This was a curious little short story set in an alternate universe steampunk Cairo where djinn and other supernatural creatures walk among us humans. The story follows a Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha’arawi. Though this was a short, I found it easy to gauge her personality and enjoyed her character. The others were more forgettable, though I did like the hint of Fatma’s gender nonconformity and potential lesbian love interest. The mystery of the dead djinn is a fairly enjoyable mystery to work out, though you might not have to try too hard. I let myself flow along the story and found the ending an unsurprising but fitting conclusion.

I am new to Clark’s work and appreciated how he wrote the atmosphere of early 1900s Egypt. It feels like you are walking alongside the characters in an odoriferous bazaar or eyeing massive Khedive stone palaces. I have never been to Egypt but the prose made it feel like a familiar second home and let me feel at ease in the story.

I did have some issues with the pacing—the beginning and middle parts of the story had vastly varying tempos, and I almost found my interest waning. At times it would get exciting rather quickly and at other times it would halt to a stop just as quickly. Naturally the ending had the greatest amount of tension and was the most exciting part for me. Still, this was a decent read and excites me to read Clark’s other works in this universe as perhaps my main gripe was needing more time in the world. Man do I love steampunk.

Also the cover art is phenomenal. Great job to whoever did the piece.