The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty
Title: The Kingdom of Copper
Author: S. A. Chakraborty
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Published Date: February 21st 2019
Length: 625 pages
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, YA, etc.
Rating: 4.50 /5
Return to Daevabad in the spellbinding sequel to THE CITY OF BRASS.
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 familyand 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.
+++++
I bought this book back when it had just come out and though I had plans to read it, I held myself off from doing it. Why? Because I wanted to read the whole trilogy in one go. Well, when my request for The Empire of Gold was approved on NetGalley, I knew it was time. So I finally started the trilogy from the start. The review for the first one is right here!
I should warn you going in, this might get spoilery as the review goes on. It is the second book in the trilogy and a lot happens that I just have to talk about, okay? Right, that’s you warned in case you haven’t caught up with this series yet.
So, the book starts with the immediate-ish aftermath of what happened in the first book. Some dead people are brought back, some people are discovering some horrifying things and two people are married against their will. You know, the usual aftermath of a massive cliffhanger. Then we are immediately thrown in five years in the future. Some people have had issues with it and I can see why but for me, personally, I am really glad that it took that leap.
After the political upheaval of the first book, Daevabad needed some time to get to a new normal. Nahri has been learning heaps about her healing and also trying to learn more about her people and how the religion plays into the whole Nahid business. Muntadhir is trying his best to live his life the way he always had, while showing an absolute brat face to the world like usual. Ali is struggling to survive after the mess of the fight at the docks. The less said about Ghassan the better because his only strategy to ‘keep peace’ in Daevabad is to kill people. So yeah.
As far as characters are concerned, my favourite will always be Ali, I think. There’s such growth in the characters in this one, there’s still room to grow but from the first book to this one, Ali and Nahri really flourish as characters. There’s a depth to them that wasn’t quite there before. We also see Dara slowly learning that perhaps there’s not just one side to it to anything and despite that, he doesn’t really have a choice according to him.
There’s politics aplenty in this one and the secrets are just, frankly, bursting forth like a dam breaking. There’s so much action and it’s more tightly packed than the first book which I really appreciated. The secondary characters (Jamshid and Zaynab, I love them with all my heart, okay?) also get more space in this one. There’s a few in particular that I absolutely enjoyed reading about. Relationships were explored in this one too! I love that Dara and Nahri, both have had time to have that weird closure to their intense feelings that were so obviously apparent in the first book. Nahri, in particular, is far more pragmatic than I thought was possible as far as first love goes.
Let’s talk about the Al-Qahtani siblings because god, I just need to! I loved the weird dynamic they had back in the first book but this one showed more depth and feelings and boy, am I weak for siblings in series where they are actually there for each other despite not being the best sibling at times. Ugh, it’s so good!
Overall, I really loved the pacing and the reveals of the book and thank gods I had the next book ready because once you have finished with this one, you are gonna want that next book on hand. While not quite the five star read I was expecting, this is nonetheless a perfect second book, in that, it didn’t suffer the middle book syndrome.
bookwormmuse 
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