S. A. Chakraborty: Kingdom of Copper (2019, HarperCollins Publishers)
English language
Published May 6, 2019 by HarperCollins Publishers.
This one never caught me. I didn’t like the structure of two different plot lines and two villains. Character development was minimal relying upon the first novel too much and at the same time not developing the mother character. Not going to continue the series.
There was nothing wrong with the first book at all. But here, the characters behaved with the complexity and depth of real people in (slightly realer) real situations. If you're debating reading out the rest of the series, this was great!
Top notch fantasy book
-> The writing is great, well plotted, character development, complicated relationships, politics, its own mythology, all in all a big YES, ( it is just such a long read lol )
Nahri's new life in Daevabad is far from easy. Now married to the emir, she must tread carefully around King Ghassan who hasn't shown any more interest in uniting their people. But Nahri has a dream to help people, and the discovery of a ruined Nahid hospital gives her an idea.
The Kingdom of Copper takes up the story around five years after the final events of The City of Brass. Things have got worse for the shafit, the mixed blood offspring of Daeva and humans. It seems more than one group of djinn would like to rid the city of them, and they are often the scapegoats for any unrest. Nahri has a dream of treating both djinn and shafit patients, no matter the taboo surrounding it.
Ali has been banished to the desert but survives thanks to a worrying new ability. Did the Marid leave something behind after …
Nahri's new life in Daevabad is far from easy. Now married to the emir, she must tread carefully around King Ghassan who hasn't shown any more interest in uniting their people. But Nahri has a dream to help people, and the discovery of a ruined Nahid hospital gives her an idea.
The Kingdom of Copper takes up the story around five years after the final events of The City of Brass. Things have got worse for the shafit, the mixed blood offspring of Daeva and humans. It seems more than one group of djinn would like to rid the city of them, and they are often the scapegoats for any unrest. Nahri has a dream of treating both djinn and shafit patients, no matter the taboo surrounding it.
Ali has been banished to the desert but survives thanks to a worrying new ability. Did the Marid leave something behind after their possession?
In Daevabad, everyone believes Dara is dead. He has been brought back to the mortal world by Nahri's mother (also thought to be dead) and he is to be used to rally an army against the King.
Whilst the three main characters are separated at the beginning, their paths will cross again. I loved how this world isn't morally black and white. It reflects many of the problems suffered in West Asia around religious conflicts and lands divided where people want to reclaim their homelands. Daevabad was a city created for the Daeva, but the land was taken by force from the Marid.
There is so much prejudice reflected in the pages, so much injustice that Nahri must fight against. But even she isn't immune to thinking the worst of people. She is basically imprisoned by the Qahtanis, and blames Ali for the actions on the lake without finding out what happened to him. Some people think Ali is a hero, others worship at the shrine of Dara, their martyr.
I don't know why this took me so long to read. Like the first book, it gets off to a slow start, but I just love the setting and being back in this world. Once I got to the final third, I was hooked once again. And that ending! I cannot wait for the final book to see what happens next.
Enchanting and engaging. S.A. Chakraborty steps up her storytelling chops in the second installment of The Daevabad Trilogy.
I received an Advance Reader Copy from Goodreads and Avon/Voyager At Harper Collins and offer an honest review.
