

Massive. Heartbreak.

Chakraborty weaves you right back into Daevabad, and sure, it looks chonky but it goes by in the blink of an eye. She’s so effortless in her pull to readers, or at least in my case she is. I love the characters so much, and getting to know them more, seeing them grow older and deal with so much thrown at them, well, it’s an emotional read.

I definitely got teary-eyed while reading this, and remember, I’m ginger, this is not natural.

The marriage of Nahri and Dhiru, oh man, it’s nothing more than it has ever claimed to be, a political arrangement, there’s not a hatred there, it’s just two people who simply are not compatible, but I loved seeing Jamshid and Nahri interact, he’s not only the man who loves Dhiru, but he’s a great well of emotional support for Nahri and it makes me so happy.

Things in Daevabad have only gotten more strained since the events of book one, and with Dara gone, Ali gone, and a city roiling in hidden turmoil, this is all the intensity that it sounds like lol.

Ali, oh, Ali, dear sweet Ali, he has such a journey ahead of him, they all do, but for a moment it seems he’s at peace, unlike Nahri and Dara, so it makes your soul sob, even more, when he’s ripped away from that peace he’s found in his exile.

Oh and then there’s Dara. Poor Dara, he is as misguided as he was on the last book, his is the story of someone who has not had free agency in so long that he doesn’t even consider the possibility of having it. This all too often means that his choices are not the best ones, and it is just a sucker punch to the feels as I watched him struggle.

There’s still this animosity between the Daevas and the Shafit and due to how the politics work in Daevabad, there’s no relief in sight. Nahri tries her best but she’s lacking a support system for a good chunk of the time, and oh, this poor blessed child, she has been through so much and is still so strong and courageous. I love her. She is a nugget of joy.

Ali’s development is certainly the most radical of the three, he has such a maturity and growth that he is by far one of the best-developed characters I have read. He started out as young, a bit of obnoxious and naive, to realizing he has to bend, to learn to be flexible and that in order to help people, you sometimes have to change tactics.

This is such a buildup of events from the first book, from the time between the books, and what occurs in book 2 itself and it’s just this keg of gun powder that’s been lit but no one knows how long the fuse is.

So.

When the fuse goes.

IT GOES.

The new characters introduced are brilliant, I loved them all, I won’t say more on this. *Glares at Chakraborty*

But I can say that again, there’s so much heartbreak in this story and the ending leaves you wanting to jump right into Empire of Gold. Which was lucky for me as I have an eARC of it and I’ll be posting my review on Thursday. [June 11th release for UK peeps, June 30th for US Peeps]

I’m just a rambling mush pot now, so, I’ll go and sob in a corner.

About the Author

S. A. Chakraborty is the author of the critically acclaimed and internationally best-selling The Daevabad Trilogy. Her work has been nominated for the Locus, World Fantasy, Crawford, and Astounding awards. When not buried in books about thirteen-century con artists and Abbasid political intrigue, she enjoys hiking, knitting, and re-creating unnecessarily complicated medieval meals. You can find her online at http://www.sachakraborty.com or on Twitter and Instagram at @SAChakrabooks, where she likes to talk about history, politics, and Islamic art. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, daughter, and an ever-increasing number of cats.

Author Links

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