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The City of Brass: A Novel
The City of Brass: A Novel
The City of Brass: A Novel
Audiobook20 hours

The City of Brass: A Novel

Written by Shannon Chakraborty

Narrated by Soneela Nankani

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Library Journal Vulture | The Verge | SYFYWire

Step into The City of Brass, the spellbinding debut from S. A. Chakraborty perfect for fans 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 . . .

This audiobook includes an episode of the Book Club Girl Podcast, featuring an interview with S. A. Chakraborty about The City of Brass.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateNov 14, 2017
ISBN9780062742643
The City of Brass: A Novel
Author

Shannon Chakraborty

Shannon Chakraborty is the author of the critically acclaimed and internationally bestselling Daevabad Trilogy. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages and nominated for the Hugo, Locus, World Fantasy, Crawford, and Astounding awards. You can find her online at sachakraborty.com or on Instagram and Twitter as @SAChakrabooks.

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Reviews for The City of Brass

Rating: 4.181015437969095 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,359 ratings89 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    O problema desse livro está no meio. O que sustentou a nota foi o começo e o fim onde a autora consegue trabalhar bem os elementos da trama com os personagens sem parecer que foi jogado

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I don’t as only here for Dara
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Chakraborty has constructed a fantasy world that immediately pulls you in, but I did have a hard time telling all of the different djinn apart.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was a rich and decadent read. I loved every minute of it!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The rich world that the author created and the amount of time she took to build it and the stakes involved, pays off beautifully. I love all of the characters how complex each one is, the discussions about history and religion and the how the aftermath of war can still have an effect on societies, even after generations!!! Loved all of the characters and the discriptions of foodddd omg!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this book, every bit piece of it. I really enjoyed Nahri, Dara, Alizayd specifically. I appreciate the many sensitive subjects that arose such as race, power struggles, and crimes of war. I additionally enjoyed reading the separate story lines like Nahri and Alizayd, and their coming together later on. The author did a great job as well in helping us understand the emotional turmoil and distress felt between Nahri, Dara, and Alizayd in different situation. There is so much that developed in the book that is still left to be known such as other creatures and races and Nahri’s own mother, can’t wait to eventually get to book 2.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Hard to understand beginning, but really good by the end!!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting, a look into another culture not based in Catholicism like I'm used too. A different but coherent culture and believable characters for the most part. The twists where well thought out and the thestory in a major way was captivating. But I've never been such a fan of such heavy religious elements in the story's I've read. I would reccomend. Its not a bad story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I had almost forgotten how it was like to read political intrigue that was actually good. This was explosive and exhilarating and so amazing even the second time around. Adult fantasy at its best.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The City of Brass was an astounding read despite having a slow beginning and middle. The storytelling and prose, there are no words, well there are many, many words I could use but let’s just go with breathtaking, for now. In this world there is a fascinating magic system and everyone has a little bit of magic in them. Some are more inclined than others but the use of magic is not a strange occurrence and that was so much fun! Also, I am a huge fan of any story that includes Djinn and the plot and subplots in this story was out of this world. Just lovely!There is a ton of political machinations going on in this story, so if political intrigue is your thing then wow, you need to get this book! There are plenty of rules and laws that are applied to the different classes/ethnicities in this story and everything is for a reason, for better or worse. I applaud the amount of effort that went into building this political system and its inner workings because it is spot on and extremely detailed. For those like myself who don’t love political intrigue so much, it was a wee bit…yeah…all that.The characters are all inspiring and fleshed out amazingly well. I felt like I knew the characters intimately. They were very real to me. I feel like Nahri and Prince Alizayd were introduced as very strong characters in the beginning. I also was wondering for the longest time what Prince Ali’s role was in this story because it took forever for them to come together. Anyway, great characters in the beginning, loved them but they seemed to make rash choices and I felt like they regressed as the story went on. By the end I felt that their choices were relatively predictable and they lost their shine for me somewhat.Now I know I just mentioned something about predictability but that is actually what saved this story for me, the ending was nothing like I predicted. I was actually shocked a few times with the twists and turns that took place and that made me extremely happy. I will say that the epilogue alone was the deciding factor for my choice to continue the series. The story was beautifully written but without that epilogue I would not have had anything to really come back for because I was not so in love with the remaining main characters enough to want to continue the journey with them. Overall, The City of Brass was a wondrous story that was a delight to read despite my fussiness and I highly recommend it for all readers.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I couldn't get into this one, perhaps there were too many unfamiliar terms for me. The context didn't always help. Also the first part of the story seemed to be heading for one of those "they hate each other then they suddenly love each other" stories that is a pet peeve of mine. And there was a lot of pure blood/mixed blood nonsense, not my kind of fantasy. The book was just not a good match for me and I abandoned it. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I couldn’t bring myself to care enough to finish it. I reallllly thought I would love it and wanted to love it, but I didn’t like any of the characters, got lost in all the political alignments and subplots, and just ultimately didn’t care what happened.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I really wanted to like it based on great things I had heard and exciting premise. What a disappointment. I thought it had poor pacing and highly unlikable characters, not made any better by annoying narration. The book felt like the first work of an author, which it was. I was intrigued enough to give the second book a listen. Lets see how this goes.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this audiobook. Fascinating, unusual (finally) story, great narration! Highly recommended!!
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I couldn't get past one hour of listening to this. This has to be the worst reader and the worst voice I've ever heard. So affected and campy, over-accentuating the words, it sounds as if she's permanently ironic and sarcastic, total letdown. And the butchering of the Arabic words were hurtful in my ears, she could at least have researched the basic pronunciations. But the worst was the sardonic and priggish voice. Lady, why can't you use a normal reading voice?
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fantastic. The author weaves an intriguing tale that thrills the imagination
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It was slow to start but amazing and unexpected by the end. I love the lore and world building and how I could almost feel like I was transported to Daevabad! Can’t wait to read the next two installments!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Enthralling, action-packed, and heart-wrenching. I couldn’t stop listening to it and I cried multiple times.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    it was just perfect, can't wait to get to the sequel
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Interesting and creative story but extremely slow plot building with a cheap, cliff hanger ending. I did not see it advertised as a trilogy, if I had I would not have finished it, I lost interest 3/4 the way through but decided to finish only because I thought the ending would wrap itself up. It doesn’t. At least the other two books have been released so you won’t have to wait for an ending.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love the narrator. I think she gives the book the push it needs.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book has remained one of my favorite books I have read this year! I love the setting of the story, the political intrigue and the characters. I can’t wait to read more from S.A. Chakraborty.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Beautiful and unique story! Eastern mythology is really interesting! Loved it!
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I only got to chapter 5. The main female character is one of the most annoying and frustrating characters I have ever listened to. She made this book unbearable. I just can’t listen to anymore of it. I would not recommend this book at all.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Nice departure from the “typical” theme(s) and characters one would generally expect from this genre. Still, while the evocative mysteries and magic’s of djinn’s isn’t expressly new/or hasn’t been explored, I have to say that this was exceptionally well executed; thoroughly engaging with a very intriguing and unique storyline, lots of sub layers, fascinating world that left you feeling after waking from a dream . . Really enjoyed it - definitely left you begging for more.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Took awhile to get into this book, and I almost gave up. Then it took off and I was hooked.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A lot of names, a but hard to remember when you're listening to the audio version. But the story is amazing, a very good fantasy book!!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Can’t wait for the next part! What an amazing audiobook.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Everything about this book is amazing . Definitely would recommend to any fantasy lover