“Why is everyone so slavish to texts written thousands of years ago?” he snapped. “Gods can change. Grow apart. Try new things. Besides, Set was a jerk.”
First of all, I’m in LOVE with this world. Vibrant, beautiful, and intriguing, I am in for all of the installments of this series. Set in steampunk Cairo brimming with magic, djinns, angels, and humans all living together, the atmosphere never gets old. We follow our main character Fatma as she takes on a new case for Egypt’s Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities. She has handled many difficult cases before, but this one seems to be bigger than anyone first realized.
As Fatma pursues answers all over Cairo, we are introduced to a plethora of other creatures and characters in this world. All of them are intriguing, but I am completely enamored with Siti and the Angels; I can’t wait to see them explored in future works in the universe as they seems to be connected to larger forces at work in this world. Which also leads me to mention the politics in this universe. With so many different species living in close quarters to each other, the political landscape can get a bit dicey. Who holds the most power, and for how long? Clark grapples with these large scale debates as well.
The only reason I took 0.5 stars off was because I was able to guess the mystery of “who-dunnit” quite early, so the tension of the detective side of the story was lacking for the second half of the novel for me. However, I did enjoy the twists and turns included in the journey the reveal!
Also, the audiobook narrator did a wonderful job; I felt so immersed in the world and the voices for each different character were distinct. Though I definitely want to read this again physically and tab the shit out of it. I already bought a physical version for my shelf, and will be keeping up with all the releases going forward.
One piece of advice I would like to offer is to pick up Clark’s novellas in this universe first as they will provide the reader with context that will help them immediately sink into the word when picking up A Master of Djinn. The novellas are: A Dead Djinn in Cairo, The Haunting of Tram Car 015, and The Angel of Khan el-Khalili.
4.5 stars. Audiobook.
