“Now that he knew the Upgrade had been made available so the djinn could data mine humanity’s dreams like arcane archaeologists, he couldn’t help thinking that maybe he’d been right to be suspicious.”

A Djinnfernal Conspiracy by W. E. Singh is a delightful genre-mash of near-future science fiction, urban fantasy, portal fantasy, and comedy. If those things don’t sound like they go together . . . well, you’re wrong and I’m sorry you have no whimsy in your life. In all seriousness, Djinn is a whirlwind of a novel that brought me back to many of my favourite urban and portal fantasies of the 80s-90s. Although in promotional material, Singh compares Djinn with Ben Aaronovitch (a comparison I well understand), I’d also add Mike Resnick’s Stalking the Unicorn, Catherynne M. Valente’s Space Opera, and Simon R. Green’s Nightside series to the list. If you’re looking for a fast-paced, colourful fantasy that uses futurism as a means of taking the present to task, A Djinnfernal Conspiracy is one you’ll want to pick up.

On the surface, Djinn may initially feel too sci-fi for a fantasy contest like SPFBO. With its near-future setting and its initial focus on technology, it’s one of those books that could easily be dismissed in its first pages as lacking a fantastical component. Yet the reader doesn’t have to wait long before Singh upends his own set-up, revealing that the near-ubiquitous internet-replacing tech that’s implanted in humans from birth has a shockingly magical origin. Alongside his seemingly-immortal grandmother and her coven of sorcerous friends, everyman protagonist Zander Chung is plunged into the titular Djinn-backed conspiracy with the goal of stopping the Djinn’s magical plot to enslave and then exterminate all humans. Along the way, Zander is forced to contend with the reality that demons, the Ancient Egyptian afterlife, and God (RIP), are all real and that some of the world’s magical denizens would like to see him dead (or worse, tortured for eternity).

Singh’s prose is electric. The comedic and character voice are inseparable from the line-level writing from page one and this never lets up. There are more zingers-per-page than you usually find in a whole book by a less talented comedy writer, and as I read, I was at once immediately at ease while being kept constantly on my feet by Zander’s witty internal monologue and the madcap antics on display from the rest of the book’s cast and plot. If there’s a critique to be made, it’s that the unrelenting intensity can sometimes make it difficult for meaningful moments to stand out on their own. With the energy constantly at ten of potentially emotionally impactful or resonant storytelling moments don’t hit quite as hard as they could.

With Zander’s history of failed relationships and his junk food addiction, he’s easily believable and likeable. The rise of the magical internet, much like the rise of our own, promises greater interconnectedness while often producing the opposite, and Zander’s loneliness is clearly felt on-page as, in the wake of a Djinn attack, he seeks help from his ex-boyfriend and eventually his technology-averse grandmother. My one critique of the characterization is more about the book’s structure and focus than Zander himself, and is largely that Zander’s supporting cast are so full of character and do so much to move the plot that towards the book’s final moments it becomes a little too much their story rather than his. That said, unresolved story elements to do with Zander and his relationships (and nature), are surely fodder for future volumes. As much as I dislike calls to formula, I do feel that a stronger emotional through-line for Zander would have made this a more satisfying and coherent story overall. This is not to say that Djinn is incoherent–quite the opposite–but that if it had focused just a smidge more Zander’s emotional arc it could have been an even stronger story. Of the secondary characters, my favourite has to be Suleiman the Wise–no surprise there for anyone who knows me, as Suleiman/Solomon is one of my favourite mythic-historical figures. Singh’s take on the figure, about whom so much has already been written nonetheless feels fresh, fun, and intriguing. Zander’s grandmother is another standout, though the whole cast is really just a ton of fun.

The mythical components of Djinn are probably going to be its biggest draw for audiences, and Singh doesn’t disappoint. The novel is packed to bursting with mythological figures from a variety of mythologies while leaving room for the author to draw on still further pantheons and creatures for future volumes. Zander’s tour of the Egyptian Afterlife is particularly compelling. It’s clear Singh knows his stuff and is eager to share that knowledge (and his enthusiasm for it) with his audience.*

Enchanting and hilarious from its first page, A Djinnfernal Conspiracy is one I wholeheartedly recommend and I hope that it reaches a much wider audience through SPFBO. W. E. Singh is a writer to watch and I’m biting my nails for the follow-up to this one (while eagerly eyeing Singh’s non-fiction work).

*The one minor element I noticed that confused me a little was the use of Djinn as a singular as well as plural noun–a choice that may have been made to make the text more accessible, but which tripped me up at first.